Book review: Ferguson fails to deliver

Dealing with massive expectations was always a key component of Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial career. It was something that he was used to delivering and yet the expectations of the follow up to his 1999 autobiography ‘Managing My Life’ were always going to be set too high. Ferguson and ghostwriter Paul Hayward were still expected to a deliver a tome worthy of the man. Unfortunately, they have combined to formulate a book that is lacking in structure, content and full of factual inaccuracies.

The format that one would expect of an autobiography would surely be chronological. It can hardly be the most complex system to write a series of events in the order that they happened, perhaps even season by season, thereby giving a sense of flow and continuation to the events. What we are given instead is a book that doesn’t read as an autobiography at all, merely a series of Ferguson monologues on various events and people. We begin in 2001, but instead of focussing on seasons and the various events of them, we are ‘treated’ to chapters on David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, as well as other chapters devoted to Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona and Manchester City. Whereas the legendary Hugh McIlvanney was able to structure Ferguson’s words expertly in 1999, Hayward has presented the work in a disjointed way that makes the flow of the book very awkward to read.

There is a feeling that certain episodes are glossed over or ignored completely. which gives me the sense that we are not getting the full picture. One such example is when discussing the Rio Ferdinand missed drugs test, Ferguson writes “Rio Ferdinand was not a drug taker. We would have known. It shows in their eyes.” The obvious question would be in whose eyes has Sir Alex looked to see a drug taker? Again more questions that go unanswered. Some events are covered in the briefest of ways. Much has been said about the coverage given to Ferguson’s feud with the Coolmore Mafia, which ultimately lead to the arrival of the hated Glazers, although his comment regarding Roy Keane – “I could never understand his obsession with the Rock of Gibraltar affair”, perhaps speaks volumes.

Rio – Not a drug cheat. Courtesy of Gordon Flood

One area of detail that is sadly lacking relates to missed transfer targets. The ‘Ronaldinho Affair’ of 2003 is covered in one brief paragraph – “had he not said yes, then no to our offer”. No mention is made of the involvement of Peter Kenyon in the disastrous negotiations that saw United lose the Brazilian when he was seemingly in the bag. Additionally, there is no reference to Arjen Robben (who was shown around Carrington before signing for Chelsea)and Michael Essien (who was once on trial) amongst others who were missed out on at various times such as Aaron Ramsey, Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, Eden Hazard etc. What made Ferguson’s previous books fascinating was his analysis of potential targets – such as reviewing the various attributes of Stan Collymore, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Les Ferdinand in his diary of the ’94/95 season. This is sadly lacking on this occasion and the coverage of the failure to sign Ronaldinho is a sad indictment of the little detail given to this particularly interesting subject.

But at least it gets mentioned. Some events and players have been ignored completely. For many, one of the most defining moments in recent United history was Federico Macheda’s last minute goal against Aston Villa, which tipped the title balance in United’s direction following competition from Liverpool. Neither Macheda nor the goal are mentioned at all in the book. Young players who didn’t make the grade, but who would have had undoubtedly interesting stories are also ignored – Giuseppe Rossi, Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison are all omitted from the book. Even when honestly discussing his transfer mistakes between 2003 and 2006, while David Bellion, Kleberson and Djemba-Djemba are rightly acknowledged, the worst of the lot, Liam Miller is left out. Unless, like the rest of the United support, Fergie has tried to erase him from memory.

It is not to say that it is a book without insight. Ferguson describes the tactical threat that Barcelona posed in detail, although his contention that the hotel the players stayed in contributed most to the 2009 defeat will surely rank alongside his “grey shirts at The Dell” in the list of bad excuses. The description of Anderson when being scouted by Martin Ferguson as “Better than Rooney” will certainly raise eyebrows, and also call into question why he was played as a defensive midfielder if he was scouted as an attacking playmaker. Patrice Evra giving Fergie stick for giving William Prunier a two game trial is a highlight of the many anecdotes that are told and these are anecdotes that provide the reader with some insight to what goes on away from the spotlight of the media.

