Alex ferguson autobiography asda living
Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography
October 30, 2013
If you're a Manchester United fan, read this book. If you're a Liverpool or Manchester City fan, read this book. If you're a football fan regardless of the team you support, READ THIS BOOK
Most fans only see what happens on the pitch. Very few actually know what's going on behind the scenes. To know what actually happened (from Sir Alex's view at least) that lead to the departures of quality players such as Beckham, Keane, van Nistelrooy etc, why at times he would bench some of his best players were very interesting for me along with all the other aspects of managerial duty.
Being an autobiography, this book also tells the story of Alexander Chapman Ferguson; the boy, the husband, the father, the friend, the footballer, the pub owner and the manager. This book focuses more about his career at Manchester United. I would have loved to read more about his time in the shipyards of Govan and his time at Aberdeen.
This book is not organized as I thought it would be. For a few chapters he would talk about football, and the next, he talks about family followed by a few more chapters on football. Chapters 8 and 9 are dedicated to Cristiano Ronaldo and Roy Keane, in chapter 10 he talks about wine and horse racing followed by chapter 11 which is about Ruud van Nistelrooy. In a chapter about Jose Mourinho, he talks more about his own players than he talks about Mourinho himself
It's not as complete as I hoped it would be. But then again, he's already had another autobiography published in 2000 titled 'Managing My Life: The Autobiography'. I haven't read that book yet, so I'm guessing that much of what's incomplete here is covered in that book.
From here, it's my reaction to the headlines made
As always, the media will always try to grab a headline when it comes to Sir Alex. This time exaggerating his criticism of a few individuals, especially Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. He wrote 'And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player. When Scholes and Keane were in our team, Gerrard seldom had a kick against us.'
He continues 'With England, Michael Carrick suffered in the shadow of those two big personalities (Lampard and Gerrard)' As always, the media chose to conveniently ignore the fact that he believed Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were better better choices for England rather than Michael Carrick.
Going along with the criticism of Gerrard, the media also chose to highlight his criticisms of other individuals. If you actually read this book, you will know that Sir Alex spoke highly of others on perhaps every other page. This even extends to rival players, teams and managers (Rafa Benitez included) The ratio of people he praises and thanks compared to those he criticises is 10:1. Ok, I just made that number up, but he does praise people A LOT more than he criticises.
Thanks to the negative media, people who have never read this book think that it's the rants of a bitter old man. I would say it's more towards the opposite; it's the appreciation and gratefulness of a thankful old man.
Conclusion
My last words for this review, forget what the media wrote about this book, read it yourself and be the judge. It's a window into the mind of one of the most successful managers in football. Whether you admire or despise the man, this is indeed a good read.
Most fans only see what happens on the pitch. Very few actually know what's going on behind the scenes. To know what actually happened (from Sir Alex's view at least) that lead to the departures of quality players such as Beckham, Keane, van Nistelrooy etc, why at times he would bench some of his best players were very interesting for me along with all the other aspects of managerial duty.
Being an autobiography, this book also tells the story of Alexander Chapman Ferguson; the boy, the husband, the father, the friend, the footballer, the pub owner and the manager. This book focuses more about his career at Manchester United. I would have loved to read more about his time in the shipyards of Govan and his time at Aberdeen.
This book is not organized as I thought it would be. For a few chapters he would talk about football, and the next, he talks about family followed by a few more chapters on football. Chapters 8 and 9 are dedicated to Cristiano Ronaldo and Roy Keane, in chapter 10 he talks about wine and horse racing followed by chapter 11 which is about Ruud van Nistelrooy. In a chapter about Jose Mourinho, he talks more about his own players than he talks about Mourinho himself
It's not as complete as I hoped it would be. But then again, he's already had another autobiography published in 2000 titled 'Managing My Life: The Autobiography'. I haven't read that book yet, so I'm guessing that much of what's incomplete here is covered in that book.
From here, it's my reaction to the headlines made
As always, the media will always try to grab a headline when it comes to Sir Alex. This time exaggerating his criticism of a few individuals, especially Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. He wrote 'And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player. When Scholes and Keane were in our team, Gerrard seldom had a kick against us.'
He continues 'With England, Michael Carrick suffered in the shadow of those two big personalities (Lampard and Gerrard)' As always, the media chose to conveniently ignore the fact that he believed Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were better better choices for England rather than Michael Carrick.
Going along with the criticism of Gerrard, the media also chose to highlight his criticisms of other individuals. If you actually read this book, you will know that Sir Alex spoke highly of others on perhaps every other page. This even extends to rival players, teams and managers (Rafa Benitez included) The ratio of people he praises and thanks compared to those he criticises is 10:1. Ok, I just made that number up, but he does praise people A LOT more than he criticises.
Thanks to the negative media, people who have never read this book think that it's the rants of a bitter old man. I would say it's more towards the opposite; it's the appreciation and gratefulness of a thankful old man.
Conclusion
My last words for this review, forget what the media wrote about this book, read it yourself and be the judge. It's a window into the mind of one of the most successful managers in football. Whether you admire or despise the man, this is indeed a good read.