(Image from here)"I never regard myself as bullet-proof," Ferguson says. "I might be bullet-proof at this very moment, before a ball has been kicked, but I have always worked under a fear of failure. I think every manager would say the same. Failure for Manchester United might be a poor performance against Birmingham in the first game. What you have won before counts for nothing, in that respect, because the most important thing is keeping a winning mentality going from day to day. I've just got something in me that doesn't think about anything else but winning. You try to transmit that mentality to the players – that winning is what matters and losing matters even more."The Mail On Sunday puts his comments in the context of going for an unprecedented 4th straight title:
Creating history is one of Sir Alex Ferguson's main motivations for embarking on a 36th season in football management and today is the start of a campaign that could see him eclipse the legendary Herbert Chapman and Bob Paisley with an unprecedented fourth league championship in a row. ...Now Ferguson has a second chance at the 'Quadruple'. He is assured of his place in the pantheon of managers even if he fails to win another match in his life, but, typically, he refuses to see things that way.
As the sacking of Bryan Gunn at Norwich after only one game illustrates, football management is a precarious business. And memories of 2005-06 when there were calls for Ferguson's head after United failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League are still fresh in the mind despite the plaudits, and trophies, that have come his way since.
Embodied by Ferguson, Scotland seems to breed tough characters who can deal with the pressure, who boast the work ethic required for their mad, often lonely profession. The Old Firm may never get to join the Premier League, but Scottish managers are here in force, forming one fifth of the English elite.
Ferguson, so proud of his Govan roots, faces an opening week against the Birmingham City of Alex McLeish (Barrhead) today and the Burnley of Owen Coyle (Paisley) on Wednesday. David Moyes, the Bearsden-born architect behind Everton's revival in recent years, makes up this high-quality quartet.
Accepted wisdom about the proliferation of good Scottish managers usually focuses on their deep passion for football, this unwillingness to countenance life outside the game even when hanging up their boots as players. Football is what they know, it's what they do and it has shaped their every waking hour since the cradle. So they stay in the game as managers or coaches, many having acquired their badges at the celebrated coaching centre at Largs.
Generalisations are dangerous, particularly with such multi-faceted individuals as Ferguson and Moyes, but there is undoubtedly a desire amongst those Scots who have come south to prove themselves; the thought of returning home a failure stalks them, drives them on.
The other quote doing the rounds is a continuation of what Sir Alex was saying after the Community Shield, on players staying down, from The Sunday Mirror:
“This unwritten rule has come into the game and opportunist players have just overdone it. They’ve overcooked the whole thing.
“Last week Evra was through and into the last third of the pitch, the referee stops it and Ballack gets up. It could have been a serious problem so he stopped the game.
“Then when Evra is fouled, Chelsea don’t kick the ball out, the referee plays on and we lose a goal.
“It is a grey area and something has to be done about it.
“The players are killing the game. The players’ unprofessionalism is killing the game. Not the referees. The problem is how much the referee can tolerate when the players lie down pretending to be injured.
“There is no doubt that this unwritten rule about players kicking the ball into touch has been exploited to ridiculous degrees now.”
Ferguson added: “I spoke to my players about it and told them not to kick the ball, that they should let the referee decide when to stop the game.
“But the players wouldn’t do it. If players don’t put the ball out they get stick off opposing players and opposing fans.
“If a referee stops the game twice when players go down and on the third occasion he decides to play on, he makes a rod for his own back.
“Last Sunday, Chelsea had plenty of time to kick the ball out when Patrice Evra was injured after being fouled by Michael Ballack.”
Moving on and, also in The Mirror, Eric Cantona has some words on Ronaldo:
“I can’t understand why he [Ronaldo] would want to leave United,” said Cantona.
“For me the biggest club in the world is United. When you are at United, if you don’t have a problem with the club, if they give you the contract and if they really want you to play, then you can’t have any problems. I don’t understand why he’d want to leave.
The Sunday Mirror has some gossip about Vidic still being unsettled and the usual suspects coming in for him.
While The People speculate on us bringing a defender (back) in, Ryan Shawcross:
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is weighing up a shock move to take Ryan Shawcross back to Old Trafford from Stoke City.
Fergie was in the crowd at the Britannia Stadium yesterday to see his former defender score in a manof-the-match display as Stoke beat Burnley 2-0.
Now the United chief is set to resign the England under-21 centrehalf, who is also wanted by Liverpool. ...
Shawcross left United because he could not see a way into the first team ahead of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, but doubts about the Serb's future means there could be a vacancy. And with Wes Brown dogged by injury problems there is a genuine need for United to reinforce their back-line.
We'll finish with a story about Rio Ferdinand and his community work from The Sunday Times:
Ferdinand might be a £100,000-per-week man and make television programmes, produce films and interview the likes of 50 Cent for his personal (and very good) online magazine, but he comes across as on a level with these youths. “I’m not just someone coming down here for a bit of PR. I always wanted to be a footballer but I know for a fact if I hadn’t been one, I’d be working in the community. I’d be in schools doing kids’ football or be a social worker,” he says, sincerely.
Of course it is good for a minted celeb to express humble ideals but Ferdinand walks the walk. He set up and funds a foundation that provides work opportunities for disadvantaged teens. His best friend, Gavin Rose, founded a social project, Aspire. “Gavin’s from my estate and started off working for Southwark council on the adventure playground. I’ve other mates and cousins working in the community and I can see myself having done it, too.”
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