Who are the finest club managers that British football has ever produced? In no special order, I offer the names of Jock Stein, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Bill Nicholson and Brian Clough.
And where would Mr. Ferguson stand among that little lot? Very high, I would suggest. Quite possibly at the summit.
Clearly, this status leaves the Manchester United manager without a rival as the major personality in the modern game. And when a personality is as dominant as Ferguson, then smaller men grow deferential, afraid of offending and desperate to please him. Which brings us to Sir Dave Richards.
Manchester United's manager Alex Ferguson
The Premier League chairman has been tugging elbows and pulling strings in an effort to persuade Ferguson to speak to the BBC. He has not spoken to them for six years, following a documentary which displeased him.
As it happens, it was a tritely unrevealing programme, unlike the Corporation’s valuable investigations into football bribery and FIFA corruption, but Ferguson was offended and demanded an apology. When that was refused, silence ensued. It seems there was a principle involved.
The League adopted a policy of steadfast inaction in the face of the manager’s stance. It was always a craven posture, designed to avoid confrontation with Ferguson and the biggest club in the game, but of late it has appeared risibly absurd. Five months ago, the League board plucked up the nerve to fine him for his contemptuous refusal to obey their rules.
Unfortunately, their courage did not run to informing Ferguson, or anybody else, as to the size of the fine. Instead, they mandated Dave Richards, the Hillary Clinton of South Yorkshire, to use his diplomatic finesse to get them off the hook.
And Dave has apparently negotiated a meeting between Ferguson and Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC. Nobody knows what will come of it although, since Ferguson is obdurately insisting on that apology, the chances of agreement appear slim. No matter. Dave has bent over backwards to assist and nobody can say otherwise.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson
We ask ourselves if he and his chums at the League would do this for other managers? Would they perform moral contortions for, say, Ancelotti of Chelsea, or Redknapp of Tottenham, even Wenger of Arsenal?
Perish the thought. Yet the towering Ferguson is different. Because he is far too important. And he has principles. Which brings us to Craig Moore. He is the barrister who served as chairman of the FA independent commission which punished Ferguson with a five-match touchline ban and a Ł30,000 fine for his attack on Martin Atkinson, the referee in charge of United’s recent match with Chelsea.
The details are well known: Atkinson had a distinctly poor game and Ferguson reacted with this extraordinary outburst: ‘You want a fair referee, or a strong referee anyway — and we didn’t get that,’ he said. ‘I must say, when I saw who the referee was I feared it. I feared the worst.’
Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic
When he said that, I sensed that a line had been crossed. Managerial rants are frequent and tiresome but to suggest that a referee is unfair is tantamount to calling him a cheat. Mr Moore swiftly reached the same conclusion.
‘Whatever view one may take about the performance of Mr Atkinson or any other official, respect for their integrity is essential for the integrity of the game,’ he observed. He mentioned Ferguson’s fatuous denial of the charge of improper conduct. And he noted his failure to apologise.
That failure seemed to weigh particularly heavily with Moore. In his view, it ‘undermined the attempts by the FA, through its Respect Campaign, to encourage higher standards of behaviour within the game’.
And, of course, he is right. Ferguson’s standing is such that his actions will have wider consequences. As a direct result of his crassly unrepented smear, the sport at large will become increasingly anarchic and an unrecorded host of referees on the park pitches of England will have had their jobs made more difficult.
And what makes it so wretchedly sad is that Ferguson is a figure of genuine substance, an immensely talented man who would have succeeded at practically anything he turned to, inside or outside football. At his best, he is an admirable, engaging individual who has given the game distinguished service.
But, having been so regularly indulged by people like Dave Richards, he truly believes that he can invent his own rules, that he enjoys a monopoly of principle, and that being Mr. Ferguson means that you may brazenly demand apologies without ever having to make them. The FA have just told him he is wrong. The smaller men are still searching for their courage.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1370256/Sorry-hard-say-Manchester-Uniteds-Sir-Alex-Ferguson.htmlRefreshingly honest article from the Mail.
