Aniket Rai
Sir Alex Ferguson shares the regrets he has as Manchester United manager
Speaking to the Manchester United club media, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that letting go of players from his team is the one regret he has from his time as a Manchester United manager.
The Scotsman is arguably the greatest manager in English football history as he led United to 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, and 2 UEFA Champions League triumphs. (h/t transfermarkt)
In fact, the last time United won the league was in Sir Alex’s last season at Old Trafford. The club has appointed plenty of new managers since his departure, but none has been able to fill his boots.
But even a successful manager like Sir Alex has regrets. For him, he revealed that it was letting go of his trusted defenders, Paul Parker, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, and Dennis Irwin, who gave him 9-10 years on the field.
“But in terms of the regrets, the 1994 team I had, the back four [Parker, Bruce, Pallister, and Irwin] all seemed to grow old together… I managed to organise a move for them, and they did well out of it. But telling them is very, very difficult.”
SAF shares his regrets
On a similar note, he also expressed his regret at the fact that he had to let many teenagers go. And he stated how he ‘hated’ the feeling of robbing the youngsters of their dreams to play in front of a packed Old Trafford crowd.
“The process [to let a young player go] was the youth coach and the welfare chap would come in with the player you’re going to let go. We’d try and get him a club and ‘we’re sorry we’re having to do this’. That’s terrible. That is the worst thing.”
He did not get a lot of things wrong at United as he took the club from the brink of obscurity and turned them into the global force that we are today.
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It tells a lot about him that even his regrets are not related to managerial calls that impacted the team in a negative way. In fact, they are related to aspects of the game that no manager can avoid and is a part and parcel of the profession.
