Sir Alex Ferguson on 25 Years at Man United, the Return of Paul Scholes and the Greatest Signing of his Career

There is very little you can say about Sir Alex Ferguson that has not already been said. After more than 25 years in charge of Manchester United, the clubs longest serving manager after overtaking Sir Matt Busby in December 2010, Ferguson has built up an enviable record and turned the Manchester club into a world wide brand.

Ferguson has won it all, among his list of achievements with Manchester United include 12 League title, five FA Cup triumphs, four League Cup's, two Champions League titles, a Cup Winners' Cup medal, one Super Cup and a FIFA World Club Cup. The 70-year-old has built numerous sides and made his players legends at the club.

Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ferguson's legacy will never be forgotten and below the former Rangers striker touches on every aspect of being in charge of one of the most famous clubs in the world.

You state in your autobiography that when you started at Old Trafford you had to make changes not only to the playing staff but also to the culture of the club, do you think that the demand for instant results for clubs means that it is impossible for modern manager to do something similar?

I think was always difficult but more difficult today. I think when I started as a young coach at 32 it was a result lead industry, managers were always sacked at Christmas time but it’s more intense now. There is more profile towards manager’s performance; particularly with headlines in the newspapers and stupid carry on like images of turnips on top of their heads  that the press  involve themselves in . I think it is more intense today than it has ever been and I think that is a lot to do the change in the culture of human beings and the society we are in nowadays. If you look at photographs from way back in the  60’s there is a great one in the United unseen archives and it shows a photograph of Leeds United and  Manchester United  players scraping in the middle of the pitch and it shows the background of the fans. There is no emotion in the fans where as today, their veins are coming out of their necks. So there is a change in the culture and the society we are living in today.

What aspects of your job have changed the most in your 25 years at Manchester United?

Well it’s bigger for a start. I have to deal with more staff; when I came to the club I only had eight staff but now we have over 40. Sports science and nutrition has played a big part in that. We are under more pressure; if you see the headlines after we lost the second game against Newcastle the press could not miss the opportunity. So managers have to live under a different scrutiny than they did 30 years ago.

You talk about press scrutiny; the players now have a massively increased profile with some of them being global brands. Has that changed the way you approach man management or are the fundamental principals still the same?

I think you are right. The profile that Sky television for instance puts on players today is enormous; they are almost like film celebrities rather than football players. You hope that by having long enough time with your players that they understand how fragile that celebrity status can be in terms of one minute you’re a star and the next minute you’re not a star, they have to deal with that. Dealing with success is a bit more difficult today for young people because of television and the headlines they can get so you work with them in terms of getting them to keep their feet on the ground. I say to them all of the time ‘go back to your mother as the same person you were when you arrived’ that’s important because I am sure your mother does not like to see you change and we don’t like to see them change either.


Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the latest of your former players who’s impressed in management; he has won the league in Norway. He talks about studying your methods and almost taking notes during team talks. Is he someone you always thought would go on to be a successful manager?

Ole was always one of the professionals that used to take down all the notes from the training sessions and games also. I think the problem for a lot of footballers today is that when they get to the end of their careers they decide they want to become coaches because they have nothing else in their mind that they think they can do. Whereas Ole always wanted to stay in the game, so from an early age he was preparing stay in the game as a coach or as a manager, as he is at the moment. So he has given himself a better chance than the rest.

From the outside he does not seem to have such a big personality as people like Paul Ince or Mark Hughes perhaps but do you think he has got that mental toughness to succeed?

He has got an inner toughness, there’s no doubt about that. He is a nice man with a lovely manner about him. If you go to a club in  Norway that have never won the league ever in their history and  you win the league you have to have something about you to do that. He has brought in his own staff. He’s brought two coaches from United as part of his structure to the club so he knew where he was going. A useful thing to have in management is good decision making. It’s possibly one of the most important things and he has been decisive, so yes he has got a lot going for himself.

Paul Scholes returned last weekend against Manchester City, it surprised a lot of people and Wayne Rooney said he did not know until he went into the dressing room and saw the shirt hanging up. How were you able to keep that under wraps?

I don’t know how we managed it, we registered him on the Friday and we thought somehow it would get out. We left it as late as we possibly could; the game was a Sunday so we had the whole of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning to worry about it. But somehow we managed to keep it quiet and we did not let any of the players know.

We did that simply because of the impact value. We are going away from home in a very difficult FA cup tie against Manchester City and when the 5,000 fans in the away end of the ground knew he was on the team sheet they were fantastic, the response was great. There were no negatives as far as I am concerned. He only stopped playing seven months ago and he has been training all the time with the reserves, coaching and training so his fitness levels have been decent. However in the last few weeks he stepped it up to intensive training because when he came to see me he said, ‘I think I have made a mistake, what do you think about me playing again?’ And for me as I said earlier there is were no negatives. For me great, for the players in the dressing room terrific for the fans great.

