‘It is not only on football matters that Sir Alex Ferguson
is finding his judgment questioned and his authority
challenged. Just as his most rudimentary instructions have
been ignored by the Manchester United defence of late, so a
plea to supporters has fallen on deaf ears, with even a
series of telephone calls failing to persuade them to drop
their planned protest against John Magnier at the Cheltenham
Festival on March 18.
‘The United manager told the supporters that the feud — over
stud rights for Rock Of Gibraltar, the racehorse — was a
private matter, but they countered by pointing out that it
had ceased to be anything of the sort. With Magnier, via the
28.89 per cent shareholding he owns with J. P. McManus
through their Cubic Expression investment vehicle, demanding
changes in the way that the club is run — initially at
boardroom level, but with potentially dire consequences for
Ferguson in the long term — it is easy to see why the
supporters feel that this private matter affects more than
the two people in question. A statement by the self-styled
Manchester Education Committee, who organised a protest at
Hereford on February 6, aped Ferguson by telling him not to
interfere with their business.
‘As well as mimicking Ferguson’s statement, issued only
hours earlier, the message implies that the United manager’s
statement was forced upon him by the board, who, in turn,
had been warned in a letter from Cubic Expression on
February 3 that a demonstration at Cheltenham could damage
the club’s reputation.’