All Fergie’s children, but he’ll never be our club’s true father

TWENTY years! I don’t know about Fergie, but that certainly makes me feel old. For my generation of late thirtysomethings, it’s a moment to reflect upon; we have known no other manager in our adult Reds lives and are all, in a sense, Fergie’s children.

And like kids growing up, we’ve moved from a childhood of feeling complete trust and unconditional love for him to, um, a more nuanced position, if I may put it delicately.

Fergie is an intensely complex, multi-faceted man and manager and as the years have gone by, we feel like we have come to know him so well.

The result of that discovery is the same that many ex-players found; you look upon him with a strange mix of respect, fear, distance and, yes, maybe a little disaffection. Overlaid, of course, with gratitude, after all, this man has given us moments to cherish. But love? Love such as Matt Busby created? For some yes, but for a majority, I would suggest not. That is not a slur — it is just men like Fergie seem to prefer to command obedience and subservience rather than love.

So Gary Neville may well claim he has “surpassed” Matt Busby...well, many would beg to differ. And when Gary says Alex has joined Matt as an equal architect of United, as a second father of the club, we remind Gary that there can only ever be one father of a child. Alex could stay on until he is 90, and still not alter the reality that, for all but a few misguided souls, Sir Matt will always be untouchable. His trophy haul is less than Alex’s, but the comparisons are rooted in measures of love and spiritual legacies, not silverware. As I said above, we don’t all love Alex. And at United, I always remind readers we don’t measure anything by trophies but by passion and glory. Sometimes, silverware and glory go together. But as the last two trophies won by United demonstrated, that is by no means assured! So could Alex at least go on from here and match Busby for sheer longevity at least by reaching the next milestone, the 25th?

I recall the first great Fergie anniversary — the 10th — and I interviewed him at length sometime after. I was all but overwhelmed by his power and energy: his mind sparkled as we discussed the philosophy of his upbringing; he saw every trap I tried to lay for him a mile off; he dazzled me with his pinpoint recall of names, places and matches. He looked great too — 55 going on 40; flush with health. I observed him close up not long ago and was stunned by the changes. He was verbally hesitant, frequently struggling to get names and scorelines correct; his hair was badly dyed, McCarthy style; he looked like a pensioner. Crueller Reds often joke about “Alzy Alex” when he makes one of his ever-more frequent misspeaks but they may be onto something. His heart problems have been well documented and he works at a club that normally ruthlessly enforces a retirement age of 65. Looming over all this is the spectre of Jock Stein and that ghastly touchline scene being one which Fergie himself often brings up, usually in the context of explaining why he is trying to be more hands off and delegatory. He is right to do that but many Reds who have grown up on the omnipotent and omnipresent Fergie resent the change and decry the increase in power of such underlings as Carlos Queiroz and Mike Phelan. The irony is that the most zealous Fergie loyalists, who are keenest to see Fergie take more charge once again, are the ones who’ll be crying the hardest if Alex keels over on a touchline one day as a result of the overwork and stress thereby induced.

Thus it is that I can suggest the more important anniversary is yet to come — the 65th one of his birth, in seven weeks. Fergie said in his programme notes last Saturday he had no intention of “reflecting” upon today’s anniversary lest it be distracting. Quite right too; and typical Fergie, the man who famously never looks back or even allows the moment of victory to linger. Turning 65 is different though. The government’s letters remind you of your pensionable status; your bus pass arrives; you look ahead to what being an OAP means and to how long you have left. I still have a hunch Fergie might yet see he has an opportunity for a last challenge, one more suited to his age, health and increasing non-football interests, and next summer is a perfect opportunity to retire gracefully.

He certainly won’t be telegraphing any such intentions publicly, having admitted to having completely ruined his last would-be retirement in 2001-2. One notes that he has spoken admiringly of the way Cantona timed and executed his departure; and one also recalls Alex himself speaking of the self knowledge he has, that he will know when he is no longer up to scratch. All that considered, I would predict, and hope for, the following: if United win the European Cup this season, he will immediately quit, otherwise he will go in June 2008. That’ll be tears at bedtime for little Gary Neville but a common sense result for everyone else. Busby’s record will remain intact.

What is he going to leave as a legacy? Busby left us so much spiritually and emotionally, yet in concrete terms the club became a shambles. I’d expect the opposite from Fergie’s will. Glazer and the debt issue apart, the football club at the core is clearly in much better shape than it was in 1986. Alex has also brought on what one used to call the Protestant work ethic to what was a rather cavalier Old Trafford; in bottom line terms, the success he has had on the pitch, together with the nature of our style in the 90s, has created a whole new generation of United fans across the world. He will be leaving his successor a fantastic platform, and he will also doubtless be instrumental in picking that successor and thus ensuring his 20 years of club-building won’t be wasted. Spiritually and emotionally, though? So many wonderful games and triumphs yet, strangely so little impact on the soul of the club. Most of us still believe what we did before Alex, and will continue to do after — that United is about what Matt and his teams established as ways of playing and living. When Alex’s United emulated that ideal, we approved, when they didn’t we censured.

And not even 20 trophies could change that eternal belief.