-[footsteps approaching] -[chair slides]
[chattering]
[man 1] Okay. Let's turn over, please.
-[man 2] Yeah. -[sighs]
[interviewer] So, we're gonna start this session with a quiz.
-A quiz? -[interviewer] A quiz.
-Test your memory. -[clears throat]
Test... Test my memory.
-[interviewer] Ready? -Right.
[interviewer] Okay.
On which road is the house you were born in?
Shieldhall Road.
[interviewer] Correct.
What date is your wedding anniversary?
Twelfth of March, 1966.
[interviewer] Who scored your first goal as Man United manager?
-John Sivebaek. -Correct.
-You've got three sons. -Yeah.
What are their dates of birth?
[inhales deeply]
Well, you and your brother, Jason and Darren,
are 9th of February, 1972.
And Mark is 18th September, '68.
Correct. What was the name of the travel agent
you used at Aberdeen?
Harry Hynds.
Harry "Disaster" Hynds. [chuckles]
And what do you remember about Saturday, 5th of May, 2018?
Nothing.
[suspenseful music playing]
[siren wailing]
[telephone ringing]
[woman] Ambulance service. Is the patient breathing?
-[man] Yes. -[woman] Tell me exactly what's happened?
[man] My dad wasn't feeling well. He's collapsed.
He can't really get up.
So the doctor said to--
to phone an ambulance straight away.
[woman] I am organising help for you now.
[woman] Can you tell me exactly what happened?
[man] I-I don't really know. My mom didn't see it.
He's not good.
-[woman] How old is he? -[man] Seventy-six.
[woman] What's your name please?
[man] Jason.
- [woman] Jason? - [Jason] Yes?
[woman] What's his name please?
[Jason] Alexander Ferguson.
[Alex] You're in this dark tunnel.
But as you come out, and you look to the sunshine,
you see...
more than half the ground's United.
[crowd cheering]
Memories.
I told them, there's a guy there that bit me.
He said, well the next time, bite him back.
Bite him bloody back.
Saying to yourself...
I'll never see this again.
[man] Surely now?
♪ Pack up your troubles In your old kit bag ♪
That was it. That was the song.
Bobby Charlton waved down at me.
Memories.
[whistle blows]
[Alex] This is the hard knocks game.
I could handle it.
It was a lovely day.
I woke up...
It was pouring with rain.
[medical equipment beeps]
[female reporter] Britain's most successful
ever football manager, Alex Ferguson...
[female reporter 2] Former Manchester United manager
is being treated for a brain hemorrhage.
[male reporter] A very competitive man in football,
but as such, a divisive figure.
[male reporter 2] He has achieved unparalleled success over five decades...
[male reporter 3] Famous pupils, Cristiano Ronaldo,
David Beckham, "Keep fighting boss!
Sending prayers and love to Cathy and the whole family."
[reporter speaking in Spanish]
[Jason] We're in this side room.
The doctor said, "Look, Mr Ferguson, I'm afraid to say,
you've had a bleed on the brain. We're going to have to get you
up to Salford Royal Hospital as soon as possible
for an operation."
And all of a sudden, he just--
He just put his head in his hands and went, "Ugh!
I hope there's nothing wrong with my memory.
There better be nothing wrong with my memory."
And I was like, "Right?"
And then he just started telling these random stories.
Where the only connection between any of them
was the fact that they all happened a long time ago.
I think he's telling me these stories
to keep himself convinced that he's still...
got a memory.
[Alex] My mother...
took the big pram and I...
up to the local park in Glasgow.
And I always remember...
right opposite us...
was the shipyard.
We lived in the shadow of that.
You work on these ships.
[electricity crackles]
The wind's flying down that bloody River Clyde.
Oh, Jesus God.
[wind howling]
You feel that wind?
[wind howling continues]
My father worked there for over 40 years.
My dad.
I'll tell you what happens, right.
That history.
It gets ingrained into you.
Think about it.
Me as a manager,
I used to lie in bed thinking about themes
where I could address the players that would make an impact on them.
You know... I would talk about miners,
shipyard workers, welders, toolmakers.
You know, people who've come from poor backgrounds.
And I used to ask them,
what did your grandfather do?
What did your father do?
But I have to get the-the feeling inside them
that what their grandfathers worked for,
and their grandmothers, is part of them.
And they have to-- they have to display that meaning.
And... taking away all the-the trophies I've won
and the great players I've had,
I think it's a thing about life.
It's a fact of life that where we come from is important.
You come out with an identity.
I come from Govan.
I'm a Govan boy.
I loved it because it was buzzing, you know.
People selling fruit in barrows.
All sorts of things were going on.
The place was alive.
But, um, there was another side to it.
From time to time you would come up
against, uh, guys from different areas.
