Quotes from Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography

Sir Alex Ferguson

Even before its release, Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography has created a furor in the world of football. From the extracts that have been revealed, it is clear that the book has been written in such an engaging manner. The fact that Ferguson has not minced his words has only added to the excitement.

Here is a collection of some intriguing quotes from his new book ‘My Autobiography‘.

“He has great qualities about him but they could be swallowed up by a lack of fitness. Look at the way Ronaldo or Giggs looked after themselves. He came into my office the day after we won the league and asked away. But do you think I would have dropped him in the form he is in now? No way. Now we see a different player, a fantastic player.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on Wayne Rooney.

“Maldini was an outstanding player. I loved him. I approached his father once, and the look he gave me I knew never to go back to him.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on Paolo Maldini.

“The young directors there idolised Kenny and there was no-one to say: ‘Hey, behave yourself, this is out of order, this is Liverpool Football Club.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson lashed out at Liverpool for backing Luis Suarez in the 2011 racial controversy.

“Lampard, for me, was a marvellous servant for Chelsea. But I didn’t think of him as an elite international footballer. And I’m one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

“Look, you’re a silly man. You should never make it personal. The advance publicity was that Benitez was a control freak, which turned out to be correct. If you saw Jose and Rafa standing together on the touchline, you knew you could pick the winner.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on Rafa Benitez.

“The hardest part of Roy’s body is his tongue. He has the most savage tongue you can imagine. He can debilitate the most confident person in the world in seconds with that tongue. What I noticed about him that day when I was arguing with him was that his eyes started to narrow, almost to wee black beads. It was frightening to watch. And I’m from Glasgow.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on Roy Keane.

“David thought he was bigger than Alex Ferguson. There is no doubt in my mind. The big problem for me is that he married Victoria.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on David Beckham.

“I was offered the England job on two occasions. Adam Crozier, chief executive of the FA from 2000 to 2002, came to see me before Eriksson was appointed in 2001. There was no way I could contemplate taking the England job. Can you imagine me doing that? A Scotsman?”

-Sir Alex Ferguson on why he declined the England coaching role.

“Wayne said that we should have pursued Mesut Ozil, who had joined Real Madrid from Werder Bremen. My reply was that it was none of his business who we should have gone for.”

-Sir Alex Ferguson puts Wayne Rooney in his place.