Ferguson reminds us of the importance of a good manager

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Sir Alex Ferguson is confident that Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra will all be fit to face Arsenal on Monday night.

Rio Ferdinand was substituted as a precaution with a tight hamstring during Tuesday night's 1-1 Champions League Group C draw with Valencia at Old Trafford.

Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra both trained away from the main group on Monday in the lead up to that match.

However, all three men are expected to leave Sir Alex with plenty of options for the biggest game of the season so far.

"We're quite confident that everyone will be fit for Monday," the boss told reporters on Friday morning at Carrington. "Rio should be OK. Paul Scholes started full training on Thursday, which is good news, and hopefully we'll have him for Monday. Patrice Evra will be fit.

"Wes Brown and Jonny Evans have had a bit of this flu virus which has been going around, but they both started training on Thursday.

"It's good to have everyone available for such a massive game."

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Sir Alex Ferguson is expecting United’s clash against Arsenal to be befitting of the "pride and history" of both clubs.

The Reds go into Monday night’s game just a point behind the Gunners knowing a win will put United back at the Premier League's summit.

And although Sir Alex concedes that the rivalry between the two sides hasn’t been quite as intense since the emergence of Chelsea as a major force back in the 2004/05 campaign, he still always anticipates a match full of drama whenever the pair go up against each other.

“The games, particularly four or five years ago, were so important because both of us were challenging for league titles,” said the boss. “Chelsea have now come in and it’s been ourselves and Chelsea over the last five years.

“Nonetheless, it’s Manchester United against Arsenal and the history of both teams always guarantees a match of intensity and, a lot of the time, controversy.

“I think Monday's game will be more or less the same because the pride and history of both clubs determines that.”

Arsene Wenger’s side have failed to secure any silverware since - many would say, in contrast to United's dominance in the match - triumphing over the Reds in the 2005 FA Cup final, and in recent years the Gunners have received much criticism for showing a lack of battling qualities needed to grind out results.

However, Sir Alex believes that’s no longer the case. He considers Arsenal to be a much more mature outfit, gritty as well as pretty - and capable of ending their trophy drought this season.

"I think the general shape of the team has been far more mature and aggressive this year," he added. "They were very difficult to beat in the days of Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira and the three at the back - Keown, Adams and Bould. That brought them great success and I think that this team is showing that kind of maturity now.

"They will still try to play the attractive football Arsene believes in, but there's definitely been a slight change. They’re top of the league - that’s a sure indication that they are better than they were last year and they’ll have a chance.”

The Gunners, United could argue, are top of the league only because the Reds missed out on last weekend's round of matches due to a frozen pitch at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road stadium. However, that the lead role in this intriguing and unpredictable campaign has changed hands so readily between United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the last couple of weeks shows how closely-contested the title race is. And that will no doubt be reflected in Monday's meeting.

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes Arsène Wenger criticised the Old Trafford pitch to distract attention from Arsenal's performance. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Getty Images

Sir Alex Ferguson has hit back at Arsène Wenger's suggestion that the Manchester United pitch was to blame for Arsenal's performance in their 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford on Monday.

Ferguson believes it was a diversion tactic to take the emphasis away from the way, in his words, "we were by far the better team". The United manager is aggrieved by Wenger's remarks, believing them to be an unfair slight on the club's groundstaff.

"I don't think the pitch had anything to do with it," he said. "We were just the better team. The pitch was good, fine. I've no problem with the pitch at all and it was a surprise to everyone that this was mentioned. I don't think anyone can complain about our pitch."

Wenger had spoken at length about the playing surface being the reason why "the technical quality of the game was very average". He went on to describe it as "very bad", saying it was not just uneven but "bouncy and slippery", adding: "The pitch was so poor in my opinion and the game suffered a lot from it." The midfielder, Jack Wilshere, followed it up on his Twitter page , saying: "The pitch was shocking. [United] wanted to stop us playing!"

The irony is that Ferguson has meticulous standards when it comes to the pitch at Old Trafford and has been seen chastising the head groundsman, Tony Sinclair, on occasions when he felt it was not good enough. On this occasion, however, he feels that Wenger has been unfair on Sinclair and the small army of around 110 groundstaff who are employed to look after the grass at Old Trafford as well as United's training ground at Carrington and two youth-team sites in Salford.

The playing surface at Old Trafford was a regularfrequent source of concern to Ferguson in the 1980s and 1990s but it has not been relaid since 2003 and, speaking on Sirius XM's The Football Show, Ferguson reflected on his playing days in Scotland, remembering that "by March, there used to be a furrow up the middle of the pitch that was absolutely barren." He added: "We're spoilt now. The state of the pitches today is fantastic, with all of the drainage and the care they get."

