''Intelligence! They say he's (Wenger) intelligent, right? Speaks five languages! I've got a fifteen year boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages"
On Eric's king fu kick:
"I said to the directors at the time, 'If that had been me, I'd have probably done exactly the same.' They said, 'Don't dare say that, don't ever say that. Christ the press will slaughter you.'"
On not retiring at the end of the last season:
"It was my sixtieth birthday. We'd been out for a dinner with the family, come back, few drinks, I'd gone for a sleep on the couch. Cathy [his wife] came through, she says, "I've had a chat with the boys [his sons]. They don't think you should retire. Think you're off your head. Even if United have got a new manager you should go elsewhere." I needed someone to kick me. I wouldn't have done it myself.
"I left it quite late to change my mind. A week or two later might have been too late. They were quite a long way down the line to finding a replacement. When I went back to them [to tell them I wanted to stay] I think they nearly fainted. It was a terrible problem for them, that. But I think I was entitled to change my mind, and at the end of the day I got there in time.
Fergie's definition of failure:
"What counts as failure now? 'Not winning a trophy."
On how many grandchildren he has:
"Eight I think, seven or eight is it?" Jason who's present at the interview interrupts to say: "six Dad"
"Jason's got four. I've told him that's the end."
And this taken from the interview itself: (the interviewer writing)
God knows why, I asked Sir Alex Ferguson if he was in touch with his feminine side. For the only time in the interview he looked perplexed. "In touch with what?" Er, I stammered, your feminine side, er, in the jargon? Now he looked utterly bewildered. I had to think rapidly: are you a good listener? "Oh aye", he agreed, his face clearing, "Good listener, aye."
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