UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL FIRST LEG Chelsea v Manchester Utd:IT WAS a bold message from Alex Ferguson, a definite shift from his usual modus operandi. In previous seasons the Manchester United manager has shied away from talking publicly about emulating the successes of the treble-winning 1999 team. On this occasion there was no such restraint.
“It is 14 games in two months if everything goes our way and, at United, we are used to this kind of thing, which is to our advantage. In the past I have said many times that to win just one trophy would be great. But we have to take the chance of winning all three now. We can repeat the treble of 1999.”
His team are seven points clear in the Premier League, with an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City to follow the two Champions League matches against Chelsea. What prompted Ferguson to be so emboldened is not clear, but what can be said with certainty is it was far removed from the usual mantra. Before 1999 Ferguson commented that “deep down, I know it would be impossible to win the league, the European Cup and the FA Cup”. Since that epic night at Camp Nou he has talked of the treble being “a one-off, something that will never be done again”.
The manager is encouraged for many reasons, from the gradual easing of a recently dire injury situation to the renascent form of Wayne Rooney and the sense, once again, that this is a footballer who can trouble the most accomplished defence. So much has been said and written about Rooney over the past few days it can be easy to forget he scored a wonderfully taken hat-trick at West Ham on Saturday. Ferguson hasn’t.
“Scoring is what strikers are all about,” he said. “When you are scoring goals, the confidence is great, you never think you are going to stop.”
Apart from that, all other talk of Rooney was off-bounds.
“I’m not talking about him at all,” Ferguson had said in response to the first question at his pre-match news conference. It was a tense, fractious event, but that was always going to be the way after the Football Association in England’s decision to impose a two-match ban on Rooney that, barring his appeal being successful, takes him out of the FA Cup semi-final.
Ferguson has become convinced the FA is victimising his club and the blanket coverage of a 24/7 media has served only to exacerbate his disdainful feelings towards the people reporting it.
These days it is a sad reflection on his relationship with a press he has come to think of as a “monster” that the only true insight into the man tends to come from interviews overseas, the latest being a question-and-answer session with Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
This was where Ferguson spoke of emulating the class of 1999 and it was also his platform for speaking in support of Carlo Ancelotti, acutely aware the Chelsea manager is likely to pay with his job if United are to reach the European semi-finals.
“It’s incredible for Carlo, he won the Double last season. How can Chelsea think of changing such a coach? Carlo is a fantastic guy, a really nice person. There is nothing really between our two teams. Both possess excellent footballers, both have international experience, experienced coaches. Really, I don’t know where all the criticism comes from.”
The lack of patience in the modern game has long riled Ferguson and there were supportive words, too, for Fernando Torres, the €57 million striker still waiting for his first Chelsea goal.
“Of course he will score again. When Chelsea signed him, everyone was saying: ‘What a great signing’. Now, because he has not scored, he is a bad signing. Can people be more ridiculous? Maybe he is just settling in from the Liverpool system to the Chelsea system.”
Ferguson was even willing to speak about Jose Mourinho’s chances of succeeding him at Old Trafford. “I am a great friend with Jose, we often speak of his future. I can understand his desire to come back to England because there is more freedom for a manager here. But it is a difficult one for me to tell him when this position [at United] will become available.”
Seventy later this year, Ferguson once said that was the age “you’ll be wheeling me up the hill to the Royal British Legion”. Retirement, he now says, is not an option.
“I will continue as long as I have the good energy that I have enjoyed all my life. My father retired on his 65th birthday, and one year later he was dead.
“The worst thing you can do is put on your slippers. People say things like: ‘I’ve worked for 45 years, I have the right to rest’. Not at all, one has a duty to keep active.”
Rooney will be fit for tonight, Rafael da Silva is also available to come back in at right back and Ferguson is deliberating about bringing back Rio Ferdinand for his first match for two months.
United have not won in 10 games at Stamford Bridge since April 2002, but Ferguson did not seem overly concerned. “Last year they beat us with an offside goal; last month David Luiz should have been sent off.”
Guardian Service
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