Whilst others read Harry Pearson’s blog on The Guardian, entitled “Why Sir Alex Ferguson’s rejects are tickled pink to be leaving” and leapt to the dramatic measures of screaming libel, lies and lexically superfluous, I took it how it was meant to be taken, with a tongue firmly placed in cheek, and proceeded to read the comments. The article itself, sarcastically suggested that if Wayne Rooney had upset Sir Alex Ferguson, it wasn’t the worst thing he could’ve done, because after all, it hadn’t served Jaap Stam, Paul Ince or David Beckham unwell. Labelling him as “another Paul Gascoigne” however, is probably enough punishment in itself: although it is a humbling testament to any player’s ability, condemning one to a life of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and unfortunate and untimely appearances in Police cordoned areas is somewhat damning in its sentencing.
Among anguished, and most likely Red Devil written, comments in reply to a wholly antagonistic article, was an intriguing point: “[Ferguson] can be extremely benign, accommodating and tolerant of players who regularly call round to drive Cathy [Lady Ferguson] to Tescos, and then help her carry her bags to the car and back into the house: plus doing the gardening during the close season of course. Volunteering to do the windows can put five years on your career: O’Shea, Brown, Gibson and Fletcher spring to mind.” Clearly the comment was just as jocular as Pearson’s; however, behind the whimsical flippancy and facetious mockery was a point worth considering.
As we’ve been reminded by those who strike a profile of pseudo-knowledge, those that predict 10 future talents and become Arsene Wenger when one makes a sub appearance in the second round of the Carling Cup – take a bow Luke Freeman, I hear you secured your dream move to Stevenage – Manchester United have been rebuilt “time and time again under Ferguson and are undergoing another rebuilding process. I accept that they are, but hearing it from the same pundit that informed me that, at 3-0, Manchester United will, “go on to really hurt [City] they’ve been the best at it over the past 10-15 years,” just for City to all but stage a season-ending comeback, was rather patronising.
For a second I felt like I had been completely let down, like realising Father Christmas wasn’t real after all, but then I remembered the same pundit said Vincent Kompany’s challenge wasn’t a red card and any perceived expertise he may have held in my view had evaporated quicker than Rooney could wave two fingers in front of Chris Hoy.
In Manchester United’s current first team, there are 9 players that have been there for five or more years and they started the season with just eight of those ever-presents. At the beginning of the season, in his interview with Gordon Burns, Ferguson stressed the importance of, “building a team to last five or six years,” further emphasizing that, “they have a better understanding and become friends together,” by doing so. However, a portion of these 9 players, notably part of a transition, have missed varying sized segments of the season through injury and the players coming through, who will form, what Ferguson calls, “the nucleus of the modern Manchester United,” have equally been hindered with injury.
“We knew Welbeck and Tom Cleverley were going to be fantastic players,” Said Ferguson, unaware that one would suffer from a length injury that he is yet to return from, “Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were in the Under-21s together. They have learned together and that has been a really big part of the modern Manchester United.” Yet the modern Manchester United find themselves up against a challenge that the Old United didn’t: Manchester City.