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  • [MUSIC]

  • The greatest coach in the history of professional sports Sir Alex Ferguson.

  • [APPLAUSE] >> Thank you.

  • >> [APPLAUSE]

  • >> You're looking very dapper tonight.

  • >> Thank you.

  • >> Yeah.

  • >> My mother looks after me well.

  • >> [LAUGH] Looks like we're the only two who got dressed this evening.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> So what would you do, Sir Alex,

  • if some of this scruffy mob here showed up and

  • were players, and wanted to get on the Majesty United bus?

  • >> Well, first I was a coach, everyone had to have a short haircut, all shaven.

  • I don't know how managers allow players on the bus with a beard, that's not for me.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Now, whether

  • If I've not lost my strength, if I would allow that.

  • But what I did like to see was my team coming to a ground with the United

  • blazer on, white shirt and a tie because they're representing Manchester United.

  • >> And what would you do if they didn't show up like that?

  • >> Well, I think it's part of the education you have to give them.

  • The responsibility they have as an Manchester United player.

  • And it's just a discipline.

  • And I think that was a strong disciplined United.

  • And it's still today.

  • Even Louis van Gaal, all smart, I know it's a the boys that are not

  • playing sit in the back of the director's box, blazer and flannels on, I like that.

  • That's for me. >> [LAUGH]

  • >> I'm sorry you guys with the beards.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> You recommend a shave, would you?

  • So did you see the game on Saturday?

  • The Everton game.

  • >> Yep. Yep. >> What'd you think?

  • >> Did very well.

  • I thought it was going to be a difficult game actually, and

  • I saw Everton did all the strongest team out.

  • You know, and I thought this is going to be a difficult game because the last I

  • think they've lost the last three years there, but they won very comfortably.

  • Complete control, the way they change the system a little bit.

  • I thought Evan couldn't handle it.

  • So, I was pleased, because after,

  • the great test of any Manchester United team is how you recover after defeats.

  • There was three-nil with Arsenal, a bad defeat.

  • They come out at the next game, win.

  • And that's the best way to answer the critics and

  • also to show the resolve and the determination to get over a defeat.

  • Because it's not easy at Club United.

  • When you lose you're front page, when you win you're back page.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> It's a difference.

  • >> Better to be on the back page.

  • So, there are, I think if I counted correctly, there were 8 of the 18

  • players who showed up, who were in the squad on Saturday.

  • Were players that you had signed.

  • How long does it take to knit everybody else together into a really cohesive unit?

  • Is that a matter of years or can you do it in a season?

  • >> Well, if you're talking with the present court of players

  • >> And five last season, five this year,

  • and that's difficult.

  • Particularly, the players they brought in were players from other countries.

  • The division's very difficult, really difficult.

  • When we brought players in from abroad, we always gave them first season,

  • forget it, second season, okay.

  • But one or two excelled, surprised us by doing really well at the beginning.

  • In my time, the thing that was different from me and

  • Louis Van Gaal of course is that I had longevity.

  • I was there 27 years.

  • So when I went to United at first,

  • my job was to build the foundation at that football club.

  • Because I think most managers,

  • quite rightly, have to think about a football team, the first team because

  • as a result industry they are to make sure the first team does well.

  • I never thought that way.

  • I thought that rebuilding the youth in the club so they would give me a foundation

  • and I'd given them with the young players coming through.

  • My conviction was never going to change.

  • I told the directors on day one, that's exactly what I was going to do.

  • And of course, yeah,

  • I was concerned that the first team [INAUDIBLE] second bout of the week.

  • And I just took my time with that, I wasn't in a hurry, most concentration

  • was on scouting, trialing, and coaching for the young people.

  • >> Mm hm.

  • Now at the end of the Everton game,

  • United are in third position in English Premier League.

  • It's the end of October and

  • obviously everybody here is connected to the business school in one way or another.

  • And an important thing in business is setting expectations.

  • And how would you, were you managing United today,

  • knowing that there's a long part of the season still to come?

  • You still gotta play Christmas,

  • you gotta get, you're in the other different cups and championships.

  • How do you go about setting the expectation of where you would want

  • the club to wind up the end of the season knowing your in third position today.

  • >> Well I think the definition, you take my job Aberdeen.

  • Aberdeen's an awful Scotland.

  • Cut off from the central bell with a mean stream of footballers.

  • I had to build an expectation, to create an expectation for the players.

  • Whereas in United you have to live with the expectations for

  • every player that comes through that club.

