Fergie aims to inspire another home win

Manchester United fans may be pining for his glory days but Paul McGinley has ensured European golfers will be benefiting from an Alex Ferguson team talk ahead of their clash with the United States this weekend.

Retired United boss Ferguson addressed Team Europe behind closed doors at Gleneagles last night as McGinley brought in the most successful manager in British football history to inspire his group of 12 players before they begin their quest to retain the Ryder Cup in Scotland on Friday.

Ferguson, who led the Old Trafford side to two Champions League crowns and 13 Premier League titles in a 49-trophy managerial career that also included spells at St Mirren and Aberdeen, was supposed to be a surprise guest speaker for the Europeans last night. Yet he was difficult to ignore at Gleneagles yesterday as walked the PGA Centenary course during the opening practice sessions.

And the secret was well out in the open by the time McGinley took his seat for his daily press conference yesterday at noon.

“He’s a guy that I played with in the JP McManus Pro-Am about 15 years ago, and he’s a guy that I’ve seen now and again over that time, and when I became captain, for a number of reasons, I asked him,” he explained.

“Of course he was more than willing to help but the one thing he asked me to do was keep it really quiet. And walking around with Gordon [Simpson of the European Tour] is not keeping it quiet, is it, when he’s on site.

“I’ve asked everybody to keep it as quiet as we can, because it’s been my wish and his wish to keep things quiet. We want a bit of surprise for the players. But I guess it’s not a surprise. A lot of people have said it to me this morning.”

With world No 1 Rory McIlroy and fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell both listing United among their interests in their European Tour media guide biographies and all but Henrik Stenson and Victor Dubuisson citing other clubs or football in their bios, the choice of Ferguson to follow in the footsteps of motivational speakers from outside golf such as Gareth Edwards at Celtic Manor four years ago, was clearly an inspired one from team sports fanatic McGinley.

“There’s a number of reasons. Although I’m not a Man United fan, as everybody knows, I’m a West Ham fan, but I’ve always loved the way his teams played.

“And there’s a number of things that he’s dealing with that he was particularly good at that I think he’ll be a particularly strong fit.

“There’s a lot of similarities, and I’ve met him a number of times over the last few months. The more I’ve met him, the more there was just such a natural fit.

“But the players don’t know. It’s amazing. Everybody seems to know except the players.”

Asked whether he had bounced ideas off Ferguson during their meetings this year, McGinley suggested the opposite had been the case.

“I met him a number of times over the last few months. We’ve had lunch, no more than that. We haven’t gone into massive detail. He’s asked me a lot of questions and I’ve given him some interest, and I know he’s very keen.

“He’s a big fan of golf, as we know. He knows Rory very well, obviously, and Rory is a big Man United fan. Not everybody in the room is a Man United fan, so that should be a bit fun. But this is not about him being a headmaster and coming in and preaching to them.

“This is about fun — the areas that I’ll be talking to the players about, him relating it to football and getting some football stories. So very much like to think that we’re both coming from the same direction and he’s talking along the lines that I’ll be talking this week.”

McGinley was impressed by Ferguson’s knowledge of his team and joked that having left Old Trafford in 2013 he knew the Scot’s availability this week would not be an issue.

“He’s a very keen golfer. He watches a lot on TV.

“He knew a lot about the players, and he’d watched them and observed a lot of them and was very keen on getting to meet the ones he had not met. And of course the players are mad about football, every one of them.

“I don’t want to steal his thunder. I’ll give you more insight after he speaks to the players. There were a number of dynamics that particularly were in play with him and why I sought him out, and I knew he had time, as well, too!

“This is relaxed. There will be questions coming back at him. They all love football and a chance to spend a bit of time with one of the greats in soccer doesn’t come around very often, particularly with somebody they all admire. In my dealings with him, he’s been absolutely fantastic and I know he’ll be great with the players.”