Alex Fergusons book out today

[vegster]

No mention of the Rock of Gibraltar affair, seems there are some people Fergie regrets crossing

Was that Fergies Bonus from Coolmore ? If I remember correctly it was allegedly "loaned " to him and won quite a few races but when it was retired and sent to stud Fergie wanted the stud fees too ? I remember him losing the legal action. Would have been interesting to see how he thought of that.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

There's a lot to like about Ferguson and a lot to intensely dislike but even he would never lift the lid on a lot of the stuff he dealt with over the years. Football is a dirty business. To survive at the Biggest club in the PL and one of the biggest in the world he must have buried a lot of bodies.

 

[red star portslade]

I personally can't stand the man, but on the rock of gibraltar issue I think he was 100% correct, you cant gift someone 50% of something and then suddenly decide to take it back when it proves more valuable than originally thought.

I've been told, (maybe incorrectly) he was actually offered (generously) a share of future stud earnings (which over a ten year period would have earned him over £10m , but took the greedy option of a £2.5m pay off. There's more to this than meets the eye.

 

[Mellotron]

There's a lot to like about Ferguson and a lot to intensely dislike but even he would never lift the lid on a lot of the stuff he dealt with over the years. Football is a dirty business. To survive at the Biggest club in the PL and one of the biggest in the world he must have buried a lot of bodies.

That's libellous. Suggesting SAF is a serial killer is a bit harsh for me.

 

[DumLum]

I wouldn't use the book as toilet paper. Horrid man, 25 years+ of intimidation of players, officials and the press

This.

However, I would like to read it, problem is I'm not putting a penny in that terrible man's pocket.

 

[joeinbrighton]

That's your opinion. As far as I am concerned, he is not. Although I would like to second the opinion that he appears to be an odious, self-centred ars****.

Is your username a clue as to who you believe is the greatest manager?

 

[Commander]

That's your opinion. As far as I am concerned, he is not. Although I would like to second the opinion that he appears to be an odious, self-centred ars****.

I'd say it's about as close to fact as an opinion could be. Who would you claim was better?

 

[red star portslade]

Finally, after 26 years, a journalist asking the questions that none of his spineless, shithouse colleagues dared to.

[video]http://bcove.me/4j7mm5ok[/video]


Too little, too late but well done Jon Snow anyway. I feel his handling of the questions was poor btw. He didn't answer many of them especially at the beginning and really struggled with the more meaty ones later on. Not used to it, I imagine.

 

[Mutts Nuts]

Wonder what will be in it and who will get the hairdryer treatment ? Strange that it wasn't serialised first

Cauliflower nose lays into Beckham and Keene amongst others which shows what little class he has, or respect for the players that helped him with the success that he had at United.You don`t get much lower than washing your dirty linen in public, thats the sort of book you expect from Katie Price not a Premier League football manager.There is a good review of the book in todays i.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Cauliflower nose lays into Beckham and Keene amongst others which shows what little class he has, or respect for the players that helped him with the success that he had at United.You don`t get much lower than washing your dirty linen in public, thats the sort of book you expect from Katie Price not a Premier League football manager.

The other side of the argument is that Ferguson is addressing the reasons why Beckham and Keane left, from his perspective. Both players were very popular with Manchester United supporters and so he is addressing their supporters (who, ultimately are the primary target group for his book) in offering an explanation for why he felt it was necessary to sell players that they worshipped.

 

[vegster]

Finally, after 26 years, a journalist asking the questions that none of his spineless, shithouse colleagues dared to.

[video]http://bcove.me/4j7mm5ok[/video]


Too little, too late but well done Jon Snow anyway. I feel his handling of the questions was poor btw. He didn't answer many of them especially at the beginning and really struggled with the more meaty ones later on. Not used to it, I imagine.

