Sir Alex Ferguson has opened up on the difficulties that came with being Manchester United manager.
An interview has been conducted with the former Manchester United manager on the club’s official website, ahead of the release of the upcoming documentary, Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In.
He spoke about the ups and downs of his illustrious career.
“There was always going to be regrets, but the thing is always to look forward. Tomorrow’s another day,” Ferguson said.
“I always did when we lost a game. The next day was better, without question.
“But in terms of the regrets… the 1994 team I had, the back four all seemed to grow old together, and that’s a terrible thing to happen to the manager because these guys were fantastic for me. [Paul] Parker, [Steve] Bruce, [Gary] Pallister, [Denis] Irwin: Fantastic players.
“They gave me nine or 10 years and the evidence is always on the football field. They don’t see it. I see it.
“The problem for me is ‘what do I do about it?’. I managed to organise a move for them, and they did well out of it, but telling them is very, very difficult.
“The same when having to let young players go. The process was the youth coach and the welfare chap would come in with the player you’re going to let go. Maybe he’s only 17, 18 years of age. The way we’d explain it is we’d try and get him a team. We’d try and get him a club and ‘we’re sorry we’re having to do this’. That’s terrible.
“That is the worst thing, having to let a young player go. All his ambitions and hopes and desires are about playing for Manchester United in front of 75,000 people and going to Wembley in a final. That’s the ambition of every young kid that comes to Manchester United, and when you take that away from him, it’s a sore, sore thing. So I hated that. I hated that.”
With all the difficult moments come regrets, and to this day I’m sure the boss still thinks about things he could have done differently. The man was always determined to be number one – and that element is really missing from the dressing room today.
We’ll see City win another title this season and it doesn’t seem like it will hurt the players or staff as much as it will hurt us, the fans. Fergie certainly wouldn’t stand for it.
Catching City is a big task for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but we need to increase our level of squad investment first. The board must be willing to back the manager but they’re probably just satisfied as long as the team finishes in the top four and qualifies for the Champions League.
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