'Football - Bloody Hell!': The Story of Alex Ferguson

296 Pages·2010·1.24 MB·English

by  Barclay Patrick

Also by Patrick Barclay
Mourinho: Anatomy of a Winner
BLOODY HELL!
The Biography of Alex Ferguson
Patrick Barclay
Yellow Jersey Press
LONDON
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Epub ISBN: 9781407084718
Version 1.0
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Published by Yellow Jersey Press 2010
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Copyright © Patrick Barclay 2010
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Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed by Special Rider Music. All rights reserved.
International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.
Extracts from The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell (Hutchinson, 2007) First published in Great
Britain in 2010 by
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To The Moon
Contents
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT
Among the Idiots
A Hero and an Inspiration
The Rich Loam of Home
IN THE BEGINNING
A Govan Childhood
Street and School
Tools of the Trade
A Saint at Perth
Into Europe with Dunfermline
Learning to Coach
Playing for Scotland?
Rangers: Welcome to Hell
Fighting at Falkirk
The University of Life
EAST STIRLINGSHIRE
Small Wonders
SAINTS ALIVE: THE LOVE STREET YEARS
Building on Baldy
Stark Improvement
A Nest of Vipers
Rancour and Defeat
The Forgotten Man
ABERDEEN
An Emotional Battering
Ferguson is Working
Making Winners
Chastened by Liverpool
Strachan and the Shankly Tapes
Fooling Bayern
Beating Real Madrid
Flailing at Ferguson
Great Stuff, Lads
After Strachan and McGhee
Doing Deals
Snubbing McGhee
Life and Death with Big Jock
Aberdeen, Itchy Feet and Scotland
It’s Barcelona or United
At the World Cup
Pittodrie Postscript
MANCHESTER UNITED: EARLY DAYS
A Chat with Bobby Charlton
Drinking to the Past
Turning Off the Fans
Youth Culture
Jousting with Graham
Strachan Leaves the Nest
Welcome to Hell
You Bastard!
UNITED: STEPS TO GREATNESS
Beating Barcelona
Dreaming On
Darren’s Hamstring
Ah, Cantona . . .
Seeing Red, Seeing Himself
European Nights Off
UNITED: APRÈS MOI LE TREBLE
Ted Beckham’s Lad
I Will Love It . . . Love It
Putting on Spectacles
New Labour: His Part in its Victory
Arsenal on Top
Le Déluge
Winning Plenty Without Kidd
What a Knight
Managing to Hurt
UNITED: THE ENCORE
Goals Galore
Threatening to Quit
The Business with Jason
No Wenger, No Eriksson – Ferguson Stays
To a Long Life
The Iraq Diaries
The Rock and a Hard Place
Magnier’s Gloves Come Off
Sadder and Wiser
UNITED: RONALDO AND ROONEY
Wine with Mourinho
Pizza with Wenger
Fighting Back
Meet the Glazers
The Winter of Keane
José and the Boss
Better than Quaresma
After Schmeichel, van der Sar
Talking a Blinder
Rafa’s Rant
Beaten by Barca
Ronaldo Goes, the Debt Grows
No More the Champions
THE LEGACY
‘Not Today but Tomorrow’
Heroes
Power and Control
Where Stands He?
Loyal to the Last
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
1. Alex Ferguson reading the headlines (Offside); Dunfermline
Athletic (Offside)
2. Rangers manager Scot Symon with his assistant manager David
White; Rangers’ Alex Ferguson looks innocent while Celtic’s Billy
McNeill is injured on the floor (both PA Photos); Ferguson takes on Billy
McNeill (Colorsport) 3. Ferguson at Falkirk (Offside)
4. Ferguson with his family, 1977 (Getty Images); Ferguson at the
industrial tribunal, 1978 (Press Association) 5. Aberdeen celebrate winning
the league in 1980; Gordon Strachan celebrates scoring in the 1982 Scottish
Cup final (both PA Photos) 6. Aberdeen’s Mark McGhee during the 1983
European Cup Winners’ Cup Final against Real Madrid (Colorsport);
Patrick Barclay, Gordon Simpson and Gerry McNee (courtesy of the
author) 7. Ferguson on open-top bus shows off the European Cup Winners’
Cup trophy (Offside); Aberdeen line up for the 1983 Scottish Cup final 8.
Jock Stein with Ferguson (PA Photos); Scotland team for World Cup
match with Denmark; Graeme Souness (both Getty Images) 9. Martin
Edwards at a press conference with Alex Ferguson (PA Photos); Bryan
Robson; Norman Whiteside (both Colorsport); Paul McGrath (Getty
Images) 10. Mark Robins celebrates (PA Photos); Lee Martin scores the
winning goal in the 1990 FA Cup final; Les Sealey and Ferguson celebrate
winning the 1990 FA Cup (both Getty Images) 11. Mark Hughes scores
against Barcelona in the 1991 European Cup Winners Cup final
(Colorsport); Hughes celebrates winning the trophy (Getty Images) 12.
Brian McClair, Steve Bruce, Dennis Irwin, Hughes and Mike Phelan hold
the FA Premiership trophy, 1993 (Getty Images); Eric Cantona (PA
Photos); Manchester United celebrate Cantona’s goal in the 1994 FA Cup
final (Getty Images) 13. Eric Cantona scores in the 1996 FA Cup final (PA
Photos); Ferguson with the FA Cup and the Premiership trophy (Getty
Images) 14. Teddy Sheringham celebrates scoring in the Champions
League final (PA Photos); Ole Gunnar Solskjær scores against Bayern
Munich (Colorsport) 15. Teddy Sheringham and David Beckham with the
Champions League trophy (Getty Images); Ferguson with the Champions
League trophy (PA Photos) 16. David Beckham (PA Photos); David
Beckham and Juan Sebastián Verón; David and Victoria Beckham (both
Getty Images) 17. Ferguson and Alastair Campbell (Getty Images); Jason
Ferguson; John Magnier; Rock of Gibraltar (all PA Photos) 18. Kenny
Dalglish (PA Photos); George Graham (Getty Images); Ferguson and Kevin