THE
STORY OF
MAn UTD96 The Story of Man Utd FourFourTwo.com
THE GLAZERS
DID IT TAINT FERGIE’S LEGACY?
The fallout from Sir Alex Ferguson’s row
with [John] Magnier and [JP] McManus
probably hastened the Glazer transaction.
You’d have to admit the whole affair had an
impact on the club and team.
You can’t have a situation in any business
where a senior manager is at loggerheads
with the largest shareholder to the point
where legal action is underway. It was
a dangerous chapter in Manchester United’s
history. Ferguson was distracted – if you
look at United’s purchases in that time, Eric
Djemba-Djemba, David Bellion, Alan Smith,
Liam Miller and Kleberson weren’t Manchester
United calibre – but he was bound to be:
he was battling for a stake of a multi-million-
pound personal fortune. That stalled United’s
renaissance, but long-term, he fixed it on
the field – as he always did.
I’d say it’s been more that Ferguson ‘saved’
the Glazers than the Glazers saving Ferguson
from Magnier and McManus. United’s record
once Fergie got the football back on track
with the 2007 title took most of the real
venom out of the anti-Glazer campaign. I don’t
feel Magnier and McManus would necessarily
have made better owners than the Glazers, but
they would have handled the early PR better.
I didn’t feel let down; nor do I believe Sir
Alex sold out on his socialist roots. Without
getting too deep, the big question is, how
does a very successful person in business
square the circle if they have socialism at
their heart? His legacy at Old Trafford is his
record of winning trophies, playing football
the United way and putting my club right
back where they belong – consistently
challenging for domestic honours, taking
on Europe’s finest and aiming to rule the
world! His time at Old Trafford had blemishes,
but they were a small price to pay for the best
26 years any United supporter has enjoyed.
The Magnier and McManus row was probably
the last time Ferguson enjoyed the
unequivocal support of the supporters. There
were ‘F**k Off Magnier’ T-shirts, and Fergie’s
name was chanted around the ground to
show our support for him. There’s no doubt his
fight with Magnier drew strength from this.
There were other protests as well: one
at Hereford Racecourse, where John
Magnier had horses running, and another
planned for Cheltenham Gold Cup day, and
those really seemed to put the wind up
Magnier, as it was affecting his core
business. Then Ferguson asked fans to call
off the Cheltenham protest, saying it was
“the equivalent of the FA Cup final to horse
racing fans”. He had settled with Magnier, for
£2.5 million as it turns out. And there it was:
the protests ended flatly. In my opinion,
Ferguson had plainly used the fans for his own
benefit, and that was the last time he could
rely on us to support him without question.
The upshot of the whole falling-out was
that Fergie was put on a one-year rolling
contract – meaning there would be no big
payout if he walked – and there’s strong
speculation that his role in transfers was
reduced to saying “I want that one”. If that
was the case, it must have been painful for
a man used to the old school ways of doing
things, and therefore the change of ownership
[to the Glazers] must have seemed like he was
having his b****cks taken out of Magnier’s vice.
Did I feel let down by it all? Yes, of course.
Ferguson was asked to support the fight
against the Glazers’ takeover of the club
and as far as we were concerned, he chose
to support them instead.
Overall, I would certainly say that the
Glazer affair, and the way Ferguson dealt
with it, ultimately tainted his legacy at
Manchester United.PETE MOLYNEUX
Season ticket holder and author of Ta Ra
Fergie, having held up that banner in 1989COLIN HENDRIE
Vice-chairman, Independent Manchester
United Supporters AssociationNO YES