He struggled with being asked about his views on the Glazers, looks like he was able to subjugate his " Working Class Socialist " views for a nice training ground.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Cauliflower nose lays into Beckham and Keene amongst others which shows what little class he has, or respect for the players that helped him with the success that he had at United.You don`t get much lower than washing your dirty linen in public, thats the sort of book you expect from Katie Price not a Premier League football manager.There is a good review of the book in todays i.

I suppose it's a shame Beckham and Keane have never been able to put their point across in a well publicised book release.....

I wonder if Mick McCarthy is having a rye smile with regards to Keane's pronouncements on loyalty!?

 

[Pavilionaire]

My thoughts exactly re Keane and loyalty.

I never liked SAF much but the book does sound like a good read. The fact the likes of Keane are kicking off will no doubt shift a few more copies.

 

[Ernest]

Was that Fergies Bonus from Coolmore ? If I remember correctly it was allegedly "loaned " to him and won quite a few races but when it was retired and sent to stud Fergie wanted the stud fees too ? I remember him losing the legal action. Would have been interesting to see how he thought of that.

Apparantly it was the rift over the horse that led the Glazers to taking over and Man U now being £700million in debt from nothing. I would have thought the whole scenario would have been worthy of an explanation in his book

 

[El Presidente]

And the greatest manager that ever lived. Surely that combination must make for some interesting reading?

Really? On what do you base that assertion?

Domestically he has been fantastic, but having more money than most other clubs has meant that he had an advantage over 17/18 clubs each season simply due to budget.

From a European perspective, two CL wins in 20 years is at best moderate, given the financial advantages he has had during the period, especially as his team were outplayed for 89 minutes in one match, and only won on penalties in the other.

 

[El Presidente]

Apparantly it was the rift over the horse that led the Glazers to taking over and Man U now being £700million in debt from nothing. I would have thought the whole scenario would have been worthy of an explanation in his book

A subject on which he is strangely silent.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Apparantly it was the rift over the horse that led the Glazers to taking over and Man U now being £700million in debt from nothing. I would have thought the whole scenario would have been worthy of an explanation in his book

A subject on which he is strangely silent.

JP and Magnier selling was nothing to do with SAF, they were actually the last remaining major shareholders, the Glaziers had already bought up 30% at that point and offered a price that made JP and Magnier a cool £70m profit on a 4 year investment.

SAF not mentioning the whole thing has more to do with what Magnier supposedly unearthed for the alleged '99 questions' that he planned to ask at a MU AGM....

 

[Ernest]

A subject on which he is strangely silent.

That whole story about the horse, the Glazers etc would make very interesting reading but will anyone write about it ?

 

[red star portslade]

A subject on which he is strangely silent.

I'm on my phone, so i don't know if this will copy. But it makes interesting reading.

Fergie's red herring and the truth behind the murky Rock
Having researched the background to the feud between Alex Ferguson and the BBC, it has become pretty clear that Alex Ferguson may well have created this feud as a smokescreen to obscure our view of the real dirt. They key to the whole affair lies in a racehorse, the Rock of Gibraltar.

Firstly let's go back a few years to 2001 when John Magnier and JP McManus first began buying shares in Manchester United. Alex Ferguson was friendly with these men and was a keen dabbler in horse racing. At around the same time the racehorse, the Rock of Gibraltar, was carving out a reputation as one of the best around. Interestingly the 'gift' of 50% of the Rock to Alex Ferguson occurred at around the very same time that Magnier and McManus began acquiring their first shares in Manchester United. The fact that a senior manager in a PLC should be accepting such a large gift from a major shareholder is dubious in itself.

Whatever the truth behind the Rock, Ferguson was the 50% registered owner and as the horse's value skyrocketed with his success, it became clear that the potential stud value of the Rock would be huge (up to 10million/year). Whether Ferguson had any claim to the stud money was the root of the long running and ugly dispute which would ultimately see Ferguson sue Magnier for 50% of the stud fees.

