FERGIE AT VANISHING POINT
Sir Alex Ferguson will have been manager of Manchester United for 20 years next year, which in the Premiership's febrile climate is the very opposite of ephemeral. His achievements are also as solid as the Old Trafford stadium. Eight league titles, five FA Cups, an unsurpassable Treble. Yet Ferguson's popularity is also being hotly debated at the moment. At least a proportion of fans believe he is partly responsible for United's present woes and should go as soon as possible. And when Ferguson claimed the press had it in for him last week, a significant number of scribes piped up to confirm that his paranoia was well founded.
Individual members of the media certainly hold grudges against Ferguson. Legitimate ones, too. He has bullied or belittled them in the past and, now the United empire appears to be crumbling, it is payback time. Yet, as Roy Keane, might say he is not in his job to be popular.
Ferguson must have known people would get their own back if he gave them the chance and that is exactly what he and his team have done. There was a time when Ferguson could have ridden off into the sunset with knighthood and trophy haul still gleaming, swathed in unalloyed adoration from United fans and laughing to himself at the forced smiles of the various hacks he has crossed. But that time has gone.
Ferguson could have done with taking another hint from Keane and biting the bullet. His captain's departure was clumsily handled and a little acrimonious, though at least it was only a two-week sensation. When the time came to go, he knew it and went. Ferguson's departure has already taken three years, cost him much of his lustre, exposed some of his judgment and could easily take a greater toll in the coming months.
This was always the danger in Ferguson staying on to try to recapture past glory and go out on a high. Not just that he would fall short - he can hardly be blamed for failing to identify Chelsea as a major threat - but that he himself would become the story. For all Ferguson's understandable exasperation with interminable press conferences where he is asked questions about his job and his future that he cannot easily answer, this is all that has happened.
Just for the moment, now that the Keane and George Best stories have run their course, Manchester United are considerably less interesting than Sir Alex Ferguson. It did not have to be this way, but this is the way it has turned out. People know what United will do next. They will beat a few big teams and lose to a few little ones and end up finishing between second and fourth. Ferguson is more unpredictable. Wayne Rooney on a good day can still take the heat off his manager, though on most days Ferguson will now be supplying the drama.
He is not happy about this situation, to judge by the recent 74-second press conference that predictably rebounded on him, or his latest wheeze to hold simultaneous TV and newspaper briefings so that no one can stray off the topic. It is not a happy situation to be in for any of the interested parties, which is why so many people warned him to be careful three years ago. He is wrong, however, if he thinks the media as a whole is against him. He has provided far too much good copy for that.
Individual members of the media certainly hold grudges against Ferguson. Legitimate ones, too. He has bullied or belittled them in the past and, now the United empire appears to be crumbling, it is payback time. Yet, as Roy Keane, might say he is not in his job to be popular.
Ferguson must have known people would get their own back if he gave them the chance and that is exactly what he and his team have done. There was a time when Ferguson could have ridden off into the sunset with knighthood and trophy haul still gleaming, swathed in unalloyed adoration from United fans and laughing to himself at the forced smiles of the various hacks he has crossed. But that time has gone.
Ferguson could have done with taking another hint from Keane and biting the bullet. His captain's departure was clumsily handled and a little acrimonious, though at least it was only a two-week sensation. When the time came to go, he knew it and went. Ferguson's departure has already taken three years, cost him much of his lustre, exposed some of his judgment and could easily take a greater toll in the coming months.
This was always the danger in Ferguson staying on to try to recapture past glory and go out on a high. Not just that he would fall short - he can hardly be blamed for failing to identify Chelsea as a major threat - but that he himself would become the story. For all Ferguson's understandable exasperation with interminable press conferences where he is asked questions about his job and his future that he cannot easily answer, this is all that has happened.
Just for the moment, now that the Keane and George Best stories have run their course, Manchester United are considerably less interesting than Sir Alex Ferguson. It did not have to be this way, but this is the way it has turned out. People know what United will do next. They will beat a few big teams and lose to a few little ones and end up finishing between second and fourth. Ferguson is more unpredictable. Wayne Rooney on a good day can still take the heat off his manager, though on most days Ferguson will now be supplying the drama.
He is not happy about this situation, to judge by the recent 74-second press conference that predictably rebounded on him, or his latest wheeze to hold simultaneous TV and newspaper briefings so that no one can stray off the topic. It is not a happy situation to be in for any of the interested parties, which is why so many people warned him to be careful three years ago. He is wrong, however, if he thinks the media as a whole is against him. He has provided far too much good copy for that.