Online Reporter
IT IS forgivable to wonder what Sir Alex Ferguson would make of Manchester United’s Amazon documentary announcement.
Ferguson actually let the cameras in on a handful of occasions during his United heyday. The last time was for ‘The Alex Ferguson Story’, a 1998 documentary aired by ITV.
In it, Ferguson’s pre-match and half-time team talks for the crucial Good Friday home fixture against Liverpool in 1998 were both filmed.
In the former, Ferguson billed the returning Paul Ince as a “f*****g big-time Charlie”.
Mischievously, ITV did not broadcast the Ferguson documentary until five months later, on the eve of United’s rematch with Liverpool at Old Trafford.
United won 2-0 and their supporters chanted, “Charlie, Charlie, what’s the score”.
The cut-through and timing probably deterred Ferguson enough to never bother again. 1998 was also the year that United launched MUTV.
MUTV is redundant these days and streaming services offer football clubs more lucre. United had been inundated with documentary offers before they accepted Amazon’s record sum and were suddenly issued with a proposal on a pre-season tour of the United States.
The Alex Ferguson Story remains the essential Ferguson documentary, despite airing 12 years into his 26-and-a-half year reign and a year before United’s defining Treble triumph.
Ferguson had previously appeared in a 1989 video brochure with a narration that possibly inspired Alan Partridge’s Hamilton’s Water Breaks endorsement.
There are stop-offs at the United club shop, the ticket office, the museum, and we get to see Mark Hughes’s bare backside.
Shaun Goater, briefly on United’s books, cameos and Ferguson’s stage-managed office conversation with Archie Knox required multiple takes.
Four years later, Ferguson approved a Granada Sports production with Steve Bruce’s ‘Captain’s Log’, an official United video.
The timing was impeccable as it coincided with a six-game winning run, starting with the birth of ‘Fergie Time’ against Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993, as United won their first title in 26 years.
ITV’s effort is more fascinating as there was no happy ending. It followed United’s run-in for the 1997-98 season when they blew a 12-point advantage and Arsenal claimed the Premier League and FA Cup double.
Pub talk among United supporters questions Ferguson’s failure to sign Marcelo Salas after Teddy Sheringham scored one league goal in the second half of the season. In a separate interview, Ferguson accepts he did not strengthen the squad sufficiently.
There are lighthearted moments involving Ferguson with Brian Kidd at The Cliff, United’s old training ground, and his wife Cathy at their Wilmslow home.
Ferguson ribs her that he sat near the supermodel Claudia Schiffer during a recent dinner in Paris: “You’d be proud of me, I did well to keep her off me.”
In an incident that would these days be broken within seconds on social media, David Beckham arrives at Manchester Airport for the Champions League quarter-final trip to Monaco without his passport.
An anxious Beckham, back in his Brylcreem days, is seen handling a brick phone. Red-top journalists Steve Millar and John Richardson sympathetically shake hands with Beckham while Ferguson is astonishingly relaxed.
In Monaco, Ferguson and his staff revel in the Sun exclusive about Alan Shearer’s dust-up with Keith Gillespie during Newcastle training.
“Shearer says, ‘He just slipped’. Right on to my right fist,” Ferguson chuckles as he sifts through the newspaper.
The highlight is Ferguson’s pre-match team talk for the Good Friday visit of Liverpool.
“It’s straightforward, as far as I’m concerned: you look after [Steve] McManaman,” Ferguson explains to the United squad at The Cliff.
“Close him down quickly, you don’t need to detail a player. It’s whoever’s nearest. Close him down, play against him and don’t allow him to dictate the areas you play.”
A voiceover from Peter Schmeichel is then played: “We’ve heard it every time we’ve played Liverpool: ‘McManaman’s doing this.’ We know that.
“He doesn’t really have to tell us because we know.”
It then switches back to Ferguson’s team talk: “Go back three years ago how we lost the league, we lost the league at Anfield by not listening to the instructions about McManaman.”
Ferguson was referring to a 2-0 March 1995 defeat at Anfield, where McManaman forced an own goal from Bruce.
Ince was the player who specifically failed to “listen to the instructions”. Ferguson tasked Ince with staying on the left wing to keep tabs on McManaman, yet his positioning was awry for Jamie Redknapp’s opening goal and he allowed McManaman to drift past him for the second.
With Ince preparing to return to Old Trafford for the first time since leaving for Inter Milan in 1995, his performance was still bugging Ferguson.
“They’ve given Ince the license to attack without any defensive duties,” Ferguson scoffed. “But if he tries to bully you, he’ll f*****g enjoy it.
“Don’t even let him attempt to bully you, right. Youse just make sure you’re ready for him tomorrow.
“And that’s all you need to worry about him: His f*****g big-time Charlie bit. He’s against f*****g men, am I right?”
Even Roy Keane looks taken aback by Ferguson’s expletives – Sun.
