Robert Phillip in the Telegraph can’t imagine Gill, or anyone for that matter, being able to sack Sir Alex:
‘Gill knows far more than I do about the boardroom machinations of Manchester United plc, but this I do know, Sir Alex Ferguson is no more sackable than HM the Queen; he may choose to abdicate if United fail to win the FA Cup come May, then suffer another barren season at home and in Europe in 2005-06 but his loyal subjects - the fans who buy the corporate boxes, season tickets and vast array of club merchandising - simply would not condone his dethronement.
‘Past glories may count for little in the brave new world of the football plc, but in the grandstands of Old Trafford Fergie is now held in exactly the same affection as Sir Matt Busby before him. The company grey suits may try to undermine Fergie's iconic status by blithely floating the notion of his being "sackable" but try selling that to any Man Utd fan who can remember Sir Alex's first game as manager on Nov 8, 1986; inheriting a team from Ron Atkinson lying second from bottom of the old First Division and without a League title success since 1967, a threadbare United lost 2-0 to Oxford United at the Manor Ground. "When I sat down with the directors in mid-season," recalled Fergie, "I told them we needed nine new players to win the championship."
‘The first player he tried to sign following his arrival from Aberdeen was Ajax striker Marco van Basten, who probably took one look at the clubs then lying above United in the league - Norwich City, Luton Town, Watford, Wimbledon and Oxford - and joined AC Milan instead. Eighteen and a bit years on, Sir Alex has given the club eight Premierships, five FA Cups and a Champions League trophy. Oh, yes, they have also won the League Cup, the European Cup-Winners' Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1999. Few players today would reject the opportunity of joining a team in which the likes Graeme Hogg, Clayton Blackmore, Peter Davenport and Mick Duxbury have given way to Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rio Ferdinand.’
The Times seize on the continuing suggestions from Fergie that Keano may be the next manager, and remind us of what happened when Wilf McGuiness took over from Sir Matt:
‘“I would hate to be the man who had to follow Matt Busby as manager of Manchester United. It is virtually impossible for anyone to take over the Old Trafford throne and rule with as much glory and success as has befallen Matt.” — Joe Mercer, 1968
‘Fast-Forward 37 years and Manchester United now find themselves in an almost identical predicament with Sir Alex Ferguson as the one they faced with Sir Matt Busby. Busby’s decision to relinquish the managerial throne in 1969 was, as Tommy Docherty described it, “more like an abdication than a resignation”. He had ruled the roost at Old Trafford for 24 years and the prospect of him stepping down (or aside, as it transpired) was unthinkable to the players, who hung on his every word.
‘Much the same applies to Ferguson. Having presided over the most successful spell in the club’s history — his achievements in 18½ years make even Busby’s seem modest — Ferguson has become both deity and father figure to many of his players and, in effect, the soul of the club.
‘It was Brian Clough, Keane’s former manager at Nottingham Forest, who lambasted Busby in a newspaper article for recommending Wilf McGuinness — a former Busby Babe then on the United coaching staff — to succeed him as United manager and the decision indeed backfired, so much so that the club were arguably counting the cost up until Ferguson’s appointment in 1986. “It is a long time since we stopped offering sacrificial lambs in this country, but McGuinness was virtually one,” Clough, then Derby County manager, said. “He never had a chance.”
‘“The biggest problem I had was gaining the respect of the players,” McGuinness said yesterday. “I was their pal and then all of a sudden I was the man dropping them. Roy Keane is a tremendous leader and has the utmost respect of every player at the club, but following a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson is always going to be difficult, just as it was for me following Sir Matt Busby.