  • Even after Saturday's game,

  • every player on that team has to weather the expectation.

  • So, the expectation is to win.

  • Absolute, whether it's a European cup or a cup.

  • They all have to win.

  • That's the mentality they have.

  • The mindset is the winning mindset.

  • There's no question about that.

  • So, I never said to the press, we've got to win the European cup, we've got to the.

  • I've never said that.

  • Every time at press conference, well, I hope we win something.

  • I wouldn't want to get carried away and give them a headline.

  • But, deep down, win every game.

  • That was the mentality.

  • I never expected to lose a game, ever.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • Would you be talking to the players at this juncture about the possibility of

  • winning the league this year?

  • >> No.

  • >> And when would you start privately calculating whether or not you thought.

  • >> You won't believe this if I tell you.

  • Every begin of January.

  • I used to get all opponents games and

  • predict the point that we want to get against us.

  • And I was never far wrong.

  • Never far wrong.

  • Even to the point that,

  • I knew we'd maybe have to make three points up on one of our main opponents.

  • I was pretty accurate in that.

  • And I did this every year.

  • And so that, add my win.

  • Sort of a challenge.

  • >> Would you sit down with each of the top clubs or the whole league?

  • >> Just the top clubs, only the four ones.

  • I will know by January 1st who our main challenges are going to be.

  • And then I used to do that, I kept to myself, I didn't share it with anyone.

  • I was never far wrong, That's good.

  • >> I knew even the years we lost it.

  • I knew that dangers we had in terms of challenges.

  • >> You're pretty accurate about, say in January, about the number of points

  • that United itself would have at the end of the season.

  • >> Yeah. >> Let me change the topic a little bit,

  • to two things that again are germane to every sort of business.

  • One is assessing and judging talents and another is discipline.

  • So, let me take you back.

  • It's 1957.

  • There is a young man growing sideburns.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Alex Ferguson who's

  • turning out in his first seasons for

  • a club in Scotland in Glasgow called Queen's Park.

  • How would you assess the talent of that player?

  • >> [LAUGH]

  • >> Well, outstanding comes to mind.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> But, well, I probably

  • was one of the few players that played for Glasgow Skills, Scotland Skills,

  • Scotland Youth, Scottish Amateur, and the full Scottish team.

  • But I wasn't an outstanding player, I was a goal scorer.

  • In fact, at United we used to get into the video analysis room most mornings.

  • And this morning our Goalkeeping coach Eric Steele says,

  • I was just pulling up your goalscoring record.

  • He said that's pretty good, that.

  • 179 goals in 300 games or something like that.

  • And I said, that's only league goals, I said where are my cup goals?

  • So, I said, well, I'll try and get them out.

  • We couldn't get them.

  • We couldn't find any cup goals.

  • I don't know why, but No, I was a goal scorer,

  • and had a great career without actually winning anything.

  • I went to Rangers about the time when Celtic were completely dominant.

  • They'd just won the European Cup under Jock Stein, and

  • they were the fantastic team.

  • The were a devil to beat at that time.

  • But I enjoyed it, I had a good career.

  • The thing about playing is that that is the best time of your life,

  • which relates to how I would never ask any of my players to retire to become a coach.

  • I encouraged them to take their badges.

  • When I went to fulltime at football, because I was an engineer.

  • I was a tool maker until I was 22, was part-time at football.

  • I made my mind up.

  • I was not going back to Engineering.

  • So I took all my coaching badges, I prepared to stay in the game.

  • Like everyone should do, if you want to do something, prepare.

  • Whether it's through study, or like I did, take your coaching badges,

  • I think that's an important issue.

  • >> And how well behaved on the field was that young player Alex Ferguson?

  • >> You're getting this from my son Jason.

  • Had a bad record.

  • >> Pardon?

  • >> Had a bad record.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> I was sent off eight times

  • >> Pardon?

  • >> I know, I know.

  • But I was misunderstood.

  • [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> Do you remember some

  • of the incidents about why you were sent off?

  • >> Every one of them.

  • Yeah.

  • Retaliation was mostly.

  • Or maybe a late tackle or

  • something, or an elbow in someone's jaw or something like that.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> I had a funny running style.

  • I run with my elbows like this.

  • So, I was always getting into trouble.

  • [LAUGH] Matt's laughing here.

  • I was always getting into trouble because of my elbows, yeah.

  • >> The elbows.

  • >> Yeah. >> Yeah.

  • So let's talk about judging other talent several decades later.

