1. Once ran a pub. Ferguson has
worked outside football, starting
out as a shop steward in the Clyde
shipyards and later running a pub
in Glasgow that he renamed
Fergie's with a downstairs bar
named the Elbow Room in
memory of his physical style as a
player.
2. Intrigued by JFK. Gordon Brown
sent him numerous CDs about the
assassination of JFK. Ferguson
bonded with Brown over a shared
interest in US politics. "Gordon
sent me 35 CDs on it, which was
brilliant of him," he told
Manchester radio station Key 103
in 2007. Ferguson is fascinated
with JFK. He said he kept JFK's
autopsy report by his bed. He also
has a copy of the Warren Report
signed by [the former US
president] Gerald Ford.
3. Gave the young Kenny Dalglish
lifts. When Ferguson was at
Rangers he gave lifts to a young
Kenny Dalglish who was hoping to
be signed. "Fergie used to give us
a lift into town. He had such a big
car," Dalglish told the Guardian.
When Dalglish was picked up by
city rivals Celtic he was forced to
play centre back and mark
Ferguson in a reserve team game.
4. Told Alastair Campbell to get a
masseur for Tony Blair. Ferguson
was a big Labour donor and
advised Tony Blair on leadership.
The idea of getting a masseur for
the election "battle bus" may have
been a step too far, he later
admitted. Better advice was when
he said: "So long as you can keep
all your key people in the same
room at the same time, you'll be
fine."
5. Not the longest serving
manager. Ferguson was manager
of Manchester United for 26-and-
a-half years. The longest serving
league manager in Europe was
Guy Roux, who occupied the
hotseat at French team Auxerre
for 44 years, finally stepping
down in 2005. Ferguson isn't even
the longest serving Scottish
manager. Willie Maley was Celtic
manager from 1897-1940,
clocking up 43 years.
6. Used to jump over jetties as a
boy. He grew up in a poor area of
Glasgow where there wasn't much
to do apart from play football,
fight and jump over jetties, known
as dykes. "The dangerous ones
had names – the king, the queen,
the suicide, the diamond, the
spiky," Ferguson once said. "You'd
go to different areas of Govan to
challenge each other into jumping
dykes because it was very
dangerous. But you do that when
you're a kid because you've got
no fear."
7. "Fergie time" is 79 seconds.
"Fergie time" is the widely held
belief by supporters of other
team, that if Man Utd are losing
after 90 minutes, the referee will
extend injury time long enough
for them to equalise or win. Last
year, the BBC analysed Fergie time.
It found that Man Utd were not
unique in being given extra injury
time when they were losing,
although it appeared they got
more than other teams. Games
went on 79 seconds longer when
Manchester United were losing
than winning. Man Utd's towering
achievement – securing the treble
with victory in the 1999 European
Champions League – was achieved
in Fergie time, when they
reversed a Bayern Munich lead, by
scoring two goals after the 90th
minute.
8. Alex or Alec? Many people in
football refer to him as Sir Alec,
assuming that his Scottish
background will mean his name is
pronounced in that way. But
Scotland is strangely split on the
Alex/Alec question, with people
slipping between the two, often
without noticing. BBC Sportsound
presenter Richard Gordon said he
had found himself using both
forms. He said that former
Ferguson colleague Willie Miller
often calls him Alec when talking
on the radio and ex-Scotland
manager Craig Brown is prone to
using the informal Alec, quickly
followed by the more respectable
Sir Alex. Carole Hough, professor
of onomastics, says she can think
of no particular reason why
people would choose one or the
other, except that Alec is slightly
shorter. She said both names were
popular in Scotland and England,
with Alec perhaps having more
currency north of the border.
9. The "hairdryer treatment" and
"squeaky bum time". Ferguson
was responsible for two
memorable coinages. Players
speak in awestruck tones of what
it is like to be on the receiving end
of Sir Alex's temper. The
"hairdryer" – for its sound and
heat – became the chosen phrase.
Players talk of the moment a
switch is flicked in Fergie's head,
he presses his face close to the
you and emits a terrifying torrent
of abuse. Former United winger
Lee Sharpe – famed for his
extracurricular activities – has
been credited with inventing the
term. David Beckham said: "The
fear of getting the hairdryer was
the reason why we all played so
well. He was a manager you
wanted to do well for." Ferguson
also put his finger on the agony
of watching a tense sporting
moment. It is thought he first used
"squeaky bum time" in March
2003 as his Manchester United
team clawed back the lead from
rivals Arsenal in a tense finale. It
has become part of the football
argot, especially at the climax of a
season. It first entered the Collins
English dictionary in 2005 with
the definition "the tense final
stages of a league competition,
especially from the point of view
of the leaders". Wikipedia notes
the act of "squirming or moving
forward and back in one's seat
while watching an exciting
sporting event".
10. Home is called Fairfields.
Ferguson lives in a mansion in
Wilmslow, Cheshire. It is called
Fairfields after the shipyard where
his father worked.
Gum chewer extraordinaire
Ferguson's habit of furious, grim-
faced gum chewing prompted the
spoof news website Newsbiscuit
to claim that "his gum chewing
habits could power an area the
size of Lincolnshire".
It's been estimated that Ferguson
gets through about 10 sticks a
match, which means that – over
the course of his tenure at Man
Utd – he's chewed enough sticks
to stretch twice around the Old
Trafford pitch.
Ferguson's gum-chewing during
matches is the stuff of legend, met
sporadically with tutting
disapproval by certain right-wing
columnists, and wide speculation
as to exactly how many sticks he
gets through each match.
Assuming a conservative 10 sticks
per match, in his Man U tenure
Fergie has gone through around
14,980 gum sticks.
If he's been keeping the used
gum, he's got about enough to
make two regulation-sized
footballs, with some left over
(though they'd probably be pretty
manky by now).
Cyril 16 May, 2013
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