Ex Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confesses that Drumchapel Amateurs are still embedded in his thoughts and his managerial stardom can be contributed just to them. He thanks the legend late Douglas Smith for helping him with life skills that has made him the man that he is today. Smith was a pioneer in his time, finding the Glasgow Club some sixty four years back, and encouraging amateur football players to try their luck in international football.
Sir, Ferguson in an effort to pay homage to the unappreciated hero of football, unveiled the portrait of the prodigy of Drum Chapel, Douglas Smith. The Old Trafford super manager, have gone up the ladder of success with a career laden with trophies but he recalls Smith, saying the real life lessons of discipline, not swearing, being competitive in ones game and cleanliness have been given much importance by him besides football. This is and always has been the code of success in Sir Ferguson’s life. He further added that he had learnt the lesson of punctuality from his father, hence courtesy him and Smith, he was always on time for everything till date.
The biggies of Scottish football, like John Robertson, Kenny Dalglish, Jim Cruickshank, Pat Crerand, John O’Hare, Tommy Craig, Archie Gemmill, Maurice Johnston, Asa Hartford etc are all a part of ex Drumchapel list. The current Manchester United coach Moyes too is part of the record, hence proving that Smith defiantly has made a mark.
Fergie insists that money never played a factor in Smith’s noble motive of building the career of young talented footballers. The focus was always on paying extra attention to detailing and quality time spent. He added that sure it helped because he was well to do, but the time he devoted to them was absolutely incredible.
Sir Ferguson is in the news for his remarkable achievements once again- The erstwhile Man U boss has been acknowledged with the prestigious Diamond Award at the recently held “BBC Sports Personality of the Year” award ceremony this month.
It was the 60th anniversary for the illustrious award function.
71 year old Ferguson had been a true bliss for the leading soccer club. Throughout a prolonged odyssey of twenty-six years as the club manager, which ended in May this year, the former Man U manager won as many as 38 trophies- including thirteen league titles, 5 FA cups, 4 League Cups and 2 Champions League trophies.
“It’s a great honor. Thanks to BBC & everybody for this reward”, remarked the happy Scot. “I have had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. I am still very busy. I haven’t gone away yet you know one thing, I chose the perfect time for retirement as twenty-seven years in the very soccer industry is quite hard. Once again thank you very much.”
Ferguson officially took to retirement after helping his club secure the recent Premier League 2012-2013 title. It was another Scot David Moyes who took over the baton as the senior Scot stood down in the mid quarter of 2013.
“Sir Ferguson’s achievements can be safely dubbed as unique. We wish to recognize and honor this by celebrating Sir Alex’s last incredible season as the manager with a special award”, stated BBC Sport director Barbara Slater. “Sir Ferguson had earlier won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement honor as Sports Personality in the year 2011 given his claims on some most coveted trophies in soccer world. The very fact that his sparkling success went on for another more decade & afterwards escalates his achievements as something more remarkable. He’s somebody who is respected by many- both in & outside of soccer, irrespective of their soccer allegiances.”
The Scottish and former manager of Manchester United for over 26 years had a road named in his honor which is near the club’s Old Trafford.
Sir Alex, won two Champions League titles and five FA Cups during his 26 years with the club, said it had been an “incredible journey”.
He said: “It’s a privilege and an honor to have a road named after me, you don’t expect these things in life and it encapsulates the 26 years.
“I thank everyone for being here – my friends, family and my wife and boss. She picked all the winning teams by the way.”
Waters Reach will now be called Sir Alex Ferguson Way. The 71-year-old was also awarded the Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Trafford.
Another of his recent accomplishments is the success of his autobiography book as it became the fastest-selling non-fiction book as it made over 115,000 copies in a single week.
The book reveals some of the most personal events of his life including him having a great relationship with the current coach of Chelsea, Jose Mourinho and another noteworthy event which takes an entire chapter of his book was the title winning season of Manchester City as it was hard for him to cope with.
Some other events stated in the book was the change that David Beckham experienced turning from a football player into a celebrity. Sir. Alex Ferguson admired Beckham even considering him as a son but later he was changed and allowed the fame get to his head as he had forgotten what had made him a star and neglected to work as hard as he used to in the pitch.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to Darren Fletcher, who has been an influential part of the United team over the last five years, by saying that his contributions have been immense to the team. He has also said that the midfielder will definitely recover from his problems, which have prevented him from playing first-team football in the last two years. Fletcher has been suffering from a chronic bowel inflammation problem. It has prevented him from being in the United team on a regular basis. In fact, in the last two years, he has made just 13 appearances in all competitions.
Prior to that, Fletcher was one of the first names the team sheet from Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot retired after more than 25 years in charge of the club. During his farewell speech at Old Trafford last season, Ferguson mentioned Fletcher. This speech has left the 29-year-old with no words to speak about the manager. He has praised Ferguson for his achievements, while also saying that it shows about the man because he had time to speak about him when the celebrations were all about his achievements at United for the last quarter of a century.
“I was just blown away. For him, at that moment, to take the time to think and to speak of me was fantastic and it just shows the measure of the man. It speaks volumes of him to think of other people when the whole occasion was about him. It was just one of those moments that shocks you because you just do not expect it. It was emotional. More than anything it gave me a great determination to come back,” said Fletcher.
Even though he will miss the start of the season, he is confident of returning to first-team football as soon as possible.
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February 26, 2014 5:16 pm | 
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