Sir Alex Who?

I had a brief flirtation with football during my schoolboy days.  Growing up in north London, it was expected that lads (male chauvinist attitudes in those days!) would support Arsenal or Spurs and I chose the former - Up the Gunners!  But by my early teens when my father's job was relocated to Manchester and I moved with my parents to the north of England, I grew out of the football bug.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy watching the occasional match from the comfort of an armchair pointing towards a TV!  The 'English Disease' of football hooliganism in the 1970s appalled me and soured any remaining taste that I had for the sport.

I hardly thought about football during my adulthood, until 2003 when I met and developed a strong friendship with a guy who is a fanatical Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) supporter - and I mean fanatical!  On his Twitter account he describes himself as a 'pre Munich Red'.  Our friendship meant that we would understandably discuss football, although we were certainly not stuck for conversation without it, and I gradually gained an understanding of the footballing 'religion' - in this case faith in and worship of MUFC.  From my point of view, my new knowledge didn't encourage me to support MUFC, or any other football club, but I was interested in the business model and in particular, the MUFC brand.  I was, and still am, on a very steep learning curve.  You have to understand that prior to 2003, I didn't know who was the manager of MUFC and so not surprisingly, I had no knowledge of Sir Alex Ferguson - hence 'Sir Alex Who?'!

I was fascinated by the financing and ownership of the club and in particular, the purchase of a controlling interest by Malcolm Glazer in 2005.  It was a highly leveraged takeover and the club's debt prompted protests from fans, including some choosing to wear green and gold when going to matches, which were the colours of the original club, Newton Heath.  Suddenly a huge number of supporters had become financial experts.  They decided debt was a bad thing and Malcolm Glazer was an evil man, unfit to have a controlling stake in their club.  Throughout this period, MUFC continued to perform excellently on the pitch under Sir Alex Ferguson's management but, in my opinion, he really demonstrated his leadership acumen by the way he focussed on the one thing that football should be all about, WINNING GAMES!  Unlike some of the fans, he didn't allow himself to become distracted from that goal - no pun intended!  Indeed I am not aware of Sir Alex having expressed any complaints about the ownership of the club because like all business leaders, he knows that ALL stakeholders are important to the success of the enterprise.

So when I heard the recent announcement of Sir Alex's resignation as manager of the club, albeit continuing as a director and ambassador, I didn't feel any emotion, unlike many of the club's fans, but I do recognise that he will be a hard act to follow.  The timing of his resignation and his apparent succession plan with the impending appointment of David Moyes as the new manager, is yet another example of Sir Alex's exemplary leadership and commitment to MUFC's future success.

Well done Sir Alex........Sir Alex Who?........Sir Alex FERGUSON of course!!