  • I'm going to pick two players, David Beckham and

  • another one we'll come to in a moment.

  • So, how did you first come across Beckham and how old was he?

  • And what did he seem like as a player when you first saw him?

  • >> Well, David came to know us through a scout in London,

  • from the same area as David.

  • He was a headmaster at school, Malcolm Fidgen.

  • And he put David on the radar, but the real impact came from Bobby Charlton.

  • Bobby had soccer schools at the time, and David had won a placement for

  • Bobby's soccer school in Barcelona.

  • And Bobby came back and said I've seen a kid, you need.

  • So I flagged it up with the chief scout.

  • He said, of course, he's coming next month.

  • Just by coincidence.

  • And that was a start, he would be eleven years of age at the time.

  • He was a little thin boy, he had no height, no physique whatsoever.

  • But he had this wonderful talent, in terms of control of the ball,

  • striking the ball was really his forte.

  • And, his parents were United fans.

  • His grandfather was a Tottenham fan, but he and his parents were United fans.

  • So he used to come to the game.

  • After we got the contact with him,

  • we invited him to the games every time we were in London.

  • And, in fact,

  • he was a a ball boy in the West Ham game which is this area of London.

  • And he was a certainty to come to United.

  • He trained at Tottenham for a while.

  • I think he trained somewhere else, maybe Fulham or something like that.

  • But he was always destined to come to United because he

  • wanted to come to United.

  • And, in that class of 92, who were the team to win the Youth Cup, David never

  • got on the team until the semi-finals because he was just a little boy.

  • Then, within months, [SOUND] six foot, still thin,

  • no confirmation in his body whatsoever.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> No, he was a skinny boy.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> And then,

  • That group with the same desires, the seven or

  • eight of them, they talk about the ones that are well known,

  • Giggs, Scholes, Butt, the two Nevilles and David.

  • But we had two other players would've been great players, but their careers were cut

  • by injury, Chris Casper and Ben Thornley, they were outstanding.

  • But they all practiced.

  • >> Give a sense of how hard these guys worked.

  • >> Well, the training would start 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock.

  • The other ones, they would be out in the afternoon practicing all the time, or

  • with the youth coach in terms of their general training.

  • And for David, who lived in accommodation with Mrs. Gosling with several other boys,

  • he would go into the school of at nighttime and help the coaches.

  • With the young kids.

  • So his desires were strong, and also he was a practicer, he'd practice,

  • practice, practice.

  • And I think that the advice I'd give to any young kid is,

  • anyone can play a game of football, anyone.

  • But practice makes you a real footballer.

  • You see games on a Sunday.

  • Pub games.

  • Oh, love a game of football.

  • The real players had a practice ethic about them.

  • I remember being at lunch in Glasgow many, many years ago,

  • and Gary Player was the guest.

  • >> The golfer? >> The golfer.

  • And they asked him that question, why do you keep practicing from the bunker?

  • Because he was famous for, you know, the bunkers.

  • I know, I'm going to be in the bunker at one time in the game,

  • maybe twice in the game, and I've got to put it in the hole.

  • That's why I practiced, and practiced, and practiced.

  • That's a great example of what you have to do to be a top player.

  • And David and all these young lads did that same.

  • And all the young kids at United practice well.

  • >> Different Well known name Christiano Ronaldo,

  • how old was he when you first came across him?

  • >> 17 he was.

  • >> And how did he first tip your radar screen?

  • >> That's a great story because my assistant, of course is a Portuguese.

  • And he thought it'd be a good idea for us to have an association,

  • a relationship with the sport in Lisbon, because he'd been there as a kid, and

  • he was from Lisbon.

  • And he set it up, and what we're doing then was sharing coaching.

  • So we would send coaches over there, and they would send coaches to us.

  • And Jim Ryan, who was head of youth department at the time, youth scouting.

  • He came back, he says, well I've seen a player.

  • And he was playing center for youth team at the time.

  • So I says to it would be a good idea if maybe we'd build a relationship here.

  • And he spoke to the president, and the deal was

  • that we couldn't get him the next year, but we could get them two years from then.

  • Then [INAUDIBLE] left me the next year, we'd promised

  • through the association with him, the relationship, we'd offer the new stadium.

  • >> This is at Sporting [INAUDIBLE]?

  • >> Yeah, Sporting, that's correct.

  • And we flew from the States, from here, to Lisbon and played the game.

  • And Christiano's playing outside left against John O'Shea,

  • and the poor soul's got tortured blood.

