‘He’s won everything, he’s a symbol, a legend, a hero’
It’s hard to think of another football manager in history whose departure would have provoked such a unanimous expression of goodwill.
Spanish commentator Marcos Lopez led the way for Marca with an emotional tribute, evoking the spirit of the Busby Babes and describing Alex as the man “who ensured the future of his club originated with its past, doing honour and justice to a lost generation”.
“With the announcement of his retirement, a Scottish legend begins and the shadow will grow longer... The trajectory of Ferguson’s United helped to write the end of an incomplete story. His ‘Fergie Babes’ played with the necessary emotion knowing that they were chosen to realise the dreams of Busby’s United that was broken by misfortune.”
For Lopez, Alex’s progress in Europe owed a lot to Rafa Benitez’s success with Liverpool — “He says he learned from Barcelona and Rijkaard but it was Liverpool that taught him the importance of tactics and defensive superiority”.
A less controversial view — from the Old Trafford standpoint anyway — comes from Alessandro de Calo in the Gazzetta dello Sport: Ferguson adapted his tactics over a long period.
“Ferguson was not a great innovator, unlike his teacher Jock Stein. He wasn’t a Chapman or a Michels nor even a Sacchi. For a long time he had United play the eternal English 4-3-3. Very British and it worked over there. But football was changing and Ferguson converted to 4-4-2, and thus he won the treble in 1999. He seemed to have reached the top when defeat against Real Madrid acted like an electric shock and made him understand there was still a gap to be bridged between his football and Latin football. So he moved on to 4-2-3-1 and came close to a form of total football.
“He got better over time, like a great wine. A magnificent lesson.”
“He’s not a myth — he’s a Myth with a capital M,” said Carlo Ancelotti. “He’s won everything, he’s a symbol, a legend, a hero for Manchester United, and yet at the same time he’s humble and modest and still has a childlike passion for his profession. It’s no easy to stay yourself when you become a success: he did it and perhaps that’s the nicest success of all.”
“For us he’s a model to follow,” Ancelotti added. “I think his greatest achievement was the way he transmitted a sense of belonging to his players. To be part of Manchester United became an indelible trade mark.”
Like Ancelotti, Guy Roux has enjoyed a few glasses of wine with Alex over the years. They men first met when Eric Cantona was signed from Leeds. “He wanted to know everything about the player. So he asked if we could meet and flew over in a private plane to spend the whole day with me. I gave him some Chablis, he gave me some whisky and subsequently, as a TV commentator, I continued to meet up with him.
“He’s very intelligent with a real sense of the practical. He never hides behind fine words — he uses short expressions to give a clear idea about things. He knew how to take a young player, keep him from age 17 to 27, and then sell very dear to replace him with another youngster to turn into a star.”
For Stefano Boldrini, the Gazzetta’s man in London, “Ferguson invented a style. The Ferguson Model marries the managerial role with work on the pitch.”
Most would argue that predates the Ferguson era, but Alex managed to combine the roles in a period when football management has become far more complex. Both in Italy and France internet polls have him as the greatest manager of the modern era.
“To be coach and manager at the same time means he had very good health,” said Roux. Perhaps it’s the whisky that sustained him, and those bottles of Chablis I provided!”
