AS HE approaches his 65th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his appointment at Old Trafford, it seems more pertinent than ever to wonder how long Sir Alex Ferguson can go on, but, his latest call for a winter break notwithstanding, the Manchester United manager maintains that he is a man for all seasons.
Ferguson, like the Prime Minister, has reached a stage in his career where the timing of his departure from office is becoming a subject of greater fascination than anything he may or may not achieve in the meantime. But, while Tony Blair might not appreciate the guessing game, the United manager claims to enjoy the speculation that this season, just like the last and more than a few before that, will be his valedictory campaign.
“I quite like people talking that way because it means they don’t know when I’m going to retire,” Ferguson said at a press conference in Dubai to promote a new club publication.
“I don’t give them any information about that, I let them carry on and when they ask, I take pleasure in them not knowing. For me it’s two things: Am I enjoying the job? Yes. Is my health OK? I think it’s OK as I’m getting the right check-ups and if it wasn’t that way, I would change my thinking.”
Ferguson had a pacemaker fitted in March 2004 in order to control a condition diagnosed as an irregular heartbeat, but there is not thought to have been a problem with his health since. United have failed to make a convincing challenge for the Barclays Premiership title or Champions League over the past three seasons, but David Gill, the club’s chief executive, said towards the end of last term that “the manager’s position has never been discussed”.
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A fourth successive year of failure might prompt the board to discuss the matter, if nothing else, but Ferguson, with his team top of the Premiership after winning their first three matches, has been encouraged by the way the new campaign has begun. “So far we are doing well,” he said. “Although it’s too early to say, I think we have a good chance to clinch the title. Chelsea and some of the top other clubs also have a chance.”
United’s rivals may have been encouraged by Ferguson’s failure to attract either a ball-winner in midfield or a centre forward to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the manager maintains that he was right to reject an invitation to sign Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tévez, the two Argentina players, who instead joined West Ham United last week.
Mascherano was a serious target for United earlier this year before their interest cooled because of concerns about whether the Argentinian would adapt to English football, but Ferguson suggested that it was the terms of the proposed deal — with the players part-owned by Media Sports Investments, a mysterious London-based investment company — that led him to dismiss the idea of taking the midfield player on loan from Corinthians, the Brazilian club.
“We were offered the both of them, but we have different ways of working and the offer did not interest us,” Ferguson said. “I think they will be good for West Ham, but we have a different philosophy with the way we do things.”
A safer topic of discussion for Ferguson — and one revisited in an interview with the club’s official magazine — is the lack of a winter break in English football. “It makes me laugh when managers come out and talk about winter breaks,” he said.
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“I championed it when I was manager of Aberdeen in 1980 and I did again when I first came down here in 1986! And there’s still nothing done. It’s ridiculous. The Christmas programme is great in this country. We get great crowds then, but why not start a three-week break on January 1 and use the whole of May when the weather is better?”