  • Honestly, he is absolutely annihilated.

  • And I'm up there going, John!

  • Get up and get some.

  • He says, I can't.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> So I get my kit manager.

  • I says, go up there to the directors box and

  • get Peter Kenyon down right away at half time.

  • So Peter Kenyon comes down.

  • I says, we're not leaving here.

  • >> Peter Kenyon was the then- >> Chief executive.

  • >> Chief executive of United.

  • >> At that time, yeah.

  • And I says, we're not going to go and wave in here that you're playing.

  • So then we got a little room after the game with the president of Lisbon,

  • his agent, his lawyer and the boy.

  • I said I want you to come back with us to Manchester.

  • Now that's a test.

  • If he doesn't want to come, you know he doesn't want to join you.

  • He says, yeah I'd love to come but I want my mother.

  • >> Yeah.

  • >> So I said, great.

  • Next morning his mother, his sister, his brother, the whole trip come out.

  • And I said to him, I promise you one thing, you'll get the best

  • education you could possibly get here, but you won't play every week.

  • And he looked at him that.

  • He was impressed.

  • He didn't expect that.

  • I says, the Premier League's a very difficult league

  • and you may play substitute sometime, you play an odd game,

  • you may in the League Cup which we do have a lot of young players.

  • And, he said, but when do I get in the first team?

  • Well, if you get to a level that's Manchester United, I can't stop you.

  • You pick yourself.

  • And he played his first game, he was sub in the first game of the season against

  • Bolton and he came on at half time and the crowd went absolute mad with them.

  • He was absolutely fantastic.

  • He had courage to take the ball, the first rate back of

  • first minute, he come on the second half, he got them and says, give me the ball.

  • And the great players have gotten this courage.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> Nothing will daunt them.

  • >> Mm-hm. >> They're not afraid of anything.

  • And Christiano had that.

  • >> And how, when he first came to Manchester,

  • I think he came with his mother and his mother's sister.

  • >> Yeah, yeah.

  • How disciplined was he in his sort of daily ritual at that point?

  • >> He was the best practicer I've ever known.

  • But he had these what you would call Latin American faults.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> You can get arrested for

  • saying that in the state of California.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> And it's a simple fault,

  • which can be eradicated, if the boy's got the right desire and discipline.

  • And listen to us.

  • And he was diving as a young kid.

  • >> Diving to try and get a penalty.

  • >> Yeah correct.

  • The players were great with him.

  • Every time he'd go down and scream, the players would go an scream at him back.

  • Get up you, and all that.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> And I used to get at him all the time.

  • And the unfortunate thing for Ronaldo because he was such a great player.

  • The press never left him alone in that situation because After about a year,

  • year and a half, it never happened.

  • But any time we've failed, someone all knowing and

  • curious will say, oh yeah, he dives.

  • But no, it's not true, because [INAUDIBLE] against defenders, all you need

  • to do is nudge him a little bit and the [INAUDIBLE] scores and they go down.

  • But it wasn't, [INAUDIBLE].

  • >> Did the criticism get to him at all?

  • >> No no.

  • I remember he come off of that period,

  • at the season [INAUDIBLE] off,

  • and he said he wasn't going to come back.

  • And I flew out to Portugal and I said look, he wanted to go to Real Madrid.

  • It was always his lifetime ambition to do that.

  • And I said, look, you give me a year and you go on with my blessing to Real Madrid.

  • He was fantastic.

  • But the first game was at Charlton.

  • And I sat in the director's box, and there's this guy down in front of me.

  • He's up and he's giving them so much, the cursing, the language.

  • Then about five minutes from the half time, he got the ball, he beat three men,

  • cut in, hit the underside of the bar.

  • The guy never got up again.

  • That wasn't finished.

  • He had the courage to do all that.

  • >> And Christiano today, considerable many years later now,

  • does he still have the same sort of drive and work ethic?

  • >> I've never known anyone like him, honestly.

  • I was at his house for dinner a few month ago.

  • And his services made for the best player in the world, no doubt about that.

  • >> How's that?

  • >> The gymnasium's probably about half the the size of this, this size here.

  • He's got everything in it.

  • He's got two pools, he's got a hot pool and a cold pool.

  • He's got an atrium at minus 160 degrees.

  • He goes in there for ten minutes after every game.

  • It's just unbelievable.

  • And I says to him, he says to me, I'm going to retire at 35.

  • I said you don't retire at 35.

  • You can play til you're 40, easily.

  • Ryan Giggs has played to 41.

