How to explain the decades-long, ever-evolving genius of Sir Alex Ferguson – arguably the greatest manager in football history?
It's a question that has aroused the interest of countless biographers, inspired millions of column inches, and still regularly crops up in football podcasts every week. More than 11 years after Ferguson's retirement!
Gary Neville has tackled the question more often than most: nowadays, one of football's most respected commentators and pundits, the former Red made all 602 of his first-team appearances for United under the wily Scot.
And so frequently is he asked to explain Sir Alex's multifaceted genius, that Neville recently decided that the most efficient course of action was to prepare some notes that could be stored on his phone, readily accessible for whenever the topic came up.
And that's exactly what happened when the 49-year-old dropped by as the latest UTD Podcast guest.
Gary Neville has tackled the question more often than most: nowadays, one of football's most respected commentators and pundits, the former Red made all 602 of his first-team appearances for United under the wily Scot.
And so frequently is he asked to explain Sir Alex's multifaceted genius, that Neville recently decided that the most efficient course of action was to prepare some notes that could be stored on his phone, readily accessible for whenever the topic came up.
And that's exactly what happened when the 49-year-old dropped by as the latest UTD Podcast guest.
“Sometimes, you get asked that question [about Sir Alex's brilliance],”explained Gary. “You know, your mind goes blank... you can’t really pinpoint what it is.
”Yeah, it’s the aura, but I was thinking specifically, what things? What actually was it that actually he did really well? Do you want me to read them out to you?“
What followed was an amazing run-through of some of Sir Alex's key qualities, from a player who spent two decades watching Ferguson operate.
You can watch the UTD Podcast episode in full to hear every word Gary had to say about the man some fans used to call 'The Wizard', but here are seven of the best items on Neville's personally crafted list...
HE ALWAYS TACKLED DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
“Imagine every team talk, if you’re left out from one game to the next. But he spoke to each individual player every game. So you were never left wondering why you weren’t playing...Sometimes in life, in businesses, in football clubs, sometimes people don’t communicate to you very well and you’re not quite sure where you stand. You never wondered where you stood, so you always had that feeling [of clarity]. That was, to me, quite important: that he was willing to have those difficult conversations or, you know, he was willing to speak to you and say: ‘You’re not playing today son, because…’ At least you knew why you weren’t playing.“
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HE MADE HIS WORDS COUNT
“He trusted the people who worked under him, so his assistant coach would deliver all the training sessions, his medical team would deliver all [their work]. He never interfered in anything that they did, did he? You never saw him in the medical room, in the gym. On the training pitch he allowed Steve McClaren or Kiddo [Brian Kidd] to deliver every session without interference.Now, you imagine two things: one, about the trust that that builds in your team, which is very rare. But secondly, when he actually spoke on matchday and he came alive, his words meant a lot. So these words were quite rare, in terms of inspirational words. I thought that was quite important. Some managers, they’re on the pitch every day and they’re coaching every day. And the only voice they [the players] hear is his. But he [Sir Alex] trusts his team completely.“
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HE WAS CONSISTENT WITH HIS MESSAGES
”He wasn’t up here and down there [in terms of his demands and emotions]. [There were] things that he said just regularly about work ethic, trusting each other, risk, you know, the tempo of your passing. Things that I remember. It was consistency over the 15 years of listening to his team talk.“
HE CREATED A SIEGE MENTALITY
“There was always this idea that it’s us against the world. He created a siege mentality [that was] like: we hate everybody! So he created that, he’d build that up. It could be referees, it could be the opposition manager. It could be the opposition players. It could be the media.”
HE GAVE YOUNG PEOPLE A CHANCE
“I remember him saying once: ‘Give young people a chance and they’ll amaze you, and they’ll run through barbed-wire fences.’ And I always remember him saying that to me and he did put his money where his mouth was. A lot of people sort of have a ‘pathway for young people’ and stuff, but he did bring young players through and trusted them. And he said that, if you give them belief and confidence, they’ll amaze you.”
HE CREATED AN UNBELIEVABLE ENVIRONMENT
“The best training ground, the best gym, the best food – we had no excuses. There were no excuses. You can’t give players excuses. 'Oh, the training ground’s not right, we train too much, we’re doing this, we’re doing that...' and, all of a sudden, that negativity spirals. He never allowed that to ever build.”
HE LOOKED AFTER EVERYONE
“He actually managed the club, the 500-600 people that were here at the time. They all looked up to him and he communicated with them all. He knew everyone’s name. He knew your parents’ names. He knew your brother’s name. Your sister’s name. That’s not just my brother and sister – everybody’s... He remembered everybody and he made people feel really important across the whole club. That’s the thing that’s really important: everyone felt valued.”