The only negative you were going to get was from the press without doubt and one or two have been negative. They are making out that it is a regressive step for Manchester United, how can it be a regressive step? You’re getting a player for nothing who has been part of the club for 20 years. So how can it be regressive? He knows the club. He is not going to play every game and Paul knows that but in terms of composure and passing ability is there a better player going around? Definitely not.

Thierry Henry has done a similar thing at Arsenal, is that a case of there not being so much talent available  in January or just relying on the people you know and you can trust?

Absolutely. The positive for Arsene Wenger is that you saw the reaction from the fans. Ok it was a home match whereas we were playing away from home but the reaction from the fans was almost as if there’s a new messiah that’s arrived because he was a great player there. Wenger knew that, there where no negatives as far as Wenger is concerned. Ok he has only got him for six or seven weeks because it’s the break in the American game but that six or seven weeks may be the most important six weeks for Arsenal’s whole season.


We are into the second half of the season with Manchester City on top how does the challenge they present compare to the other clubs that have battled with Manchester United over the years?

Well it is such a competitive league and for years it has always been the same four names in the hat with ourselves, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but that has changed over the last couple of years. The progress that Manchester City have made and the progress that Spurs have made means really its six teams battling for four places and they are all in with a chance.    

At the moment it looks as like a three horse race between ourselves Man City and Tottenham but when you come to March and the beginning of April things can change very, very quickly. You only need to lose a couple of games, or lose one game and all of a sudden, maybe when teams have not got the experience to handle what is going on to try and win the League or get into that top four, it can all change.

One area you have always had success is developing young players. What is it in particular, what quality’s do you look for in a youngster?

Well the most obvious thing is his ability to play the game  but there has to be more than that. You look at his character, his enthusiasm, how does he play when his team are losing? Has he got nice balance, has he got pace, has he got good athleticism about him, because the modern game has certainly changed in that respect. So there is a lot of things that go into the makeup but I think definitely if you have got a player with good ability, enthusiasm and desire to win games you’re going a decent way to getting a decent player.

There is very little you can say about Sir Alex Ferguson that has not already been said. After more than 25 years in charge of Manchester United, the clubs longest serving manager after overtaking Sir Matt Busby in December 2010, Ferguson has built up an enviable record and turned the Manchester club into a world wide brand.

Ferguson has won it all, among his list of achievements with Manchester United include 12 League title, five FA Cup triumphs, four League Cup's, two Champions League titles, a Cup Winners' Cup medal, one Super Cup and a FIFA World Club Cup. The 70-year-old has built numerous sides and made his players legends at the club.

Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ferguson's legacy will never be forgotten and below the former Rangers striker touches on every aspect of being in charge of one of the most famous clubs in the world.

You state in your autobiography that when you started at Old Trafford you had to make changes not only to the playing staff but also to the culture of the club, do you think that the demand for instant results for clubs means that it is impossible for modern manager to do something similar?

I think was always difficult but more difficult today. I think when I started as a young coach at 32 it was a result lead industry, managers were always sacked at Christmas time but it’s more intense now. There is more profile towards manager’s performance; particularly with headlines in the newspapers and stupid carry on like images of turnips on top of their heads  that the press  involve themselves in . I think it is more intense today than it has ever been and I think that is a lot to do the change in the culture of human beings and the society we are in nowadays. If you look at photographs from way back in the  60’s there is a great one in the United unseen archives and it shows a photograph of Leeds United and  Manchester United  players scraping in the middle of the pitch and it shows the background of the fans. There is no emotion in the fans where as today, their veins are coming out of their necks. So there is a change in the culture and the society we are living in today.

What aspects of your job have changed the most in your 25 years at Manchester United?

Well it’s bigger for a start. I have to deal with more staff; when I came to the club I only had eight staff but now we have over 40. Sports science and nutrition has played a big part in that. We are under more pressure; if you see the headlines after we lost the second game against Newcastle the press could not miss the opportunity. So managers have to live under a different scrutiny than they did 30 years ago.

You talk about press scrutiny; the players now have a massively increased profile with some of them being global brands. Has that changed the way you approach man management or are the fundamental principals still the same?

I think you are right. The profile that Sky television for instance puts on players today is enormous; they are almost like film celebrities rather than football players. You hope that by having long enough time with your players that they understand how fragile that celebrity status can be in terms of one minute you’re a star and the next minute you’re not a star, they have to deal with that. Dealing with success is a bit more difficult today for young people because of television and the headlines they can get so you work with them in terms of getting them to keep their feet on the ground. I say to them all of the time ‘go back to your mother as the same person you were when you arrived’ that’s important because I am sure your mother does not like to see you change and we don’t like to see them change either.


Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the latest of your former players who’s impressed in management; he has won the league in Norway. He talks about studying your methods and almost taking notes during team talks. Is he someone you always thought would go on to be a successful manager?

Ole was always one of the professionals that used to take down all the notes from the training sessions and games also. I think the problem for a lot of footballers today is that when they get to the end of their careers they decide they want to become coaches because they have nothing else in their mind that they think they can do. Whereas Ole always wanted to stay in the game, so from an early age he was preparing stay in the game as a coach or as a manager, as he is at the moment. So he has given himself a better chance than the rest.

From the outside he does not seem to have such a big personality as people like Paul Ince or Mark Hughes perhaps but do you think he has got that mental toughness to succeed?

He has got an inner toughness, there’s no doubt about that. He is a nice man with a lovely manner about him. If you go to a club in  Norway that have never won the league ever in their history and  you win the league you have to have something about you to do that. He has brought in his own staff. He’s brought two coaches from United as part of his structure to the club so he knew where he was going. A useful thing to have in management is good decision making. It’s possibly one of the most important things and he has been decisive, so yes he has got a lot going for himself.

Paul Scholes returned last weekend against Manchester City, it surprised a lot of people and Wayne Rooney said he did not know until he went into the dressing room and saw the shirt hanging up. How were you able to keep that under wraps?

I don’t know how we managed it, we registered him on the Friday and we thought somehow it would get out. We left it as late as we possibly could; the game was a Sunday so we had the whole of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning to worry about it. But somehow we managed to keep it quiet and we did not let any of the players know.

We did that simply because of the impact value. We are going away from home in a very difficult FA cup tie against Manchester City and when the 5,000 fans in the away end of the ground knew he was on the team sheet they were fantastic, the response was great. There were no negatives as far as I am concerned. He only stopped playing seven months ago and he has been training all the time with the reserves, coaching and training so his fitness levels have been decent. However in the last few weeks he stepped it up to intensive training because when he came to see me he said, ‘I think I have made a mistake, what do you think about me playing again?’ And for me as I said earlier there is were no negatives. For me great, for the players in the dressing room terrific for the fans great.

The only negative you were going to get was from the press without doubt and one or two have been negative. They are making out that it is a regressive step for Manchester United, how can it be a regressive step? You’re getting a player for nothing who has been part of the club for 20 years. So how can it be regressive? He knows the club. He is not going to play every game and Paul knows that but in terms of composure and passing ability is there a better player going around? Definitely not.

Thierry Henry has done a similar thing at Arsenal, is that a case of there not being so much talent available  in January or just relying on the people you know and you can trust?

Absolutely. The positive for Arsene Wenger is that you saw the reaction from the fans. Ok it was a home match whereas we were playing away from home but the reaction from the fans was almost as if there’s a new messiah that’s arrived because he was a great player there. Wenger knew that, there where no negatives as far as Wenger is concerned. Ok he has only got him for six or seven weeks because it’s the break in the American game but that six or seven weeks may be the most important six weeks for Arsenal’s whole season.


We are into the second half of the season with Manchester City on top how does the challenge they present compare to the other clubs that have battled with Manchester United over the years?

Well it is such a competitive league and for years it has always been the same four names in the hat with ourselves, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but that has changed over the last couple of years. The progress that Manchester City have made and the progress that Spurs have made means really its six teams battling for four places and they are all in with a chance.    

At the moment it looks as like a three horse race between ourselves Man City and Tottenham but when you come to March and the beginning of April things can change very, very quickly. You only need to lose a couple of games, or lose one game and all of a sudden, maybe when teams have not got the experience to handle what is going on to try and win the League or get into that top four, it can all change.

One area you have always had success is developing young players. What is it in particular, what quality’s do you look for in a youngster?

Well the most obvious thing is his ability to play the game  but there has to be more than that. You look at his character, his enthusiasm, how does he play when his team are losing? Has he got nice balance, has he got pace, has he got good athleticism about him, because the modern game has certainly changed in that respect. So there is a lot of things that go into the makeup but I think definitely if you have got a player with good ability, enthusiasm and desire to win games you’re going a decent way to getting a decent player.

Who do you rate as the best signing of your career?

That is impossible, if you look at value we got Peter Schmeichel for £505,000 Brian McClair for £800,000. I mean it’s impossible, we got Roy Keane for I think £3.7M, we got Gary Pallister for £2.3M so you try to measure that against the price you pay for the players now. Wayne Rooney was £26M for instance and Ronaldo was only £10M. So how do you equate value for instance in that respect? The only way I can interpret this is this way; How long did they play for me? How long did they play for United? How successful were they in that period? And there are too many that come into that category that you could not possibly say who was the best.

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