  • Says no, no, I'm doing that, and I'm working on making sure I'm

  • three kilograms under my best weight the last five years.

  • But I went, brilliant.

  • >> Right. >> Amazing.

  • >> Right.

  • Now, with all these people, with all players of incredible caliber,

  • Eckermann, Aldove, the others that you had, how do,

  • what were the tools that you used to maintain discipline?

  • >> Well, I think that the most important thing is to be consistent, who you are and

  • don't change.

  • And I never changed, I didn't use

  • discipline as a weapon against players.

  • They would be disciplined if they stepped out of line for certain reasons,

  • maybe a silly sending off or a misbehaving outside the ground.

  • But I never used it as a continual weapon against them.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> You got disciplined.

  • It's over.

  • We move on.

  • And they all accept that, eventually.

  • They. They understand who you are.

  • That's the most important thing, because that's the essence of being a leader.

  • They know who you are.

  • You're consistent, they trust that you're right, and

  • this one is an important aspect of managing them, there's no question.

  • But technically, you're dealing with very well paid players.

  • If you've got a discipline that's different with different people,

  • you're going to wrong way.

  • So, my dicipline is always the same for everyone.

  • I never treated anyone any different.

  • >> And what was the sort of discipline that the players dreaded?

  • Was it the fine, or the threat of being transferred or

  • being put in the stands to watch a game.

  • >> I think every player wants to play in.

  • Even though we had no indication of it,

  • disappointed player by being in the stands.

  • But the other aspect of putting players in the stands

  • is because you have a score to 24.

  • And you have to pick 1 11.

  • Now that's difficult.

  • But what I used to do was, because my own experience as a player,

  • I was told 50 minutes from a kick-off in the Scottish Cup final I wasn't playing.

  • I was the top goalscorer and there was no subs at the time.

  • So that was always in my mind about how to treat players if they're not playing.

  • So I used to call them in, individual with all of them, and

  • explain to them why they weren't playing.

  • It was very easy as time went on because they knew with a squad of 24,

  • it's not the 11 that win the league, it's the 24 that win the league or the cup.

  • No question about that.

  • And the important part to do that is to trust them to whatever team you play.

  • And make them feel that they have contributed

  • like the best players in winning.

  • >> And Sir Alex, how did you ensure that even for the bigger stars they all

  • understood that they were part of, not the, but part of a team?

  • >> Well I think the best players, the ones that want to win more.

  • The best players who've got that ego, a win is important to them.

  • So I enjoyed that.

  • I enjoyed players with that confidence.

  • >> But how did you make sure that none of them began to think that they were

  • bigger than United in themselves?

  • >> Well the message is, to prove they're the best,

  • they have to work as hard as everyone else and even more than other ones.

  • And that was the best you'd always give to them.

  • The evidence is always on the football field.

  • The best player can let themselves down,

  • by not living up to expectation, his own expectation in fact.

  • [SOUND] Oops!

  • That's gone.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> So I had no great worries with that.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> The fight had been there such a long time of course helps, but

  • also I think that players who come to United, that club is such a great club.

  • They don't want to miss the bus.

  • They want to go on the bus all the time.

  • And I think that was very important.

  • >> Now, how do you, let's switch the topic a little bit and talk about compensations.

  • Some of these players are getting paid a large amount of money, obviously.

  • How do managers cope?

  • Not you, because you were among the highest compensated in the Premier League.

  • But there are some clubs where the managers are paid less than their players.

  • How do they ever have a chance of establishing authority in those clubs?

  • >> I think in most cases I was maybe a little bit different because I always felt

  • that being the manager of Manchester United I should be the highest

  • paid person.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Yeah but

  • it's important because the responsibility of managing that club is huge.

  • I'm there more hours than any of them.

  • I've got the biggest responsibility.

  • So I feel that should be always recognized.

  • Not always years, by the way.

  • Took a long time to agree with me.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> But

  • I think from other managers' point of view, I think they expect that the very,

  • very top player is going to be paid more.

  • I have no issue at all with what players get paid, the top players.

  • You know why?

  • I think if you look at golfers.

  • >> For sure.

  • >> American footballers, basketball players.

  • [CROSSTALK] >> Head funded masters.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Yeah, exactly.

  • Or potentially your wealthy old men are there.

  • But then, I have no issue with that because they're bringing 75,000 people

  • when they all effort.

  • >> Yeah.

  • Yeah, yeah.

  • What about saying good bye to players, whether they were 16, 17,

  • 18 year olds you didn't think were going to make it?