Patrice must have been feeling brave that day. Courtesy of Stanis?aw Wiedmid’

Unfortunately where the book falls down completely (alongside the aforementioned structural abomination) is the failure to conclusively check the content for accuracy, and that leads us to…

The Mistakes

The expectation in using a ghostwriter such as Paul Hayward would presumably be that he would check the contents of Fergie’s recollections with a fine tooth-comb. Without wishing to be disrespectful to Fergie, he’s a 70 year old man recalling events and incidents from 10, 20, in some cases 30 years ago and surely an experienced journalist such as Hayward would be ideal for proof reading the minutiae of the book. Sadly this hasn’t happened and I’ve had fun spotting the mistakes. Thus far, I’ve counted the following:-

1) Page 94 – When talking about Juan Veron – “There was another with Gabriel Heinze at Portsmouth. Heinze was ready to fight him.” All well and good, except that Veron was sold to Chelsea in 2003 and Heinze arrived from PSG in 2004.

2) Page 43 – Makes a point about an Irwin mistake allowing Dennis Bergkamp to score late in the game and saying to the press “he’s been with me 8 or 9 years and never made a mistake”.

Arsenal 1 United 0 5/11/95 – Bergkamp 14 mins – following Irwin mistake.

3) Page 46 – Refers to Peter Schmeichel playing upfront late on against on Wimbledon in the Cup to chase a goal and leaving Irwin back on the halfway line against John Fashanu. (Assuming he’s referring to the 96/97 Cup 4th round replay United lost 1-0 at Selhurst Park).

Fashanu signed for Aston Villa in ’94 and retired after a Ryan Giggs tackle in February ’95 which left him with a snapped Achilles tendon.

4) Page 315 - Says United scored only one goal in the second half in the 2-0 home win over Swansea at the end of 11-12. Both goals were scored in the first half.

5) Page 247 – About the Moscow Champions League Final penalty shootout. Fergie’s recollection is a complete clusterfuck. Claims “Edwin kept diving to his right. Except for the penultimate kick which Salomon Kalou took, when Edwin dived to his left”

VDS dived to his left for most of the penalties, but dived to his right for Kalou’s penalty.

6) Page 307 - Talks about John O’Shea smiling broadly when Ferguson came onto the pitch for the presentation of the naming of the stand. O’Shea was neither in the first XI or on the bench that day for Sunderland.

7) Page 178 - Talking about Gianfranco Zola skinning Gary Pallister before scoring at Stamford Bridge in ’97. “Oh the stick Pally got that day. Bryan Robson said ‘Any chance of you staying on your feet?”. Which was an astute observation considering he was managing Middlesboro to a 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle at exactly the same time.

8) Page 229 – When talking about Henrik Larsson’s last game at Middlesbrough in the cup:- “we were winning 2-1 and Henrik went back to play in midfield and ran his balls off” United were actually losing 2-1 but forced a replay thanks to a Ronaldo penalty.

9) Page 349:- ”Andrea Pirlo’s passing rate for Milan had been 75%. When we played them with Ji-Sung Park in the hounding role we reduced Pirlo’s strike rate to 25%.” Does Hayward seriously, seriously expect us to believe that Andrea Fucking Pirlo gave the ball away three out of four times in a Champions League game for an entire 90 minutes? Jesus wept.

Much has already been said about Fergie’s decision to comment upon individual players. As has been well publicised, the likes of Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney all face criticism of some sorts. Ex-players such as Mark Bosnich, Owen Hargreaves, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez receive criticism of various forms and even current players do so such as Nani (blamed in the 2012 1-0 defeat at The Etihad) and Antonio Valencia (criticised for his performance against Barcelona in 2011). What is disappointing is that players who have served Ferguson loyally are in many cases belittled, where instead surely a respectful comment would be better served. Hargreaves for example played through massive pain in 2007-08 to an outstanding level to help the club win the league and Champions League and doesn’t deserve to be singled out in this way.

If Fergie is insistent on honesty throughout the book as a justification for all of these criticisms, would it have been refreshing for him to deliver an equally honest appraisal of the Glazer family and their ownership and focus on how he was hamstrung by the lack of transfer funds?? Unfortunately, it appears that ex-players remain far easier targets than the owners.

In summary, this could have been a compelling book. It sadly isn’t due to a variety of features. The structure is nonsensical, important issues and players are either ignored or hurriedly glossed over and there are factual mistakes littered throughout. While it remains interesting, the sense remains that there is a lot more that could be said and we are only hearing whatever Ferguson wants us to. That the master of media manipulation should maintain such a stance should not be surprising. However, when paying £15+ for the privilege, the reader should expect a full and frank explanation of events as seen in the best autobiographies (McGrath, Keane, Gascoigne, Collymore etc). Such is the feeling of missing content and lack of detail, that I wouldn’t be surprised if another edition was around the corner. Lets hope if there is, that it resembles the McIlvanney version rather than this one.