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If you want to match United, try copying Ferguson
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With the top four never changing, it is almost more entertaining following the Premier League when there are no matches taking place. So it proved this week, from the takeover and mega-spending at Manchester City to the Kevin Keegan saga at Newcastle and Alan Curbishley’s exit from West Ham.
Curbishley claimed that his position had been undermined by the men in suits selling players without his approval and that is the underlying sub-plot that links all three acts in this week’s Premier League soap opera.
Many of the rich men who now own England’s top clubs want a more influential role in their clubs. They want to bring in the players they would like to see wearing their club shirts, perhaps to help their global brands or to boost sales or awareness in their other enterprises.
It’s a policy that can leave a manager with a team he might not feel entirely comfortable with and it is one that is not necessarily going to bring success.
Putting together title-winning teams is a far more complex science than opening
up a cheque book. Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United are testimony to that.
Everyone wants to be as big as United, but they are a big club because, at the heart of everything at Old Trafford, Ferguson, a football man, controls a football team.
That’s not a coincidence.
PHOTO: Alex Ferguson takes his seat before United’s pre-season friendly against Peterborough United, August 4, 2008. REUTERS/Darren Staples
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very well put indeed.
MANY TEAMS HAVE TRIED THE QUICK FIX
MANY TEAMS HAVE FAILED
IT TAKES THE RIGHT PEOPLE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF MATCH TIME TO CREATE A LONG TERM SUCCESS
11 STARS DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL A TEAM
Indeed. Very well said.
I think Sir Alex Ferguson has done a great job at united by controlling and managing his team well. It’s a pity to see football being changed by businessmen owning clubs by selling players without the approval of the manager.
I agree. Absolute control over the football team is important for any manager and its not just Ferguson who has proved this. Our great Shankly proved it too.
As I understand it (I may be wrong), if Fergie wants a player he informs the board. The board then sort out the financial side leaving Fergie to deal with any ‘man management’ issues. No one leaves OT unless with Fergie’s approval. A simple system that works, as the trophy cabinet at OT testifies.
in spain the owners/presidents have long been in charge of signing players. The managers have to make them function. I think the England way is better but it can work the other way also. Therefore, this blog does not prove anything as RM and Barcelona have both succeeded in both domestic and european chanllenges. I suppose the question is would they have one more if the manager had total control?