  • And then let's talk about them and then I wanted to talk about some of the players

  • who'd done well by you that you had to say good bye to.

  • What about that case?

  • >> Well the most difficult task for

  • any manager is telling a young kid he's not going to make it United.

  • When we bring a boy to the club, we speak to the parents and

  • we say, we always say the same.

  • We hope your boy plays in front of 75,000 people, if not,

  • we're confident we can get him a career in the game.

  • Even to this day, there will be about 90 players in England,

  • Scotland, Germany all started a career as a Manchester native.

  • And that's been like that for 10 to 15 years.

  • Very difficult to tell them that.

  • I did this stupid thing where something as a young coach.

  • I was filmed.

  • I was terrified to tell a young boy he was not you know, going to be good enough.

  • So I had this idea bring the five of them in.

  • >> Five young boys together?

  • >> And I told them.

  • One of them started crying.

  • Oh I never.

  • That was that. Finished.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> It was a difficult time.

  • It was not easy.

  • >> And what about some of the older players who had done very well by you and

  • then you had to break the news to them that they were done?

  • >> That's equally hard because you know I'd become a father to them, and

  • it's such a family business [INAUDIBLE] anyway that.

  • For instance a team on 94 worked with us for quite a few years.

  • >From round about 91, right through to the 1967, with Dennis Ober and Steve Bruce.

  • Brian Robson, Gar Powester.

  • And they'd love to play to the 90.

  • But they don't actually realize they get older.

  • I'm the one that recognizes it because I see it on the football field.

  • But what I did with them, was made sure we give them free transfers.

  • So they made the free bob, Dennis went to Steve Bruce went to Birmingham.

  • Bryan Robson actually became a manager at Middlesbrough.

  • And Gary Paulsen went back to Middlesbrough with him.

  • So [INAUDIBLE] with Paul Parker.

  • We gave him a free transfer.

  • [INAUDIBLE] A free transfer.

  • They've got clubs, West Brom.

  • Paul went to Fulham.

  • So, we did well by them.

  • And recognition for the service they give us, and I think that was real important.

  • Money doesn't come into it when the guy's giving you ten years.

  • So I think it's the best way you could do it.

  • And the only thing you can do,

  • and it definitely works, is to be honest with them.

  • That's the only thing that works.

  • You don't want to go take these guys on.

  • >> Right. >> [INAUDIBLE] Professionals,

  • who have been great to you.

  • >> Different topic.

  • What about, again, for a lot of people setting out on lives in management and

  • everything.

  • What are some of the things that you wished you had known when you were 30 or

  • 32, just setting off on your lifetime of management up in Scotland?

  • >> Yeah. I got this at Harvard.

  • This is I belted the question, had to think about it for a while.

  • And the easiest one I think about is communication,

  • recognition, absolutely vital.

  • When I was 32, I wanted to rule the world.

  • I was a young manager at Most players are playing at 32, but

  • I had a groin injury and I gave up to go into management.

  • >> It wasn't the elbows that were?

  • >> No, there was, they were polished.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> And I was holding the grass feed for

  • the groundsmen, and pies for the the director's room.

  • The programs on Saturday.

  • And, you know, you forget to manage up the way.

  • When the chairmen went to go full time, you know when that became-

  • >> Mmhmmm, right.

  • Right. >> I didn't realize I still

  • carried on the way I did.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> Of course he can sack you.

  • Which he did for a [CROSSTALK] >> So let's talk about the two things.

  • One, how did you learn to delegate?

  • >> I think, the natural thing about delegation was,

  • I wasn't properly recognizing until I got to about maybe 60.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> And then I realized, is well,

  • if I'm going to keep my energy, I've got to do it.

  • And then you have to give the trust to that.

  • By that time anyway I trusted all my staff anyway.

  • It was just a natural thing that when you've got energy and

  • you've done something for so long, you don't think it's ever going to change.

  • But, of course, age changes you.

  • And then I delegated far better.

  • I delegated a lot actually after that.

  • The thing of it energy and anyone listening to this, is very important.

  • When you stop, where you've add to the united, we'll see at 43, 44 years of age.

  • The seething energy, the pure seething energy, you see it burns over you.

  • But when you get to the 60s, they still expect to see it.

  • >> Mh-hm.

  • >> So I had to look at myself in terms of energy, that I was a select.

  • because when I was a young manager, four or five years, no problem.

  • When I got to my 60s, I needed six or seven hours.

