Jobseeker's Diary: With Ferguson’s departure, maybe Liverpool will win something

I’m sure you’ve heard and had enough of Alex Ferguson’s decision to retire but please read one more. To echo non-Man United fans, I’m glad the gum chewing trophy-winning manager is leaving. Maybe Liverpool will win something next season. Couldn’t help drawing parallels to the regular workplace. Haven’t we all celebrated at least once when we learnt that someone was leaving the company? Especially if that person was the boss from Hell or the supervisor who refused to put our name up for promotion, condemning us to yet another year without a raise? Wouldn’t want a dose of that though and I really hope no one does a happy dance or worse, drink to my departure! Sir Alex must be basking in the glowing tributes, although a couple of catty remarks were uttered as well and surprisingly, by United fans who haven’t been too happy with his tactics especially these last two seasons. Can’t please everyone, can you? David Moyes must remember this when he takes up his new role. He’s got some very big boots to fill and it’s not going to be easy. You want to replace an incompetent employee, not an exemplary one because then, all everybody does is criticize your work and make references to how good so and so was and how they had no problem doing this and that. Even Barack Obama who didn’t exactly have a tough act to follow has been hammered, and not just by Americans but citizens of other nations who also had such high expectations of him. Fans will not care that Ferguson had 26 years to accomplish what he has and will expect Moyes to continue the legacy. Poor guy shouldn’t be surprised when “We want Fergie back” banners pop up along with chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” at Old Trafford. It certainly won’t be the same without Fergie, just like Venezuela without Chavez and Apple without Steve Jobs. Life goes on but not like before. We’ve seen many businesses fold after the owners passed on, especially if the deaths were sudden and no succession plans had been drawn in time. Suddenly, relatives with nothing more than greed take over your company and within months, everything’s gone. I knew a hardworking young man back home who did a lot for our community back then. The hard work paid off and soon, he was putting up his own house. Unfortunately, he died in an accident before it was finished and six years later, that’s still the case. As these stories go, his relatives forced the wife and children out of their home and sold it off. His ghost must have been displeased because the next occupant died about a year later, affirming the local legend that the house is haunted. It remains incomplete and every time I pass by, I wonder what it would look like were Alex still alive. His children and wife would also be a lot happier. Back to Sir Alex, it’s much better to walk than be pushed. It says a lot when someone acknowledges that they’re not the be-all or end-all of something. If you wait to be pushed, you’ll have to deal with the sting of being incompetent and unwanted for a long time, if not the rest of your life. After Benedict XVI, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and now Sir Alex Ferguson, “early” retirement shouldn’t be such an unpalatable word. This jobseeker thinks Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Robert Mugabe and Yoweri Museveni should emulate our honorary retirees while we still have good things to say about them. To be continued…