to European glory
UNITED TOAST FERGUSONS'S PARTY PIECE
to European glory
DAWN had crept over Barcelona and turned into morning
yesterday when the staff at the hotel where Manchester
United were celebrating began to beg the players to wind up
a party that still seemed to be in full swing. They wanted
to set the tables for breakfast.
Some of the players, still wearing their European Cup
winner's medals, succumbed finally to the exhaustion that
adrenalin had been keeping at bay and returned to their
rooms. Others wandered out into the deserted streets and
towards the port.
They came across some Bayern Munich supporters there, as
crumpled and as broken as the team that they had vanquished
the night before in the Nou Camp here. They commiserated
with them for a while and mulled over the incredible events
of the night before.
Then they made their way back to the hotel and readied
themselves for the journey home, still scarcely able to take
in the fact that they had just completed the most dramatic
comeback in the history of the world's leading club
competition.
Like all of us, they were full of wonder at how close they
had come to losing, about how exhilarating victory felt. "I
knew our time was almost up," David Beckham said. "I looked
around and I saw the cup being carried down to the pitch
with Bayern Munich colours on it. Two minutes later, I had
it in my own hands and it was ours."
By then, Alex Ferguson, the manager, had appeared, beaming
broadly. He sat outside on a first-floor terrace, the noise
of water from a roaring fountain below calming his racing
thoughts. His voice was hoarse with elation and fatigue.
His words, though, were clear and emphatic. Perhaps it was a
trick of the mind, but they seemed to carry even more
authority than usual. It was as if he had taken the final
leap into greatness with his team the night before.
He spoke of the drive that he still had, of his
determination not to go quietly or without further success
in what he has said will be the last three years of his
career. Yet there was a sense of peacefulness about him,
too, a sense of completion and fulfilment.
And for us, there was an inkling of what it might have been
like to have sat and listened to the wisdom of Sir Matt
Busby the day after George Best and Bobby Charlton had
helped him to the European Cup 31 years ago.
Ferguson will not dwell in anyone's shadow any more. His
domestic achievements had already brought him most of the
way into the sunlight. The fact that United had just
completed an unprecedented treble, and that they had done it
by performing a miracle of footballing resurrection,
completed the transformation.
It made it more special that it had happened on the day that
would have been Busby's 90th birthday, that United will now
be able to associate the name of Munich with something that
is a symbol of the club's rejuvenation and rebirth, not just
a lasting reminder of the tragedy and misery of an air
disaster.
For most of the match, though, that kind of jubilation and
catharsis had seemed a world away. Bayern had taken the lead
through Mario Basler in the sixth minute and, as United
toiled, had hit the woodwork twice in the second half.
Ferguson had reconciled himself to defeat, to trying again
next year, before two corners from Beckham had yielded an
injury-time equaliser from Teddy Sheringham and a winner 92
seconds later from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his fellow
substitute, that sent the United section of the crowd into
delirium.
"We would have had no reason to be disappointed after the
season we had had, but I was gearing up to facing the
question about: 'Do you think you will ever win it?' "
Ferguson said.
"I would have refused to have interrupted my way of life for
it. I was not going to let it obsess me. The European Cup
was always going to be the thing you strive for, but even
last night I was relaxed about it. I was accepting that we
were going to lose. I was not going to get myself twisted
inside about it because I have got a life to live. Now,
though, I do feel a sense of fulfilment that I did not feel
before.
"I think you go into your life with a determination that you
especially don't want to fail. I think that's the first
thing. When you sample success, that makes your main drive
from then on repeating that success.
"That survival mechanism inside you gives you a lot to
impart to the team and not giving in is part of it. You hope
that eventually, your team mirrors yourself and your
personality.
"I hope that part of the result of that is that 20 years
from now, when they talk about the chief characteristic of
this particular team, they will always be remembered for
their last-minute goals, for never giving in. The 1968 side
were men of their time and now my team cannot be ignored.
They are men of their time now.
"I mean, two goals in injury time, who would have thought
it? Maybe we were meant to win it. Maybe there was an
element of destiny. With Matt's birthday and Bayern Munich
all in there, I kept hoping there was a meaning to it. You
could tell Matt was looking down on me."
In the Nou Camp tunnel on Wednesday night, the players had
spoken of the debt that they owed to their manager. Peter
Schmeichel had acknowledged it by asking him to help him to
lift the trophy, Sheringham had said that the turning point
in the match was Ferguson's half-time team-talk.
Ferguson smiled when he was asked yesterday what he had
said. For a few seconds, there was just the sound of the
fountains. "I told them that the cup is only six feet away
from you at the end of the game," he said, "and if you lose,
you cannot touch it."
