Debate:
is Benitez a genius or too clever by half?
It was during one of those familiar moments at this time of year, the
mid-afternoon doze on the sofa, that Sir Alex Ferguson received the rude
awakening that changed the course of recent football history.
In the final days of 2001, a day or two short of his 60th birthday, Ferguson
awoke to find his wife, Lady Cathy, standing above him, hands on hips, with
their sons ready to back her up. “You,” she said, giving him a shove.
“You’re not retiring. We’ve decided.”
This heartwarming tale comes to mind whenever Ferguson reaches a milestone,
whether it is a birthday – he turns 67 on Wednesday – or the recent 22nd
anniversary of his appointment at Manchester United. One of these days, most
probably behind closed doors at his Wilmslow home, Ferguson, with perhaps a
little nudge from Lady Cathy, will reach the conclusion that he is, after
all, the retiring type.
He has always maintained that he will not “do a Bobby Robson” and continue to
manage beyond his 70th birthday, so that historic moment cannot be far away.
Lady Cathy, after all, may be itching for the cruise she denied herself in
2002.
The disturbing thing for United is that Ferguson has begun to talk about
retirement again. It is not a subject he likes to dwell on, but, whereas
once queries met with a fierce glare and a robust defence of his health,
these days he freely admits that the time is coming.
In May, two days after the mentally exhausting Champions League final triumph
against Chelsea, he said that it would be “three years at the very, very
most”. Those close to him do not dare to second-guess him, but they suggest
that it is just as likely to be the end of this season as in 2011. Most
educated pundits would predict the end of next season, but he could feasibly
decide to go at the end of this campaign. Whichever way, the clock is
ticking.
It is a terrifying thought for the United hierarchy. There was a time around
three years ago, shortly after the Glazer takeover, when replacing Ferguson
seemed less a daunting challenge than one of those irksome jobs, like fixing
the guttering, that would have to be addressed sooner rather than later.
There were a few potential candidates around to succeed him at the time, such
as Fabio Capello and Guus Hiddink, not to mention José Mourinho and Arsène
Wenger if they could be tempted, but perhaps that was merely because
Ferguson’s stock had fallen. Three years, two Premier League titles and a
European Cup later, finding a man to follow Ferguson is a task to rival that
of arresting the economic downturn.
David Gill, the chief executive, is known to like the idea of a British
successor to Ferguson, ideally someone with an historical link to the club,
but Mark Hughes, the best of the Old Trafford alumni, has taken on a
different challenge, at Manchester City, while Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Steve
Bruce and others have not measured up to the required standard.
But who does measure up? Martin O’Neill would have his supporters, having
performed admirably at Aston Villa (albeit with greater financial backing
than anyone cares to mention), but would be far from a shoo-in. Mourinho’s
track record almost guarantees success, but his methods fly in the face of
United’s cavalier traditions, as laid out by Ferguson and by Sir Matt Busby
long before him. Josep Guardiola is making a strong impression in his first
season at Barcelona, but this is merely a coaching role, in which he is ably
assisted by a strong director of football, Txiki Beguiristain.
Unless a complete overhaul of United’s coaching structure was planned, a
novice such as Guardiola could not be considered.
Do you know whose name keeps coming to mind? Capello’s. At 62 he is no spring
chicken, but, crucially, he has the experience, having had two spells in
charge of both AC Milan and Real Madrid, and is a proven winner. There will
be those who would deny that United would dare to poach the England manager,
but Sven-Göran Eriksson had been lined up to succeed Ferguson in 2002.
Others will say that Capello would not be interested, that the England job
trumps everything. But whatever the prestige of the England post, which has
been held in recent years by such luminaries as Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan
and Steve McClaren, the challenge of following in Ferguson’s footsteps would
be far, far bigger.
Perhaps it would be too big for Capello. Perhaps he would be reluctant to
break his contract with the FA. Perhaps, at his age, he prefers the gentler
pace of international football (although even Eriksson, hardly a workaholic,
missed the day-to-day involvement of the club game).
But he would be the stand-out candidate when the dreaded moment comes that
Ferguson and, of course, his good lady wife, decide to call it a day.
And another thing...
