They call it "the hairdryer." It is one of the most feared spectacles in soccer. Manchester United's coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, ignites his temper with a blast of scalding curses blistering his trembling victims. Over the years, many players have felt the burn, the latest being star Wayne Rooney.
Wayne Rooney, man of many parts, is set to leave Manchester United after Fergie, Sir Alex's nom de guerre, switched on the fury. Fergie seethed when he saw newspaper pictures of a drunk, smoking Rooney staggering from a nightclub at 5am, followed up by a performance with hookers as his pregnant wife sat home alone. Naturally, Rooney's goal scoring prowess went flaccid after his nocturnal exertions. Sir Alex, being an old school soccer master, brought the caning to an end by dropping his shooting star from the team.
To understand Sir Alex, visit a neighborhood called Govan in Glasgow, Scotland, where in 1941 on New Year's Eve, Alex Ferguson was born under a tenement roof shaken by Hitler's bombs. Govan, on the River Clyde, was the heart of the world's shipbuilding industry riveted to the consciousness of Glasgow's working class. The neighborhood was uncompromising, filled with revolutionaries and militants and fiercely independent, yet hostile to Glasgow's immigrant other half, working class Catholics from Ireland who settled in the city's eastern end, up river. Govan was Protestant. Rangers played there, the city's Protestant soccer team. For most of the twentieth century Rangers refused to sign Catholic players. The atmosphere in their stadium was like a furnace of fury forged from the shipyards nearby. Ferguson's father worked in the yards, Alex followed, his socialist creed formed on Red Clydeside. He was a trade union shop steward. But socialism, like God, had to wait in line behind soccer.
Fergie played for Rangers in the sixties. His steeliness grew from there. But Fergie became an outsider in Govan in one crucial way. He married a Catholic girl and while he claims this did not affect his career at Rangers, other Rangers players who married across the divide soon found themselves looking for a game somewhere else. It is hard not to believe that Fergie's next chapter, shaking Scottish soccer to its foundations, was not inspired in some way by this awkwardness.
Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the most successful and influential coach in club soccer history. His glorious record at Manchester United speaks for itself but his brick-minded Glasgow born toughness flourished from his years in charge of the Scottish club, Aberdeen. It was from the oil rich city in Scotland's North East that Ferguson loosened the stranglehold that the two massive Glasgow teams, "Protestant" Rangers and "Catholic" Celtic, had held on the Scottish game for a century. Fergie was born to take on the all-powerful. No one would stop him and his hairdryer. Provincial Aberdeen became the dominant Scottish club in the eighties. Manchester United followed. Player legends like Cantona, Beckham, Van Nistelroy, Giggs, Ronaldo and many more came under the wing of soccer's toughest nut.
So when a spoiled ego like Wayne Rooney wants to bolt and insults Sir Alex in the process, it's really no contest. Fergie learned to put down the show offs and the powerful in the shipyards of Glasgow. The hairdryer will blast Rooney out the door.
Of course, he's blaming everyone but himself for his lack of form...which should be a warning to any club willing to through $10m US at him. Of course, there's always the chance that a change in club will provide him with an excuse to "start anew" and regain his lost discipline.
Another point...Rooney needs to realize that he can be productive even when he doesn't score IF he becomes a less "possession-minded" ball hog. Defenses have learned to mark down on him simply because he's holding the ball too long. A quick pass as that second defender arrives and he'd open up the attack.
He's too uncultured to move to Real Madrid or Barcelona, and I doubt Colleen will move from north west England, which would seem to rule out Chelsea.
I predict he'll become another Gazza.
My bet is on him staying in England with only Chelsea and Man City as viable options. Who in the EPL has the bankroll to acquire his services? But Sir Alex definitely wants him out of the Premiership. If he went to Man City, United fans would burn him in effigy. Just look at the warm reception he receives when playing away at Everton...and multiply that by a million. Chelsea could use a striker because Anelka and Drogba are getting up there in age.
It's not entirely his fault of course - he certainly spent his childhood playing rather than studying (for a measly 80 pounds a week) - but bloody hell. Is it any surprise that Capello can't seem to pick up the language when he's surrounded by lads who can barely express themselves?
In 2006 the only player who could speak fluently was Hargreaves - and he's a Canadian who was derided by the English press for his impressively fluent German (picked up, along with his penalty kick, at Bayern Munich).