Well worth reading Hugh McIlvanney's interview with Sir Alex in the Sunday Times today. There's plenty of interesting stuff in it, but here are some selected highlights:
On United's young players
“Nobody has to be told about Kiko [Macheda]’s ability,” said Ferguson. “And he’s a hard bastard. Strikers need a bit of that.”
Ferguson credits the 18-year-old, Manchester-born Welbeck with the full range of a top-class attacker’s attributes: “Danny’s a certainty to make it at the highest level. I’ve told Fabio Capello the boy will be in his World Cup squad next year. Wide left or right or through the middle, he has the intelligence, guts, athleticism and talent to do the job.” The suggestion that Welbeck has shown too much coltish awkwardness to look close to international standard in his outings with the United first team — there have been a dozen since September, though only two, as a substitute, in the Premier League — doesn’t impinge on Ferguson’s conviction: “He’s going to be a big lad. His height is about 6ft 1in now but the prediction is he’ll be 6ft 3in. He’s yet to get the conformation in his thighs, so he is still gangly, but he’s brave enough to carry that. When he completes his growing, he’ll really be something. Danny’s a terrific, down-to-earth boy and I’d like to have given him more chances by now but at this stage of the season all our results are vital.”
On professionalism in the modern game
“But the general picture is totally different from what it used to be. Gone are the days when even great players might think nothing of overdoing it with alcohol. Football today, especially at the Premier League level, is such an energetic game, makes such demands on speed and power, that it’s hardly imaginable anybody could drink a lot and get away with it on the park. The system of preparation is so rigorous now, with sports science, guidance on nutrition, fitness coaches. There are urine tests every morning that would reveal dehydration and expose boozers.” Asked the obvious supplementary question, he said: “We’ve never had the slightest sign that drug-taking is a problem. We had a 16-year-old kid who was caught at it twice. We released him.”
On the bad luck of Bryan Robson
“I think the unluckiest man I’ve had here was Bryan Robson. He was one of the best players ever — what a combination of talent and commitment and drive — but he was nearly 30 when I came and his fearlessness had contributed to an awful toll taken on his body by injuries, and our early struggle to be successful lasted too long for him to have a chance of getting the rewards he deserved. If he were in this present team, say at 31, he would be phenomenal.”
On Frank Lampard
“He is an exceptional player, a huge asset to his team. Every time he plays he goes from box to box and he hardly misses a game. You pay attention to players who can get goals from midfield and he’s been averaging 20 a season. You don’t see him getting into stupid tackles or making a habit of becoming involved in silly rows. When he was sent off against Liverpool two or three months back he walked from the pitch straight away, without fuss. He stayed restrained in the middle of all that bother after Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and made a point of swapping shirts with Iniesta. As I say, Frank Lampard is exceptional.”
On Wayne Rooney
“You’re starting to think, ‘I’ll maybe rest Rooney this week’. It was definitely an option to consider in the run-up to the second leg of the Champions League semi-final with Arsenal, which was to be played on the Tuesday following what was liable to be a tough league game at Middlesbrough. Then he comes up to you at training and says, ‘I hope I’m playing on Saturday. If I don’t play against Middlesbrough I won’t play well against Arsenal. I’m hopeless if I’m rested’. He’s something else.
On Cristiano Ronaldo's future at the club
“After Barça battered Real Madrid 6-2,” Ferguson reported, “our players were telling Cristiano that if he goes to the Bernabeu he’ll have to play centre-half.”
He certainly would have to expect a comedown from the kind of opportunities to demonstrate greatness that he is being afforded at United. Ferguson believes such considerations will count with Ronaldo. “The indications I’m getting from the dressing room are that the other players don’t feel he’s behaving as if he’s discontented. He seems to be happy in his game and to know that he is at the right club. Obviously you can’t stop people pressing him with offers but we have handled that the best way we can. His contract with us runs until 2012 and we are in the driving seat.”
On Carlos Tevez's future at the club
“Carlos has done well for us. He has a tireless enthusiasm that makes things happen, he has good skills and he’s as brave as a lion. But the demands originally put to us were unrealistic. Like other clubs, we have to be aware of the consequences of the credit crunch. It’s no time to be careless about money. As far as Tevez is concerned, everybody would be best served by a willingness to compromise.”
On his legendary temper
“I lose my temper in different ways now. It’s probably more measured, more calculating, more cold.”
Pete
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