Ashley shows true colours
In a league in which crass foreign owners abound, at least Mike Ashley offers
a constant reminder that suitability is not merely a question of
nationality. His announcement yesterday that Newcastle United are no longer
for sale was merely the logical follow-up to his statement in September,
when he put the club on the market at the absurd price of £481 million,
which dropped to £250 million. The latest development owes nothing to
Ashley’s devotion to the club and everything to a financial climate in which
he was unable to find a buyer. He made great play yesterday of his
insistence that “any potential buyer would have to show they had the best
interests of Newcastle United at heart and had both the commitment and
finance to be worthy custodians of such a fine football club before I would
even consider doing a deal”. Pity the previous owners were not so picky.
The wonder of BenÍtez
Four-and-a-half years after his appointment as Liverpool manager, there are
aspects of Rafael BenÍtez’s managerial style that remain a mystery. His
approach to man-management was reflected yesterday by his decision to leave
out Robbie Keane against Newcastle United, the second time that the forward,
struggling for confidence, has scored twice in a match, only to be dropped
for the next game. But to criticise his methods is to question the very
foundations of his regime. His unconventional approach has enabled a
technically limited Liverpool team to surge ahead of Chelsea and Manchester
United in the Premier League this season and to punch above their weight in
the Champions League on a consistent basis. Whatever your thoughts on his
methods, from zonal marking to incessant rotation, from a curious transfer
policy to treating his players like pawns, he remains his club’s best hope
of winning a first league title since 1990.
Reality bites for Pennant
There has been disbelief in certain quarters at Jermaine Pennant’s decision to
reject, or at the very least to jeopardise, a proposed transfer to Real
Madrid because they were not offering him enough money. In one sense it was
the opportunity of a lifetime for the winger, who is not so much out of
favour as a pariah at Liverpool these days, but what, truly, was the appeal
of moving to Real as an underpaid squad player? They are a club who remain
deeply unstable, so much so that Juande Ramos, their latest coach, is
working on a six-month contract.
Unless you fancy yourself as the next galáctico, the Bernabéu is
not the promised land. Pennant would have gone there, sat on the bench and
been back home within 12 months, possibly fewer.
He is not renowned as the brightest footballer around, but, even if his
reasoning was financial, resisting the glamour of Madrid in favour of
regular football – albeit at Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic or a club of
that ilk – may not be as mad as it appears.
Things can only get better
In a commendable effort to fill some of the empty seats that have been all too
visible at Goodison Park this season, Everton are offering half-season
tickets with the slogan “half the season, all the action”. The advertisement
on the club’s website assures us that “the second half of the football
season is when it gets exciting”. David Moyes will certainly hope so, given
that his team’s first ten home matches in all competitions this term yielded
a solitary victory.
Let’s hear it for 2009 . . .
A year ago, in this column, I ventured some predictions for 2008. Looking
back, they were not too wide of the mark. 1) Sir David Beckham’s 100th
England cap to be his last. 2) Arsène Wenger to claim a hollow moral victory
on Arsenal’s behalf as Sir Alex Ferguson leads Manchester United to their
tenth Premier League title in 16 seasons. 3) Cristiano Ronaldo to have his
head turned by Real Madrid again. 4) Rafael BenÍtez to be dumped by
Liverpool unless the club’s American owners bale out first. 5) Everton and
Tottenham Hotspur to win a trophy apiece. 6) England players to preface
every comment about Fabio Capello with “no disrespect to Steve McClaren, but
. . .” 7) McClaren to return to management at club level and, having ditched
the umbrella, to do a very decent job.
Not as embarrassing as it might have been, with only the survival instincts of
Beckham and BenÍtez, along with Everton’s loss of nerve in the Uefa Cup
quarter-final, proving me wrong, so I will dare to offer a few updates for
2009: the end of Beckham’s international career (surely this time); more of
the same shenanigans with Ronaldo, below, and Real; more of the same
hollow moral victories for Wenger; another trophy, along with a relegation
battle, for Tottenham; Liverpool to wave goodbye to Statler and Waldorf and
to go right to the wire in the title race; McClaren to continue his
rehabilitation with Twente before returning to the Premier League in 2010.
