Here we look at some of the
quotes that have made Ferguson compulsive viewing during his time at Old
Trafford.
ON LIVERPOOL
"My greatest challenge is
not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking
Liverpool right off their f***ing perch. And you can print that."
ON THE RUN-IN TO THE CLIMAX OF
THE 2003 SEASON
"They [Arsenal] have a
replay against Chelsea and if they win it they would face a semi-final three
days before playing us in the league. But then they did say they were going to
win the Treble, didn't they? It's squeaky bum time and we've got the experience
now to cope."
ON ERIC CANTONA
"If ever there was one
player, anywhere in the world, that was made for Manchester United, it was
Cantona. He swaggered in, stuck his chest out, raised his head and surveyed
everything as though he were asking: 'I'm Cantona. How big are you? Are you big
enough for me?'"
ON THE CHANCES OF SELLING
CRISTIANO RONALDO TO REAL MADRID
"Do you think I would get
into a contract with that mob. Jesus Christ, no chance. I wouldn’t sell them a
virus."
ON JOURNALISTS QUESTIONING THE
CONTRIBUTION OF THEN RECORD SIGNING JUAN SEBASTIAN VERON
"Youse are all f*****g
idiots!"
ON WINNING THE EUROPEAN CUP IN
1999
(Speaking after Roy Keane's
inspired performance in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League against
Juventus after receiving a booking which meant he would miss the final)
"It was the most emphatic
display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every
blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he
inspired all around him. I felt such an honour to be associated with such a
player."
(Ferguson's half-time team-talk
during the 1999 European Cup final with Bayern Munich)
"At the end of this game,
the European Cup will be only six feet away from you, and you’ll not even able
to touch it if we lose. And for many of you, that will be the closest you will
ever get. Don’t you dare come back in here without giving your all."
(After United won with two
dramatic goals in stoppage time)
"I can't believe it. I can't
believe it. Football. Bloody hell."
ON RAFA BENITEZ, REACTING TO THE
SPANIARD'S INFAMOUS 'FACTS' PRESS CONFERENCE DURING THE 2009 TITLE RACE
"I think he was an angry
man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut
through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said
was absolutely ridiculous."
ON NOISY NEIGHBOURS CITY
"There has been a lot of
expectation on Manchester City and with the spending they have done they have
to win something. Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour and have to live with
it. You can't do anything about them..."
ON ARSENE WENGER AND ARSENAL
"They say he's an
intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from
the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!"
"He's a novice and should
keep his opinions to Japanese football."
ON DENNIS WISE
"He could start a row in an
empty house."
ON JOSE MOURINHO
"He was certainly full of it,
calling me 'Boss' and 'Big Man' when we had our post-match drink after the
first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent
glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."
REMEMBERING MOURINHO'S GRAND
ENTRANCE INTO ENGLISH FOOTBALL
"I remember his first press
conference [at Chelsea, in 2004] and I thought: 'Christ, he's a cocky b******,
him'. He was telling the players: 'Look, I'm the special one, we don't lose
games.'"
ON DAVID BECKHAM
"David Beckham is Britain’s
finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he
practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted
players wouldn’t contemplate."
(Playing down the famous incident
in which he allegedly kicked a boot which hit David Beckham in the forehead)
'"It was a freakish
incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I
could I would have carried on playing!"
ON HIS INFAMOUS HAIRDRYER
TREATMENT
"Myths grow all the time. If
I was to listen to the number of times I've thrown teacups then we've gone
through some crockery in this place. It's completely exaggerated, but I don't
like people arguing back with me."
ON RETIRED ITALIAN STRIKER
FILIPPO INZAGHI
"Inzaghi was born in an
offside position."
DURING WAYNE ROONEY'S CONTRACT
SAGA IN 2010
"Sometimes you look in a
field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got
in your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that
way."
ON THE ITALIANS
"When an Italian tells me
it's pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the
inventors of the smokescreen."
ON THE MEN IN THE MIDDLE
"You can't applaud a
referee."
ON PLAYERS PAST AND PRESENT
(On Paul Ince when at United...)
"I used to have a saying
that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everest in
his slippers. That's what he was like."
(On Paul Ince ...after he left
United)
"He's a bully, a f***ing
big-time Charlie."
(On Ryan Giggs)
"Whether dribbling or
sprinting, Ryan can leave the best defenders with twisted blood."
(On Ryan Giggs again)
"The first time I saw him,
he was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a
piece of paper in the wind."
ON UNITED'S HOME SUPPORT
"We have people coming here
to admire the scenery and enjoy their crisps."
ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF WINNING
"I don't like losing but
I've mellowed. I maybe have a short fuse but it goes away quicker now."
ON LEGACY
(A proud moment when surpassing
Sir Matt Busby's managerial record)
"I’m privileged to have
followed Sir Matt because all you have to do is to try and maintain the
standards that he set so many years ago."
ON RETIREMENT
"I think it’s important to
work and I’m entitled to work. Some people do not want to work but I want to
continue working. Retirement is for young people."
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