There is some more interesting background to this affair. Magnier and McManus (via Cubic Expression Ltd) acquired another big chunk of Manchester United from BSkyB; Murdoch's company had their takeover of MUFC blocked which then resulted in them relinquishing their 9.9% stake to the Irishmen. It would therefore appear that Magnier and McManus are on pretty decent terms with Mr Murdoch, no wonder the Murdoch media empire has been so quiet on the Magnier/Ferguson/BBC saga.

Thus the informal gift of the Rock led to a dispute which turned friends into bitter enemies. Magnier was not going to give in easily, he vigorously denied Ferguson's claims and immediately hired Kroll Inc, Wall Street's so called 'private eye', to begin the digging into Ferguson's dodgy dealings. Kroll dug the dirt and this led to the infamous '99 questions' for the board. These 99 questions exposed Alex Ferguson and his son, Jason, as well as casting doubt over the honesty of 13 Manchester United transfers.

As the ante was upped by Magnier, Ferguson realised he was out of his depth and buckled by accepting a tiny settlement fee, of note this was significantly less than he had previously been offered to keep things away from a court. This was in March 2004, a key fact is that this was two months before the BBC's program that detailed some of Magnier's infamous 99 questions.

Ferguson was clearly rather scared that his dirty linen was to be aired in public. This was because neither Magnier or McManus had a seat on the board, meaning that they could at any point have called an emergency general meeting to discuss the 99 questions in front of all shareholders. Ferguson clearly had a lot to hide, he had bitten off more than he could chew in taking on Magnier, Magnier had found out things that Ferguson didn't want to see the light of day, Ferguson didn't want the 99 questions to be made public and he quickly dropped the lawsuit.

The BBC program was actually a bit of a damp squib, they were just feeding off Manchester United's internal review which had been forced upon the club by Magnier's 99 questions. Even the club's own internal review found significant problems and irregularities in numerous transfers, as well as breaches of FIFA rules. The release of this internal review was moved forward to reduce the impact of the BBC program 'Ferguson and son' which was initially due to precede it.

In reality Ferguson is probably deflecting anger towards the BBC because he is still fuming that he was completely outmanoeuvred by John Magnier. A man that is used to bullying people into accepting his way was bullied into submission by a more powerful man and made to look very foolish in the process. Alex Ferguson came very close to losing his job in the process, he was also very close to having all his dirty linen washed in public. Magnier and McManus walked away with a huge profit, selling their stake to Malcolm Glazer in 2005.

The wonderful irony of this whole affair is that so much rage is now being directed at people who do not deserve it. Firstly Ferguson's rage with the BBC is completely misplaced, he should be looking long and hard at his own dodgy dealings, he also should never have taken on John Magnier and the muck raking would never have happened. Secondly Manchester United fans direct so much rage towards the Glazers when it is likely if it were not for Alex Ferguson's lawsuit then they would have far more benevolent dictators in charge, it is Alex Ferguson's greed that is really to blame, still it is easier to be angry with anyone other than your beloved bully of a manager.

This story really does have it all, blackmail, dodgy dealings, corruption, horseracing and football. Strangely the Premier League, the FA and FIFA have never looked into the dirt that Magnier exposed at Old Trafford. It is likely that the 99 questions and Kroll's investigative findings have been locked in a safe somewhere in Ireland, just in case in the not too distant future someone needs reminding who their daddy is.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Really? On what do you base that assertion?

Domestically he has been fantastic, but having more money than most other clubs has meant that he had an advantage over 17/18 clubs each season simply due to budget.

From a European perspective, two CL wins in 20 years is at best moderate, given the financial advantages he has had during the period, especially as his team were outplayed for 89 minutes in one match, and only won on penalties in the other.

Exactly.

A very good MANCHESTER UNITED manager, certainly. But I don't think you can say he is the best manager of all time when there are others with more varied CVs, more trophies and more impressive records when factoring in their club's size and budget etc.