Sir Alex Ferguson used to own a pub but has never known the meaning of half
measures. When he reads a book, he reads a book. In Barcelona, before
Manchester United’s Champions League semi-final first leg, Ferguson was
spotted clutching an imprint of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social
Catastrophe, a 720-page tome written by the Canadian academic, Robert
Gellately. When United played Dynamo Kiev at the group stage of the
competition, Ferguson spoke of his appreciation for Stalingrad, Antony
Beevor’s 512-page masterwork about one of the second world war’s pivotal
battles. Clearly, he sets his sights a little higher than Horrid Henry and
the Football Fiend, picked by Wayne Bridge as his favourite book of all time
in a survey of players last year.
Ferguson’s taste in reading material should not surprise anyone. He has always
had a love, and awareness, of history and it is why there was a particular
edge to his celebrations when full-time trilled at Old Trafford on Tuesday
night. Chelsea, because of Roman Abramovich, feel a certain providence has
helped pilot them to the final in Moscow, but United will arrive there with
an even greater sense of destiny.
When they won their first European Cup under Ferguson in Barcelona it was on
May 26, 1999, on what would have been Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday. Now it
is 2008 and they are chasing the European Cup again, 40 years after the
first time they won it and 50 seasons after the Munich disaster curtailed
the great European quest of the Busby Babes.
“Alex would like it if 50 years later we could win the European Cup. I think
the players would like it as well. The players are very respectful. They ask
me now and again about Duncan Edwards and the systems we used to play in the
old days,” Sir Bobby Charlton said. “We try to do it [win the European Cup]
every year,” said Gary Neville, “but it would be special because of the
anniversary.”
The superstitious, and there are plenty of those in football, might think it
more than coincidence that, providing he also plays at Wigan next week, Ryan
Giggs would beat Charlton’s United record of 758 appearances by taking the
field in the Luzhniki stadium. Giggs could also become the first United
player to win the trophy twice should United emerge victorious. He would
hope for a better celebration than in 1999 when, at United’s postmatch
party, he got into a fist fight with the son of the former chairman, Martin
Edwards, that left Giggs with a broken nose.
The European Cup is addictive nectar. It was on the day after Milan went out
of this year’s competition to Arsenal that the legendary defender Paolo
Maldini, thinking of having one more crack at it despite having won the
competition three times, announced that he might reconsider retiring at the
end of the season, though he is about to turn 40. For Giggs, the sense that
United will be on a mission in Moscow is heightened by the feeling of not
wanting to end his career without being continental champion just once more.
“You appreciate it a lot more when you know that there will not be many of
these nights again,” Giggs said on Tuesday. “In 1999 I thought I was going
to be involved in a lot more but, now, at 34, you know that’s not the case.
In 1999 I had a taste of it and wanted a taste of it again. It’s been a long
time.” Nobody at Old Trafford could hold a stronger feeling that this is
meant to be than Paul Scholes. Nine years ago, because of a soft booking
when used as a substitute in the semi-final second leg against Juventus,
Scholes missed the final victory over Bayern Munich. Luck mocked him then
but it was with him on Tuesday when he got away with an early tackle on
Lionel Messi that risked conceding a penalty. Reprieved, he chose the
occasion to break his longest sequence in senior football - six months -
without scoring and did so in wondrous style. In 1999, he and Roy Keane, who
was also banned, were reduced to mascot roles and in the early hours of the
day of the final were to be found drinking with United supporters in the bar
of the team hotel. There will be none of that in Moscow.
Ferguson says he has already inked “Scholes” upon his teamsheet and the
lowest-key legend in football will finally get the stage demanded by his
talent. “He missed out in 1999 but was a massive part that year and to score
the winning goal in the semi-final was massive for him,” said Giggs. “He
will want to finish it off in Moscow in style.”
Resting Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo and fielding a weakened side at Stamford
Bridge confirmed Ferguson’s ultimate priority. He would take being pipped by
Chelsea in the Premier League ahead of having them pinch the European Cup.
