I heard there were three speeches at that Labour party football dinner at Wembley.
Tony made a speech and left and then Gordon made a funny speech, talking about Scotland-England games.
And then it was Sir Alex Ferguson. But his wasn’t a normal sort of speech because Clive Tyldesley interviewed him.
Sir Alex said : I think there are three elements to developing sport.
The first one is practice. He said people have got to be given the time to practice. That’s the most crucial element. He said if you haven’t got the work ethic to practice, you’ve got no chance.
And he told the story about Eric Cantona after his first day at training. When they finished, Eric said, “Can I borrow a couple of lads, a couple of players?”
“Yeah, what for?” said Fergie.
“I want to practice,” said Eric.
So Fergie went over to another part of the Cliff and got two young lads. And Eric said, “I need a goalie as well.” So he went and got him a goalie .
And Cantona spent the rest of the afternoon practicing volleys. And Fergie said that the next day, after training, he found some the first team players were hanging around. One player completely changed the culture. From then on, everybody stayed on for extra training. He said : Eric completely changed my training routines. Before that my training routines had been a getting a bit of everything done in a limited period of time.
So that was the first thing : practice !
Then Fergie went on to talk about coaching and said that coaches weren’t sufficiently respected. He said coaches were very, very important. Without them you’re not gonna get anywhere – but, frankly, coaches are disrespected. Coaches get sacked on whims, don’t get proper time, proper support.
And the last thing is the winning mentality. It’s all very well encouraging kids, parents can do that. But when it comes to coaching, you’ve got to instil the winning mentality. And there’s no excuse for not doing that, for saying they’re too young. You’ve got to foster a winning mentality.The coaches have to demand a winning mentality.
Clive Tyldesley asked, “Are you gonna get Tevez?”
Fergie laughed.
Clive asked :”After all you’ve achieved, what motivates you?”
Fergie went quiet for a bit.
“Well, to be honest I’d like to win the European Cup again.”
Overall, I was told, what Sir Alex said was simple and straightforward and honest.
Personally, I think Manchester United will win the 2008 Premiership by a country mile.
And I wonder about the gap. I wonder about the distance between what Manchester United can do and what Arsenal can do. I don’t know how big the gap is and neither does anybody else until both teams have played 15 games.
Some weeks ago I said that I’d not heard anything about that dinner at Wembley. A couple of friends were going but I’d not heard any gossip by 8.30 am the following day. Then I forgot about it. So I’m a bit late in relating this precis of what Sir Alex said.
But I’m using this moment and this piece to say : That’s what Arsenal are up against.
That’s what Arsenal and the other 19 teams are up against. It’s not just Ronaldo, Rooney and Vidic, not just Evra, Hargreaves and Carrick, not just Nani, Neville, Scholes and Giggs and penalty-saving Edwin van der Sar.
You’re not just up against the biggest club in the world, you’re up against a whole ethos, a whole competitive culture where every player at every level has the will to win trophies
That’s what won the treble in 1999. In the five matches that mattered that season, Man United came through every time. That’s what won the European Cup in the last two minutes after Uefa had tied Bayern Munich’s ribbons on the trophy.
With three minutes left on the clock, without Keane and Scholes, who were suspended, how do you reverse a 1-0 deficit against Bayern Munich? How do you turn the biggest game of the season upside down?
By having a never-day-die spirit. By refusing to lose. By having the will to win.
Do you think Manchester United would ever go to Anfield and not wanna be there and lose 4-1? As Arsenal did on March 31 last season ?
Arsenal’s goalscorer in that Anfield game was William Gallas, who says Arsenal have toughened up. It’s not before time.
After the 1-0 win against Ajax in Amsterdam, Gallas said, “We’ve changed. Now we know we have to fight, to be compact and defend very well.
“They are professionals and they have had one more year’s experience behind them. As far as I’m concerned they will be ready this season. I realised that during pre-season. What I saw during the tournaments – against Paris St-Germain, Inter, Ajax and Lazio – it was different. The spirit was different. Everybody fought for his team-mate and when you see that you realise. I don’t know why it’s changed but something clearly has. I can’t call them ‘the kids’ – they’re not kids any more – but the young players really want to win a trophy. They won’t be bullied this season. They don’t want people to keep saying Arsenal are just young kids. When I train with them I don’t see them as young kids any more. I see only players who are ready to fight this season.
“The players understand better – sometimes it isn’t just about playing well. You have to be ready, you have to fight when you’re up against teams who play with long balls. I think this season everyone can compete against that. We can be physical enough to deal with that – I don’t think teams can beat us that way any more.”
Gallas is a mentally tough footballer who could play for Sir Alex. He’s outspoken, demands a lot from those around him, and really wants to win.
Roll on Sunday and Fulham. I can’t wait to see a compact, competitive Arsenal team that defends well. Roll on February, March, April and May. I can’t wait to see a compact, competitive Arsenal team defending well in February, March, April and May.
And I’m sure Arsene will strengthen his squad soon. There are 21 days left and players get cheaper at the end of August
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any juicy football gossip for the last week because my phone was terminated seven days ago.
I’ve been slammed by a rogue operator but BT cannot tell me who ordered the termination, or if they keep documentation, so that I can see whether my signature has been forged. I’ve made two complaints to Ofcom. I believe that forging my signature is a criminal offence. Should I contact the police? I don’t know.
The only phone calls I’ve made in the last seven days have been to BT. I spend 60-90 minutes every morning asking them to restore my phone line. I’ve talked to Emma, Mark, Linda, Yvonne and many other staff.
One asked : “Did you have a letter from us telling you this was about to happen?”
I said, “No, I haven’t had a letter. If I’d had such a letter the first thing I would have done is phoned you and said : What the hell is going on?”
Today I’m wondering whether to call them again. But I’ve realised that phoning BT is not good for my health. I feel a lot better when I’m not phoning them. And I’ve realised that the telephone is an instrument designed to prevent me from talking to people.