The great achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson are easily identified in record
books: a European trophy at Aberdeen, nine English league titles, spanning
15 years, and the treble for Manchester United in 1999. There is, however,
another accomplishment, almost as remarkable, yet widely overlooked.
It is found in the existence of a phrase, which in turn creates a mentality,
and is widely know by three letters: ABU. Anyone But United. The belief that
a person, or group of people, would rather any team succeed, as long as
Manchester United failed. Ferguson was the inventor of that movement; he
conceived it from nothing but a fevered imagination, an inability to listen
to reason, and necessity.
Possessing the finest team in England on more than one occasion, Ferguson
needed a method of keeping his players motivated. He had a dressing-room of
millionaires who had won every trophy English football had to offer and,
post-treble, the biggest that Europe possessed, too. Naturally, he wanted to
guard against self-satisfaction, egomania and ennui. His tactic was to
instil the paranoid belief within United’s dressing-room that the club were
hated victims of discrimination and that everybody had to pull together for
it not to be destroyed. Considering that at the time newspaper presses
churned out page after page of lavish praise and flattery, this was some act.
Ferguson convinced the Manchester public, too, who responded to the challenge
with an entrenched and small-minded attitude that survives today in stances
such as contempt for the national team. And, yes, there were some supporters
who intensely disliked United, but only in the way that dominant champions
are invariably resented and envied.
Throughout Ferguson’s time, few have denied that United have been worthy
champions, or that the beauty of the football at Old Trafford represents a
benchmark. It is hard to believe, then, that he genuinely feels
hard-done-by. More likely, Ferguson, great manager that he is, has enjoyed a
knowing and complete mastery of one of the basic rules of competitive sport:
there is nothing wrong with thinking the world is against you. Conflict and
antagonism are your friends. Ask Brian Ashton; ask Steve McClaren.
There are two England teams in tournament action this week, one considerably
more advanced than the other, but both thriving on the inspirational power
of anger. There have been changes in tactics and personnel that have
contributed in each case, too, but the prime force behind England’s revival
at the rugby union World Cup and the resurgence of the football team’s
European Championship qualifying campaign was the belief that the team were
hated and ridiculed around the world, not least within their borders.
When Nick Easter, the England No 8, borrowed Nick Faldo’s line about wishing
to thank the press from the heart of his bottom after the quarter-final win
over Australia, he was acknowledging a proven formula for success at the
highest level: take good players and p*** them off. “You guys gave us the
siege mentality we needed to win,” Easter said, chippily responding to the
justifiable criticism the team had received after losing a pool match
against South Africa 36-0. He then went out and smashed France to set up a
rematch with the Springboks in Saturday’s final.
The cursed All Blacks travelled the opposite route. Pre-tournament they had
the two hemispheres in thrall to their flair and all experts telling them
that the World Cup was as good as won. The perceived wisdom was that a real
final would involve New Zealand’s first XV against their reserves. Anyone on
the pitch who was not a Kiwi was an impostor. We all know what happened next.
Now, dismissed as a band of precious, weak-willed chokers, the All Blacks are
home, frustrated, furious and spoiling for a fight. In the case of Doug
Howlett, the wing, there is a £12,500 bar tab (not all his, obviously) and
two vandalised cars in his wake. Replay that quarter-final with France now,
New Zealand fired up with a point to prove, and get your money on the All
Blacks by 20 points.
“Anger is an energy,” John Lydon sang, but clearly it has to be married to
strength and ability. Keep poking a bear with a stick and in the end it is
going to rise and rip you to pieces. Keep poking a squirrel and not so much.
There are many people out there who think that Derby County are rubbish, but
Billy Davies, the manager, is not going to be able to channel the fury this
statement provokes within his dressing-room into an assault on the Barclays
Premier League title, however many newspaper articles he pins to the wall.
He may, however, use it to scrape out of relegation, which would be victory
in the circumstances.
England’s footballers may not win the European Championship, but on the back
of a bleak night in Barcelona last season, if they do not lose against
Russia in Moscow today they will probably qualify and there is no doubt
where their revival under McClaren began.
Half-time against Andorra was the turning point on his journey. It seems
ridiculous now. Ridiculous that an England team containing some of Europe’s
most celebrated players should have needed a rallying call to defeat the
team ranked No 169 in the world. Preposterous that Steven Gerrard, a player
capable of inspiring a Champions League victory, should still be lauded for
ensuring second-half victory over a team who have won only one competitive
fixture. Yet that peculiar hell was where England resided last season.
In Barcelona, which first appeared a pleasant sunshine-city break with an easy
90 minutes attached, all San Miguel, al fresco tapas and a 5-0 walkover, the
campaign turned nasty. The opponents were spiteful and sneaky, Owen
Hargreaves was struck in the face four times, Micah Richards was kicked up
and down the right flank and there were naked attempts to frustrate Wayne
Rooney into drawing a red card.
It was wet and windy, quite unlike the brochure, and as an unpopular head
coach led a faltering campaign, the punters were looking for a row like at
no time in the previous seven years. They wanted McClaren out and said so,
noisily and repeatedly. Frank Lampard, who was sat in the crowd, was again
the target for vicious abuse and the squad players were forced to beat a
retreat to the safety of the dressing-room. The atmosphere was rancorous,
the vitriol poisonous, yet out of it came, not disaster, but a team who won
five straight qualifying matches 3-0 and boast the best defensive record in
Europe. Figure that.
“Usually we have to fight the opposition,” Terry Venables, the England
assistant coach, said after the match. “If we have to fight our own fans, if
we have to fight our own press, we will. All this will do is make us
stronger.”
He was equally adamant when we spoke yesterday. “It wasn’t fair,” he said. “I
had been thinking that way for a long time, that Steve [McClaren] was
getting a rough ride, that he was trying to do right by everybody and wasn’t
getting much in return. Then [against Andorra in Barcelona] the penny
dropped for a lot of other people around the team. Suddenly we could see who
was on our side, who wasn’t and how we just had to tune that noise out and
concentrate on our game. We could not lose sight of our real enemy, even if
others had. It changed from that moment. I think Steve changed from that
moment, too.”
It could be argued that, whether he is thought to be right or wrong with the
team he has picked to play in Moscow, the head coach who has left out
Lampard for Shaun Wright-Phillips was forged that night. He may be making a
mistake and, if he is, it could prove to be a fateful one for his England
career, but he is at least doing it his way. After Andorra, there was no
other way to go and the directions and decisions McClaren has taken since -
recalling David Beckham, plumping for Emile Heskey against Israel and
Russia, partnering Gerrard and Lampard with no holding midfield player in
Estonia in June, then dropping Lampard for the past two matches – are
evidence of a manager no longer aware of the gallery, let alone playing to
it.
Ferguson’s harnessing of the strong emotions around his team was more astute
because, largely, the animosity existed only in his head, but Ashton and
McClaren also deserve credit for turning events that could have brought
ruination to their advantage.
“Nothing brings people together more than mutual hatred,” Henry Rollins said.
And however England got there, it worked.
