Boss laughs off 'hairdryer' tag
Sir Alex Ferguson insists he has mellowed with age and, in an
interview with local radio station Key 103, laughed off his
reputation for dishing out the so-called hairdryer treatment' and
one claim that he used to practise shouting.
The United boss, now taking a well-earned break after guiding
United to the title, says he has learned to take a more restrained
reaction to the accusations and labelled his caricature-like status
an urban myth.
"The problem with being successful in my career is that you have to
deal with a lot of myths, he said in an exclusive interview being
aired this week. I think it was Mark Hughes that started that one,
maybe on one occasion when I'd given him a real volley.
"I think the Saturday at the end of the game, if you've not won or
not played well, you have to get the message across because winning
is important to our club. The preparation we give the player every
week - we don't ever just criticise in training, everything is
positive - and so on a Saturday we expect a result.
All the work we've put in as coaches, the preparation, the time
we've spent going through video analysis and all the physical
preparation, the medical care they receive, we expect a result. So
I believe in telling them after the game.
"I'm not interested in this 'wait until Monday'. I remember when I
was younger another manager said to me, 'Wait until Monday, Alex'.
I said Ive no time for Monday, I'm on to another day, I'm
thinking about the next match."
"It gets a bit worn out this hairdryer stuff, he added. But in
dealing with the myth you've got to deal with a lot of things. One
of the broadsheets said that I used to go by the stand and practise
screaming!
"I said to the club solicitor, 'What can you do about this?' and he
laughed and said, 'I don't know how you can get compensated if
someone says you're screaming'. So you just have to forget it. So
at the club we tend to treat them all with a bit of restraint
because you can be in court every day."
In an insightful interview on the station's breakfast show, the
Reds boss says he tends to take a more philosophical approach to
management these days.
"Sometimes the apprentices are a bit afraid of me just because of
who I am. They think of me sitting in my ivory tower, which is
really not the case, because you get older and mellow and also you
grasp life better," he said. "Your days of winning are tempered by
the days you lose, so you have to accept both and you have to get
on with your life properly."