  • So you go to bed earlier.

  • You work at your diet better, after the game at home.

  • I never, very very seldom and ate.

  • So that added examine myself of my energy because people want to see the energy.

  • A very important aspect to it, you know?

  • >> Yeah, the second aspect of that was what you just alluded to, during,

  • coming a cropper with an owner.

  • >> Yeah.

  • >> What's the advice you give managers these days these days when they call

  • you about the relationship that they should have with the owner of

  • the club that they work for?

  • >> You've got to find a way.

  • It doesn't matter what you think of them.

  • You've got to find out whether that can be a good harmony, going together.

  • And also to agree that you're both going the same direction.

  • I think that, even if you find a way of actually getting on with them, and

  • they're going that way and you're going that way, it still doesn't work.

  • So you have to find out that we have agreed

  • were the direction the club is going, and the job you're doing.

  • Now that I think of it, reckon it's communication, is a really important part

  • too, that you must recognize that people are working for you.

  • Knowing their names, saying good morning to them in the morning.

  • I had a manager, as a player, he couldn't say good morning to you.

  • He'd walk by you.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> Now that cold be racket conference, could be anything.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> But you have to recognize that people work for you.

  • >> Right, right.

  • >> And every time you win a cup or trophy, every man by that staff or

  • in that canteen.

  • The laundry girls, the canteen staff, the groundsman, the champion out,

  • because to see a trophy as much as the players, they became a team that way.

  • >> Now, did you enjoy the celebrations yourself?

  • >> No, no no.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Because any game lasts for

  • me about half an hour.

  • And I'm thinking about tomorrow.

  • And I was just- >> Even after 1999,

  • the famous treble season?

  • >> After the dinner I went to bed.

  • After the club, I went to my bed.

  • >> Do you wake the next morning in a bad mood, or?

  • >> [LAUGH] >> I was exhausted.

  • Actually, when the team are getting presented with the cup I went for a walk.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> And the bus one has all these alleys and little corridors and all of this and

  • I'm walking through them all and bump into this friend of mine from Aberdeen.

  • He couldn't take either.

  • He was wanting the, heard from the manager.

  • And we're working through all these alleys,

  • and then we see this buggy coming up.

  • And it's a guy who's looking for me, he says,

  • you gotta go to the press conference.

  • This is about half an hour after the game.

  • I can celebrate for half an hour, then it was [INAUDIBLE].

  • >> Right, how did you avoid complacency and

  • getting complacent and- >> Well it's a disease you know.

  • Every time at half time if we win a game has come up, it comes up all the time.

  • you know there's nothing you can do about it when you get complacent.

  • I mean a few occasions its never one in the same connect with United because

  • their human beings but we kept reminding them when half the time your willing.

  • Complacency, It's a disease.

  • The Ryder Cup.

  • This is the message I gave to the team in the Ryder Cup that were in Europe-

  • >> The British team?

  • >> Yeah.

  • And, I told them, I said you think about Medinah two years before.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> And, the ten-six on a Saturday night.

  • They're winning ten-six, America.

  • And I'm sitting there in the dinner.

  • And they're promising each other, when we win these four and a half points.

  • There's a great temptation there, isn't it, of some type.

  • Win four and a half points.

  • And the coincidence resonated later.

  • And, but, you don't win the first point.

  • And he win the second point, and then there's [INAUDIBLE] bit confusion.

  • Then win the third point, panic, and then capitulation.

  • >> Mm-hm.

  • >> Unfortunately, with that message,

  • put Europe [INAUDIBLE] west game, 10 six in front.

  • Fantastic.

  • >> Yep. >> It's a disease.

  • We were playing Everton.

  • We lost the league because of it.

  • Four to two, seven minutes to go.

  • We lost two goals.

  • And that causes a weak and their human beings,

  • the best way to keep reminding them.

  • That complacency could cost everything.

  • And there's no way out when complacency sets in.

  • There is no way out.

  • Absolutely no way out.

  • >> One other question from me and then I know we have some audience questions.

  • You had this incredible record that's unparalleled.

  • Did you ever feel, or do you feel that you should have won more?

  • >> Absolutely.

  • I do honestly.

  • I think that European cups was my biggest regret.

  • And on some occasion were very unlucky.

  • Some occasions where we got bad decisions against us and

  • some occasions we didn't play well enough.

  • >> Mm hm.

  • >> And the three semi-finals we lost and

  • the two were against Dortmund in '97 And

  • against in 2001.

  • We should have won those games.

