Fergie a fan of Trapattoni... and Michael Collins
“Absolutely no chance in a million years would I take another job,” said Ferguson. “People in Scotland are always asking me the same question and there’s no chance of taking another job. I don’t want to disappoint too many people but there’s no chance. (Trapattoni) is a serious professional, he loves his game, loves managing. I like him.
“For his age... I remember someone saying about Bobby Robson that he was enthusiastic, and I said ‘do you know how hard it is to be enthusiastic at 75?’ That’s a talent.
“Bobby was a football man, and Trapattoni is a football man.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Colm Murray on RTÉ Radio, Ferguson was scathing about the role of agents in the modern game, saying one agent had asked United to buy a block of apartments as a condition of the player joining the club.
He told another story of an agent who wanted his client, a prolific striker, to be paid for each goal he scored. Ferguson made it clear he had informed the club’s directors to refuse: “I said: ‘Can you please remind him that’s why we are buying [the player] in the first place — because he is a goalscorer?’ This is what you’re dealing with; it’s unbelievable.”
Referring to Wayne Rooney’s recent stand-off with United, Ferguson said: “I think he [Rooney] took bad advice and when he saw the impact of the fans and my response he realised — and I’m sure plenty of people told him — he was making a big mistake.”
Ferguson added: “When I get annoyed is when managers phone me and say such-and-such player — and I’m talking about players who couldn’t lace my reserve-team players’ boots — is asking for £1m a year.
“That’s when it becomes disappointing... the way some agents work a miracle by getting these terms for players who are not stars.
“At United I think most of my first-team players deserve what they’re getting. They’re playing in front of 75,000 people every week, they’re achieving, successful, good footballers, honest professionals. They produce on the field, they bring people into the grounds, and they deserve it.
“But there are some players at other clubs who get paid enormous amounts of money and I don’t know why... I don’t deal with them directly but [the chief executive] David Gill has to, and it’s a hard job. They have an imagination that is beyond belief.”
Ferguson also dismissed suggestions he was hours from the sack in 1990 when Mark Robins scored a match-winning goal against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup. United lost to Crystal Palace 2-1 in the league before that game.
“That night we got the (FA Cup) draw, Forest away, and I thought, ‘that’s all I need’, because Forest were arguably the best cup team in the land at that time under Brian Clough. Before that Martin Edwards called me, the day before and said, ‘look Alex, I know there’s a lot of pressure on you, but you won’t get sacked, I can tell you that now. The club are solidly behind you’.”
Ferguson also said he had made a mistake some years ago in announcing his retirement, only for his wife to urge him to reconsider. “I went back with my tail between my legs to Maurice Watkins (club lawyer) and said ‘I’ve changed my mind’ and he laughed and said ‘why did you do it in the first place?’
“They’d already approached Sven-Goran Eriksson to take the job but he just laughed and said okay... but there’s no plan for me to retire.”
The manager also discussed his deep interest in Irish history. “I started reading about Irish history — the Easter Rising, the Civil War, that period. I was fascinated with Michael Collins, and without being too controversial, I think he was brave to go to the talks in London. I don’t think those were ever going to be successful, in my opinion. Even in his own words he said he signed his death warrant that day, as everyone expected him to come back with no partition, though I don’t think the British government were ever going to agree to that.
“I’m fascinated with that. He’s a romantic figure, with his fight against the British, and his network of people in Dublin was unbelievable. It was like the CIA.”
Asked if Collins’ network was ruthless, Ferguson said: “Well, they were fighting a ruthless enemy — the Black and Tans.” Regarding Eamon de Valera’s decision not to travel to London for the treaty talks, Ferguson said: “I think he knew he couldn’t win. Not being there gave him authority when they came back.” Ferguson described de Valera’s neutrality policy in World War II as a massive decision which had saved many Irish lives.
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