OS Soccer Blog - Sir Alex Ferguson Retires, FIFA 14 Rumored Release Date - kelvinmak's Blog

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kelvinmak's Blog

OS Soccer Blog - Sir Alex Ferguson Retires, FIFA 14 Rumored Release Date Stuck

Posted on May 8, 2013 at 01:52 PM.

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Even Fergie Time has to end, it seems. The Manchester United manager will retire and head upstairs after this season, taking a seat on the board as a director.

(UPDATE: The Guardian now has an article up on how the entire process went down.)

(UPDATE #2: Not much we know at the moment, but Wayne Rooney has apparently-- again-- asked for a transfer)

The Premier League next year will certainly feel like a different place without him manning the touchlines, haranguing referees, and digging into his 20th piece of Wrigley's. The man who, amongst his many talents, possessed the uncanny ability to use everything at his disposal to inspire his team (or, if you're on the other side, a bully who will say any and everything to gain an advantage) will go down as one of history's greatest managers.

The greatest? It's hard to say. Liverpool has Shankly and Paisley, Forest has Clough-- and then there's that place called the rest of the world. But one thing that can't be disputed is Sir Alex's longevity--27 years at Manchester United, 13 Premier League titles-- and consistency. Once English Football entered the Premier League era and United won its first title, they've never gone for more than three years without another one. And don't forget, he's also won a few trophies at Aberdeen too.

The tributes are, of course, flowing in from every corner -- his inspirational skills, eye for talent, and insistence on youth (though, it has to be said, even with the famed class of '92 and the various stars that have came through United's rank since, many of the team's young talents were bought from other clubs.) This is probably the first time-- and may be the only time-- that every British paper had only one face plastered on their websites-- Ferguson's. A finance writer at The Guardian calculated today that the United manager is worth, based on how much shares of Man Utd fell today, around $142 million. Wow.

He's certainly the last of a kind. The football world is much different today than it was when he arrived in Manchester in 1986. He had the luxury of time back then-- three years to win an FA Cup and six to win a league title. Today? There's little chance any manager, no matter the pedigree, can last that long in a quote unquote "big" club.

Of course, that's not to say Ferguson wasn't under any sort of pressure at the time. He was, as this infamous photo shows:

Personally, the thing that I've always found intriguing about Ferguson is the two extreme sides of his persona: His kindness and generosity towards football people and media types when the stakes aren't related to the sport itself, and on the other hand, his chilling ruthlessness when it came to football matters. He was, in many ways, a hypocrite and a bully, if things ever affected his ability to win.

Then, of course, there are his quotes. As somebody who types out words for a living, I admired his way with words. He can be poetic, folksy (see his "cow in a field" analogy about the Rooney affair ) and mischievous, sometimes all three at once. Here's a selection:

Quote:


	(On Jose Mourinho) "He was certainly full of it, calling me 'Boss' and 'Big Man' when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper." (On Italian teams) "When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen." (On Wayne Rooney's transfer request) "Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that way." (On Filippo Inzaghi) "He must've been born offside." (On Liverpool potentially winning the title) "Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?" (On Ryan Giggs) "I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

Various outlets have been reporting David Moyes as Ferguson's successor. If they want the closest like-for-like in replacing Sir Alex, they've certainly found the right man. If by like-for-like you mean Scottish, that is.

Joking aside, the romanticism is admirable. Bringing in another Scottish manager with a history of longevity at his former club and has done admirable work with its youth system. But Moyes is far from a safe bet. If the rumors are correct that this is Ferguson's hand-picked successor, this will probably be his greatest gamble, more than any of his transfer dealings.

Yes, Moyes has done very well with what little money (relative to the rest of the Premier League, anyway) he's been given, and Everton has certain been a model of stability under his steady helm, but he has never won anything. Not an FA Cup nor a League Cup. If things don't get off to the right foot, will he be able to command the room where most, if not all, of the players in there will have more medals than he does?

Then there's the question of Ferguson himself. When Sir Matt Busby, arguably United's greatest manager before the Scot's arrival, retired, he too moved upstairs. What followed was a string of managers overshadowed by the big man above them, and thus losing control of the dressing room because the players still believed Busby was still the one pulling the strings.

How much should Ferguson be involved with United's affairs after he's retired? He could certainly let Moyes sink or swim, but that requires an extraordinary amount of discipline, especially when the squad consists of players Ferguson brought in himself. If things don't start well and Ferguson decides to help out just a little-- like Busby did-- then you'd end up with two centers of power, and chaos usually isn't far behind.

However, if anybody has the ability to adapt and learn from history, it's Sir Alex himself, having many times iterated the importance of heeding lessons from the past. Surely he would've learned from the last transition, when United slipped into oblivion for almost twenty-years before the man from Govan came along and built another dynasty, bringing us to where we are today.

FIFA 14 Tidbits

Just a wee bit o' rumor: A UK retailer has listed (it's been changed now to TBD, but the screenshot is still there) FIFA 14's Britain release date as October 4th. Meaning that the North American release date would logically be October 2nd.

And no surprise here, EA Sports and FIFA (the federation) have signed an extension for the company to keep making FIFA (the game) up until 2022.

Video of the Day

Ferguson retiring? "It's a load of Rubbish!" Exclaims MUTV presenter and former United player Paddy Crerand, when he was interviewed in a morning show. "I think I'd be closer to the situation at Manchester United than most of those press guys would be - and I don't believe a word of it."

A few minutes later United announced Ferguson's retirement.

Comments

# 1 CoreyG87 @ May 9

Sad day in football, and the world of sport as a whole. An incredible eye for talent, the care of his players off the pitch, and the cutthroat mentality needed for success. I will miss seeing Sir Alex on the touchlines.