Hit man: Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals for
Manchester United
Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his own brutal
departure from Manchester United underlines why Sir Alex Ferguson
has spent so long at the top.
Van Nistelrooy scored an incredible 150 goals in five
seasons with the Old Trafford outfit from 2001.
It is a record that rightly places him amongst the
greatest strikers in United's history. Even Cristiano Ronaldo was
unable to match the 44 goals Van Nistelrooy scored in United's
2002-03 Premier League title-winning season.
Yet that staggering return counted for nothing when
Ferguson decided Van Nistelrooy had outlived his
usefulness.
As the summer of 2006 approached, Ferguson decided to pick
Giuseppe Rossi ahead of Van Nistelrooy for the final game of the
season against Charlton.
The Dutchman drove away from Old Trafford in disgust and -
until Friday's unveiling of a Ferguson statue - had not been back
since.
'When he is building new teams he is willing to do things
like that,' said Van Nistelrooy.
'That is all credit to him. In his mind, the club is the
most important thing.
'That is what he always said. It is his most-repeated
sentence.'
At the time, Van Nistelrooy was incredulous, as were many
fans.
Yet United came back to win three successive Premier
League titles and a Champions League triumph in 2008, in a period
when they never did worse than a semi-final.
'What he did was fair enough,' said Van
Nistelrooy.
'I didn't find it hard to deal with. I accepted
it.
'I moved on to Madrid and had four great years there. He
moved the club further onwards.
'My overall feeling about United is that I had a great
five years there and I wanted to come back today to pay respect to
the manager because I am very grateful for the chance he gave
me.
'Of course, we had our things with the way it ended but he
is man who gets the best out of people. He did that with me as
well.'
Possibly the true nature of Ferguson's achievements are
not fully appreciated without going through the number of stellar
careers he has nurtured.
Van Nistelrooy, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes
were all present today. Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham sent
messages by video.
Roy Keane was amongst the most notable absentees but even
if the Irishman's relationship with his one-time manager has been
fractured beyond repair by his outspoken criticisms of United's
Champions League elimination 12 months ago - and Ferguson's
reaction to them - even he would surely admit the Scot had a
positive influence on his career.
'It is incredible how many careers he has touched,' said
Van Nistelrooy.
'Twenty-six seasons is difficult to get your head
round.
'Ten years is an awful long time for a manager to be at a
club in football but Sir Alex is going on and on.
'He has a very strong desire to give his best every single
day.
'That is what he does. He puts everything he has in and
here we are.
'In three or four years we will be talking 30 years. It is
out of this world.
'But he is doing it. As he said, he has outlived death. He
is outliving everyone.'