Ferguson, Ineos and a question of value and values
The cameras will doubtless zoom in on Sir Alex Ferguson during Manchester United’s home game with Brentford on Saturday afternoon. Ferguson’s £2m-a-year deal as club ambassador has been ended by Ineos, stirring mixed feelings amongst fans. Some understand the economic rationale. United reported a net loss of £113.2m in the year to June 30 so cutbacks were inevitable and had already begun. Others feel it is disrespectful to a club legend who built the modern United. The truth, as often, lies between the two.
Ferguson is 82, casts a long shadow over the dug-out, the club have to make savings, and he has undoubtedly benefited handsomely from United over the years. Perhaps, United should simply have gifted Ferguson some final shares when he stepped down in 2013 instead of an ongoing salary. Perhaps, they could have renegotiated the £2m down.
Ineos could have timed the decision more sensitively, announcing it at the end of a season, making it look tidier, more considerate. They could have announced it in tandem with Ferguson, making it look more mutual. You would have thought that Ferguson still has significant uses for United. He must also still have some commercial value with occasional involvement with awe-struck sponsors. He could also be deployed to talk to families of talented kids pursued by the academy.
Ferguson’s presence and reputation remain powerful. I last spoke to him during the Euros, out in Munich, and the aura is very much still there. Even his presence in the stands, visible to all, has an impact. Ferguson embodies the standards the team should aspire to. Ferguson should be allowed in the home dressing-room, his old lair, as a reminder to the players of historic expectation levels.
In making the decision, Ineos has to acknowledge that United’s losses are partly rooted in terrible recruitment, and ask themselves who provides more value: Ferguson sitting in the stands for £2m a year or Antony sitting on the bench for £8m+ a year? A snapshot of what has befallen United.
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Liverpool host Chelsea at the weekend, a fixture that has seen ghost goals, slips, bites, Rafa v Jose, Gerrard v Lampard and also the extraordinary story of Fred Pagnam, one of only four Liverpool players to score a hat-trick against Chelsea*. Pagnam, a strong, prolific forward, led an eventful life, even eluding the Nazis. Signed for £75 from Blackpool in 1914, Pagnam scored on his debut against Chelsea, struck his impressive 26 goals in 31 games in 1914-15, including that hat-trick at Anfield. He also turned down the offer of £3 to join a plot to fix a game with Manchester United which ultimately led to four players from Liverpool and three from United being banned. One of the United players, Enoch “Knocker” West, even sued the FA for libel, which shows that lawyers are hardly a new phenomenon in football. West lost. His life ban was eventually lifted by the FA – when West was 59.