No doubt, Beckham had those words ringing in his mind when
he saw the European Cup being carried down, ready to be
presented to Bayern. He took the ball, placed it by the
corner flag and the rest is history
yesterday when the staff at the hotel where Manchester
United were celebrating began to beg the players to wind up
a party that still seemed to be in full swing. They wanted
to set the tables for breakfast.
Some of the players, still wearing their European Cup
winner's medals, succumbed finally to the exhaustion that
adrenalin had been keeping at bay and returned to their
rooms. Others wandered out into the deserted streets and
towards the port.
They came across some Bayern Munich supporters there, as
crumpled and as broken as the team that they had vanquished
the night before in the Nou Camp here. They commiserated
with them for a while and mulled over the incredible events
of the night before.
Then they made their way back to the hotel and readied
themselves for the journey home, still scarcely able to take
in the fact that they had just completed the most dramatic
comeback in the history of the world's leading club
competition.
Like all of us, they were full of wonder at how close they
had come to losing, about how exhilarating victory felt. "I
knew our time was almost up," David Beckham said. "I looked
around and I saw the cup being carried down to the pitch
with Bayern Munich colours on it. Two minutes later, I had
it in my own hands and it was ours."
By then, Alex Ferguson, the manager, had appeared, beaming
broadly. He sat outside on a first-floor terrace, the noise
of water from a roaring fountain below calming his racing
thoughts. His voice was hoarse with elation and fatigue.
His words, though, were clear and emphatic. Perhaps it was a
trick of the mind, but they seemed to carry even more
authority than usual. It was as if he had taken the final
leap into greatness with his team the night before.
He spoke of the drive that he still had, of his
determination not to go quietly or without further success
in what he has said will be the last three years of his
career. Yet there was a sense of peacefulness about him,
too, a sense of completion and fulfilment.
And for us, there was an inkling of what it might have been
like to have sat and listened to the wisdom of Sir Matt
Busby the day after George Best and Bobby Charlton had
helped him to the European Cup 31 years ago.
Ferguson will not dwell in anyone's shadow any more. His
domestic achievements had already brought him most of the
way into the sunlight. The fact that United had just
completed an unprecedented treble, and that they had done it
by performing a miracle of footballing resurrection,
completed the transformation.
It made it more special that it had happened on the day that
would have been Busby's 90th birthday, that United will now
be able to associate the name of Munich with something that
is a symbol of the club's rejuvenation and rebirth, not just
a lasting reminder of the tragedy and misery of an air
disaster.
For most of the match, though, that kind of jubilation and
catharsis had seemed a world away. Bayern had taken the lead
through Mario Basler in the sixth minute and, as United
toiled, had hit the woodwork twice in the second half.
Ferguson had reconciled himself to defeat, to trying again
next year, before two corners from Beckham had yielded an
injury-time equaliser from Teddy Sheringham and a winner 92
seconds later from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his fellow
substitute, that sent the United section of the crowd into
delirium.
"We would have had no reason to be disappointed after the
season we had had, but I was gearing up to facing the
question about: 'Do you think you will ever win it?' "
Ferguson said.
"I would have refused to have interrupted my way of life for
it. I was not going to let it obsess me. The European Cup
was always going to be the thing you strive for, but even
last night I was relaxed about it. I was accepting that we
were going to lose. I was not going to get myself twisted
inside about it because I have got a life to live. Now,
though, I do feel a sense of fulfilment that I did not feel
before.
"I think you go into your life with a determination that you
especially don't want to fail. I think that's the first
thing. When you sample success, that makes your main drive
from then on repeating that success.
"That survival mechanism inside you gives you a lot to
impart to the team and not giving in is part of it. You hope
that eventually, your team mirrors yourself and your
personality.
"I hope that part of the result of that is that 20 years
from now, when they talk about the chief characteristic of
this particular team, they will always be remembered for
their last-minute goals, for never giving in. The 1968 side
were men of their time and now my team cannot be ignored.
They are men of their time now.
"I mean, two goals in injury time, who would have thought
it? Maybe we were meant to win it. Maybe there was an
element of destiny. With Matt's birthday and Bayern Munich
all in there, I kept hoping there was a meaning to it. You
could tell Matt was looking down on me."
In the Nou Camp tunnel on Wednesday night, the players had
spoken of the debt that they owed to their manager. Peter
Schmeichel had acknowledged it by asking him to help him to
lift the trophy, Sheringham had said that the turning point
in the match was Ferguson's half-time team-talk.
Ferguson smiled when he was asked yesterday what he had
said. For a few seconds, there was just the sound of the
fountains. "I told them that the cup is only six feet away
from you at the end of the game," he said, "and if you lose,
you cannot touch it."
No doubt, Beckham had those words ringing in his mind when
he saw the European Cup being carried down, ready to be
presented to Bayern. He took the ball, placed it by the
corner flag and the rest is history