In Europe, the clubs have reversed their domestic roles. Chelsea prevailed
over Liverpool and Fenerbahce by outscoring their opponents in open ties.
United out-defended all-comers in the knockout rounds, conceding only once
in nine hours of football, while facing Lyons, Roma and Barcelona. Tuesday
night’s heroes were the defenders Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra.
“Wes has had a great season,” Ferdinand said. “A lot of onus was on Patrice to
defend well against Messi and he did that and more. He was also effective
going forward. Many defenders wait for Messi to get the ball but Patrice is
very assertive.”
United can become only the fourth club to win the European Cup twice without
losing a game. The others are Liverpool (1980-81, 1983-84), Ajax (1971-72,
1994-95) and Milan, who did it in 1988-89 and again under Fabio Capello in
1993-94. And yet there is a feeling at Old Trafford that the club should be
more prominent in the competition’s annals. “As the manager said, this club
should be winning more European Cups and hopefully we can do that now,”
Giggs said.
Keane felt that United rested on their laurels after 1999. Describing the
club’s exit to Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001-02 semi-finals he frothed about
a dressing room that was more interested in “Rolex watches, garages full of
cars and f****** mansions” than winning and said “we had failed to take the
next step towards greatness. We settled for the reflected glory of the
treble year”.
Ferguson’s hunger has never been in question, however. In 1999 he described
the European Cup as “a trophy I and United coveted above all others”. Not
much has changed. This is his 17th shot at football’s biggest club prize and
only his second final but if he wins, he can stand apart from his two
heroes, Jock Stein and Busby, as the first Scottish manager to win it twice.
That would be a nice bit of history.
What the author of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age Of Social Catastrophe
might think is another matter. Professor Gellately, it transpires, is a
Chelsea fan.
Getting out of neutral for the big final
However unpopular United and Chelsea are, nobody wants to be an impartial
observer for the biggest game in English football. You think you’re a
neutral now but by the time you’ve answered these questions, you’ll find out
where your allegiance should lie for May 21 only.
- Jose Mourinho gives an interview in which he says that he will always be
the Special One at Chelsea, his achievements never bettered Do you a)
agree and chuckle at the irony of Chelsea sacking the best manager they ever
had? b) think how nice it would be for Chelsea to wipe that smug grin off
his face by winning the one trophy that he failed to deliver?
- Your brother-in-law, a banker, has a season ticket for United but can’t
go because he lives in Kensington and offers it to you Do you a) accept
gratefully and promise to return the favour? b) wonder what your sister ever
saw in the chinless wonder and tell him that you would rather stick pins in
your eyes?
- Sir Alex Ferguson rails against referee Alan Wiley for giving a penalty
against United last weekend Do you a) wish that Fergie would express his
criticism in more moderate fashion but agree with his fundamental point? b)
wonder in fury what the circumstances would have to be for Fergie ever to
agree that a penalty against United was justifi ed? n Roman
Abramovich books out a floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow before the
semi-finals have even been played Do you a) rage incontrollably at
the presumptuousness and vulgar greed of the man? b) imagine how great it
would be to hang out with him and try to reserve the floor below?
- Didier Drogba says that he is leaving Chelsea Do you a) say good
riddance, that’s another cheating foreigner gone from English football, only
563 to go? b) Get in your 4x4 with friends Henry and Charlie, to drive the
400m from Fulham to the Bridge to see one of the great strikers before he
goes
- Cristiano Ronaldo writhes on the floor after John Terry catches him
Do you a) think Terry should be booked – the Portuguese needs more
protection from referees? b) think that if that’s how Ronaldo reacts to the
merest tap, imagine what he would be like when your fi st connected with his
annoying little face?
Mostly a). You are a closet Red. Join the convoy leaving Surrey for Moscow.
Mostly b). Blue is the colour, Chelsea is the name for you, until Abramovich
gets bored and the money dries up, that is.
