Sir Alex sees the positives
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With the curtain about to fall on another season, Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson was in contemplative mood at United's end-of-season awards night at Old Trafford. In an interview with MUTV, he talked openly about how he thinks the title race will finally pan out, the form of award-winning striker Wayne Rooney, and his summer plans in the transfer market...
How were your nerves over the course of Sunday?
Okay really because we learned of the Liverpool result not long after we arrived at Sunderland’s stadium. All we needed to do was keep our cool and enjoy our game after that so it was quite an easy day for us really. We played very well and could have scored a few goals but the thing that impressed me was the players didn’t let the result get to them. There was no sign of despondency, their heads were up, they enjoyed themselves, they played the right way and I was pleased at that.
The title race is going right to the wire and when it’s done that in the past, you’ve won it three times…
Yes, we’ve had a few of these last day encounters over the years and we’ve been fortunate to win three of them. But we did lose one at West Ham.
I wasn’t going to mention that…
But it’s important to understand we have the experience of these things, winning and losing. So we’ve got to handle ourselves in the right way.
Do you look back at results and think, if only we’d got a draw or a win there?
I used to do it but you can torture yourself that way. For instance, if you think of Burnley away - we’d only just started the season and then we lost three points. We missed a penalty that day and if we’d scored it, we would probably have gone on to win the match or get a draw at least. That point could have made the difference, who knows? You go through the bad refereeing decision in the game at Chelsea and the one against them at Old Trafford. If you look at all these twists and turns, you can torture yourself. But there’s no point to it, it happens. We sometimes get breaks ourselves so you have to take the bad with the good. It’s gone against us this season a bit in terms of the decisions but it can happen.
There have been several outstanding candidates for Player of the Year this season…
I think if you look at the defensive situation for a start, everyone was aware that our back four was decimated throughout the season at various times, and only Patrice Evra has played right through the whole season. We gave him a rest from the starting eleven for the Blackburn game but he’s played in every league match and that’s an astonishing achievement. I’m thankful we had him for all those games. So he comes into that category of having a truly outstanding season. Darren Fletcher’s emergence in the team makes him another candidate. Paul Scholes has had a phenomenal second half to the season. Antonio Valencia has done well on the right hand side as a new player. But Wayne Rooney’s form this season has been absolutely electrifying, it’s lifted everyone.
What has Wayne done differently this year?
I think he’s practiced more this season. He’s concentrated on that part of how we see him as a centre-forward, being as high up the pitch as he can be, be a threat in behind defences and get in the box as much as he can. I think that’s worked. I think it’s paid dividends.
Can we expect many new signings or is it just a case of tweaking things?
It’s difficult to say. People don’t recognise I’ve actually signed three players for £20million. Chris Smalling will join us from Fulham, Mame Diouf has done really well and of course young Javier Hernandez from Mexico will join us after the World Cup. Those are three young players whose futures are guaranteed for the club. Other young players come into that bracket are Macheda, Obertan and Welbeck. Darron Gibson’s starting to emerge very strongly. Jonny Evans has proved himself at 21 years of age and has now signed a new contract. So we’ve got a good nucleus of young players and a good foundation to carry the club for a long time now. What I’ll have to make decisions on is how we can improve the team because when you challenge for four league titles in a row, the Champions League, the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and the Club World Cup, it can have a draining effect and you have to be aware of that. You have to spot the moment when you say, ‘It’s time to freshen. It’s time to change one or two players.’ It’s not that I have a desire to do it, it’s a need to do it, simply because the demands and the pressure on players over a longer period can be quite exacting.
Sir Alex was speaking to MUTV. -
Sir Alex Ferguson believes only ill health would force him out of Old Trafford in the immediate future.
The Manchester United boss famously went back on his decision to retire at the end of the 2001/02 season.
People continue to speculate on when the 68-year-old will quit and who will replace him when that time comes but Ferguson insists that after nearly 24 years in charge at United he remains as driven as ever.
"I'm confident with the kind of person I am. I don't think I will be changing at my age now. Do you think I will change?" Ferguson said in an interview to the Mail on Sunday, in which he affirmed he is not thinking of going anywhere at the moment.
"The thing I hope is that my health is OK.
"When you get to 68 years of age, you are not guaranteed anything. You hope you wake up in the morning.
"Over the last three or four years, I have lost a few scouts who have died. Great scouts, absolutely brilliant. All in their 60s.
"You are faced with that when you get to my age, where you are going to funerals of people you worked with or friends.
"So you say to yourself, 'There for the Grace of God that I am still here.'
"And that is the only thing that determines you in connection with football. You couldn't possibly do your job unless you were healthy."
It took Ferguson until his fourth season at United to win his first trophy - the 1990 FA Cup - and he did not steer them to the title for a further three years.
Manager's are rarely accorded that sort of time nowadays and the Scot believes it is this hasty, results-based culture which means it is difficult to single out a possible successor to his throne.
He added: "You can talk about the successful managers right now who might be on everyone's list. But in two years, they may not be. Or even next year.
"So it's very difficult to say who would replace me when my time came.
"Manchester United would need somebody successful for that kind of job.
"Most clubs would look for the most successful manager on the horizon. But two years ahead, they may not be successful any more.
"It is a horrible game, a results industry and, as Roberto Mancini says, you can lose three games in Italy and get sacked.
"We're getting a little bit like that ourselves.
"You think of Peter Reid, Ruud Gullit and Bobby Robson at Newcastle, sacked just into the new season.
"When you stoop to that level you have absolutely no idea how to run a football club."
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Although the title seems to be heading Chelsea's way on the final weekend, Sir Alex Ferguson feels United have performed admirably this term.
A home win for Chelsea over Wigan will secure the title for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, no matter how United do against Stoke City at Old Trafford. Sir Alex hasn't given up hope of an upset at Stamford Bridge, but whatever happens, he believes his players deserve great credit.
"There have been a lot of positives this season," said the boss at his final press conference of 2009/10.
"We’ve scored more goals than last season and we have the best defensive record in the league. We have a good structure at the club and a good squad.
“I’m pleased with the way we’ve gone about the last couple of games in particular. Against Tottenham and Sunderland we played without nerves, but that’s down to the experience we have – we’ve been here before and it’s not affected us.
“We hope we sign off in the right way but it’s never easy playing against Stoke because they’re a determined and powerful unit. We want to do well in our last home game and you never know… we just have to wait and see what happens."
As well as mounting a challenge for the title next season, Sir Alex hopes his players will be strong enough to go all the way in the Champions League after a bitterly disappointing quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich which clearly still rankles with him.
“The biggest disappointment [of the season] is the European Cup. It’s an absolute travesty we’re not in the final,” he declared.
“We were the best team [against Bayern] and unfortunately we took the disappointment [after the first leg] into the first half against Chelsea. It was a bad week for us and it might have cost us everything.
“We had a good opportunity to win the Champions League and as I say we should be in the final against Inter. I would have relished being in the final in Madrid.”