  • >> Does that still bother you today?

  • >> Yeah, it does.

  • I don't think you should ever look back with regrets.

  • But when you ask a question, that it bothers me all the time,

  • and so I, but I have no bitterness about it cause football,

  • I can't work in my career and [INAUDIBLE] and regret anything.

  • I had a fantastic time, but the question is, the way you put it to me,

  • yes we should have won more European championships.

  • Our last season playing Real Madrid [INAUDIBLE] referee.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> What do you really think of him?

  • >> [INAUDIBLE].

  • Absolutely control the game.

  • And there wasn't a player at that time,

  • it's ten minutes to get over and by that time they scored two goals.

  • And even at two to one down, was that we made all the chances.

  • So, It's a disappointment,

  • but, as I say, I can't [INAUDIBLE] I had.

  • >> Let me welcome Nev Given.

  • She has I know a few questions from the audience.

  • And how many people here are soccer players in the audience.

  • [COUGH] Good.

  • >> Not bad.

  • >> And NCAA soccer players?

  • Fantastic.

  • >> I'm going to take the liberty of asking the first question.

  • So, you touched on aspects earlier but

  • here in the valley our equivalent of the prize footballers are the best engineers.

  • They're paid the most, they get poached by rival tech companies, yet

  • most of us at the GSB are most likely to go in as their managers.

  • For the early days, what are you top tips to garner their

  • respect despite the fact that were not techie, retain control and

  • ensure that no individual becomes larger than the team or the organization.

  • >> We're dealing with players who are mega-stars or

  • players with egos and are wealthy.

  • I honestly believe that those people are genuinely the winners all the time.

  • That's why they go there in the first place.

  • And yeah, there'll be occasions where they slip off the platform

  • of where they were and maybe get complacent, whatever.

  • But it's easy to remind someone who's a winner.

  • It's easy to remind them how they got there.

  • What was their expectation.

  • I think it's important to remind them of that.

  • They represent themselves in a big way, and

  • I think that should always be reminded of them.

  • >> What management trait did you not have that you wish you had and

  • how did you compensate for that?

  • >> Languages, definitely languages.

  • Because when United changed, when the academy system come into being and

  • we had to change the The dynamics of the club in terms of scouting.

  • Then more Europeans players come in, from South America,

  • from France, [INAUDIBLE] to Spain, whatever, Germany.

  • One year, particularly, there were 21 nationalities in the club.

  • Now, I had French and German at school.

  • But, it's like, when you leave school and you don't use the languages,

  • you forget about them.

  • So when we start to get, I start thinking about how I could communicate,

  • particularly with the French players.

  • And it's not easy.

  • Languages is really important.

  • I said to my son Mark, I said years ago when he was in school,

  • is another one that went, he was just I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.

  • [INAUDIBLE], 20 years later.

  • It's really important to communicate with players in their own language.

  • That's why I brought and spoke four, five language.

  • Fantastic because we had all these nationalities and

  • the communication was easy then.

  • Carlos would do all that.

  • And I would do my little smatterings in French.

  • We only had one German player, a young boy, Ronny Zieler who's with Hannover now.

  • He was the only one I needed to communicate with in German.

  • I think that is important, languages.

  • >> I sympathize with it.

  • I've barely mastered english.

  • I am surprised that weren't more tweets coming through for racing or

  • wine tips from you, seeing that your track record on that is as good as many.

  • >> Forget the racing tips.

  • >> I sadly, and the audience are going to to kill me, but

  • we've only got two minutes left.

  • So, I'm going to ask a question which, to you both actually,

  • which is somewhat synonymous with the GSB,

  • because it's one that we will have to answer as part of our applications.

  • And that is, what matters most and why?

  • >> [LAUGH] >> That's a good question.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> Yeah.

  • >> Why, I think your upbringing.

  • I think my upbringing was fantastic.

  • I had parents who give me good disciplines, good advice.

  • Don't be late, don't cheat, don't steal, don't lie.

  • These things stood by me all my life.

  • And I hope, then, that foundation I bring to me kids, and

  • you can bring it to their kids.

  • And that's what I'm bringing is, it's an inheritance.

  • That's what it is, and I think that was important to me.

  • >> Best family heirloom.

  • Sir Michael?

  • >> Following your instincts.

  • >> Short and sweet.

  • >> [LAUGH] >> So, with that,

  • please join me in thanking Sir Michael and Sir Alex.

  • >> [APPLAUSE] >> Well done.

  • [MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

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