Although Ferguson's irritation with the pitch comments was clear, it does not mask the club's embarrassment that Wenger was targeted, once again, with crude chants. Ferguson had appealed to supporters via his programme notes and in several pre-match interviews to behave better, saying the Arsenal manager "deserves better, much better" and United are at a loss about how to stop it.

A more orthodox problem has manifested itself in the fitness of Paul Scholes, who has missed the last three games with a groin injury and will have more tests this week to see whether he has any chance of returning for Sunday's match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The early diagnosis is that it is unlikely.

Arsenal, meanwhile, will reflect on their run of 11 games without a win against United and Chelsea. "I think the team performance was quite good," Wojciech Szczesny, their goalkeeper, said. "We just didn't get as much luck as United did. They probably had more chances to score but I felt the goal was pretty lucky.

"I don't think Park [Ji-sung] actually meant to head the ball. It just hit him on the head and went into the top corner. With just a little bit more luck we could have got something out of the game but we're still confident we are the top side in the Premier League."

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Sir Alex Ferguson had been in charge of Manchester United for seven years before winning his first league title in 1993.

In the age of the disposable football manager, it will do the game no harm to be reminded of the importance of the job to the success, continuity, evolvement and general wellbeing of a club, big or small. When Manchester United meet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday Sir Alex Ferguson will have been manager at Old Trafford longer than Sir Matt Busby – 24 hair‑raising, hair-drying years, one month and 15 days.

Blackburn's new Indian bosses may have decided that a solid, experienced manager like Sam Allardyce is as redundant as a punkah wallah in a monsoon but Ferguson has proved, season after season, that good hands-on management can never be replaced by coaches, technical directors, friends of the owner or, heaven help football, agents.

When Busby was in charge at United from 1945 to 1969 the question never arose. Managers usually stayed in the background, seldom noticed, rarely heard. They were sacked from time to time, but not at today's frenetic pace of hiring and firing. Busby was much admired but only became a personality after the Munich plane crash early in 1958 had destroyed his young team, the Babes. Then he was practically canonised by the media; after all, he had twice received the last rites during his nine weeks in a German hospital.

Apart from their being Scottish, sharing the same first name – Busby was christened Alexander Matthew – and receiving knighthoods, it would be difficult to imagine two more contrasting football figures. Busby was as tough as the old shin-high boots he wore as a player for Manchester City and Liverpool but he presented an avuncular face to the world at large. Ferguson is more Macbeth on a bad day.

Between them, however, they have created and recreated a succession of winning Manchester United teams over a combined period of nearly 50 years and if Ferguson leads the present, relatively modest side to a record‑breaking 19th league championship, one more than Liverpool, he will have done so in the spirit of make-do-and-mend which characterised Busby's early seasons in charge immediately after the second world war.

Busby literally inherited a ruin. Old Trafford had been badly bombed and until 1949 United played their home fixtures at Maine Road. Having turned down the manager's job at Anfield Busby transformed United, who nearly went bust in the 1930s, into a major force in English football with his emphasis on attractive, attacking play. The 1948 FA Cup final, in which Busby's team beat the Blackpool of Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen 4-2, is still regarded as one of the great Wembley classics.

According to Eamon Dunphy, a reserve player under Busby, "His greatest achievement was to create the illusion of beauty in a craft wretchedly deformed from the beginning". Well, that was something. Ferguson remembers Busby, long after he had retired, attending the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam, where United beat Johan Cruyff's Barcelona: "Suddenly Sir Matt arrived and the wild cheering turned to respectful applause. It was quite touching, just like the pope arriving."

Busby built three outstanding United sides, the first led by Johnny Carey, then the Babes and lastly the team of Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best. He saw Best as the fulcrum of another great side but George was drinking, the team withered on the grape vine and although Busby, having retired once, took over again briefly in 1970‑71, he could not halt a decline which eventually led to Manchester United being relegated in 1974. They won promotion the following season but had to wait until 1993 for Ferguson to win the first of his 11 top-flight championships.

Both Busby and Ferguson have benefited from having boardrooms blessed with rather more patience than some of their modern equivalents. Before winning the league in 1952 Busby's United had come second three times and Ferguson needed seven years to win his initial title after taking over in 1986. Nowadays Roberto Mancini may not survive if he fails to get Manchester City into the Champions League in his first full season at Eastlands, always assuming he lasts that long, while doing the Double with Chelsea at the first attempt does not appear to be helping Carlo Ancelotti much at Stamford Bridge.

Ferguson will be 69 on New Year's Eve, nine years older than Busby was when he retired. Although Fergie has several times hinted at retirement, his appetite for the game and his rage for success seem stronger than ever. When he stops being angry football will be the loser – and hair the wetter.