These were really tough areas.
And sometimes I had to defend my brother.
Martin.
[Martin] Alec was always a leader.
Always wanted to be the guy in front, you know.
Alec was always first to be in.
[Alex] There was a boy bullying Martin.
So I went up to the boy's house.
His father came to the door and says, "What do you want son?"
I said, "I want to see your son. He's been bullying my brother."
He says, "That's not my business." And he closed the door.
So I got him on the playground...
He was... wee sturdy wee guy, you know?
And anyway, he never bullied Martin again.
Everyone has their own personality.
Some walk away from things.
Some say, "No, I'm not going to accept this."
When you're growing up in a place like Govan,
most people are fighting to get out of there.
It's the capitalist attitude to the working class.
Keep them down there.
Absolutely no doubt about that.
And I was lucky because...
the football was the savior.
Through that, I got all the breaks.
I progressed.
My Dad, he played a part in that.
He followed us everywhere.
[Martin] He always encouraged us.
Made sure we were in bed early the day before a game.
[Alex] And there was clubs starting to approach my Dad.
But the one I was hoping that would go for me was Rangers.
I was a big Rangers fan. Lived right behind the stadium.
But anyway, my dad wouldn't let me go full-time.
Apprenticeship first, and then you can go full-time.
He was trying to protect me in case I didn't make it as a footballer.
But I don't think it did me any harm,
serving my apprenticeship as a toolmaker.
It helped me I think, in understanding people.
[crowd clamoring]
The unity.
No establishment honor
can compare with the privilege of belonging
to the Scottish working class.
[Alex] My mother...
she was a strong, really strong person.
She was a strong socialist.
And, uh... I was a shop steward for the apprentices.
The apprentices strike, that was a really important moment for me.
It was great, being a part of it.
It wasn't about you, it was about us.
It was about being a team.
Nothing more important
than someone who's had hard times
but prepared to not give into it.
But then, when I was serving my apprenticeship...
-[machine starting] -[engine starting]
I was part time at football, at St. Johnstone.
I was having to travel up there,
three days a week.
That was a nightmare for me.
[machine whirring]
Getting home at half one in the morning.
Getting up at six.
And then, I was getting despondent about the football side of it,
because I wasn't a first team player all the time.
My career was going down the pan.
And I started to...
How would you put it?
I went off the rails a bit.
[♪ "Let It Rock" by Chuck Berry playing]
Going out in town, you know.
♪ Well, in the evening when the sun is sinking low ♪
♪ All day I been waiting for the whistle to blow ♪
[Alex] Started to go out Friday nights even,
the day before the game.
♪ Until the foreman comes back ♪
♪ Pick up your belongings boys ♪
♪ And scatter about
[lyrics fade]
[Alex] My Dad...
"Where are you going?" You know.
"I'm going out, going to the dancing."
"You've got a game tomorrow.
You can't go to the dancing if you've got a game tomorrow."
I said, "Well, says it's the reserves,
and it doesn't mean a lot, you know."
He says, "It means everything, you know."
[music playing]
That's when we fell out.
Well, it got to a point where he said,
"Go your own way, and we'll see what happens."
And then we weren't talking to one another.
So for two years, between 1961 and 1963, we didn't talk.
And then one night I went out,
and I got drunk.
And I ended up in a fight. Ended up in jail.
I went to court, I got fined three pound.
I was a bit of a black sheep.
It's always been in the back of my head, that period.
And, uh, I've always regretted that.
Here's me, with that sort of a background and upbringing I had,
I surrendered.
I said to myself, I'm finished.
Football, it's going nowhere.
[trumpet playing]
[announcer] The immigration boom
touched new heights in a novel way.
From Heathrow and Prestwick, 25,000 will fly to begin
a new life in the dominion.
[Alex] I took out papers to emigrate to Canada.
I got the forms and all the rest of it.
Then that break in my life came, you know, fate.
The most important game of my life.
[Martin] He was supposed to play in a reserve game.
And he thought, "I'm not going up to Perth. To hell with it."
I got my brother's girlfriend
to phone the manager, tell him I had the flu.
Kidding on that she was my mother
[Alex] And I got home about seven.
And my mother's going absolutely berserk with me.
'Cause what had happened, the manager had sent her
a telegram that says, "I know that wasn't you that phoned me."
And she says, "You get along to that man right now.
And you'd better phone him, and you'd better be apologising to him.
And I've got the handkerchief over the phone.
Pretending I've got a bad cold.
He says, "You'd better report tomorrow at the Buchanan Street Hotel.
You're playing tomorrow against Rangers."
So, I go to the game.
And I scored a hat-trick.
Unbelievable, eh?
[Martin] He was the first person to score a hat-trick at Ibrox.
Nobody had ever done it before.
I did-- I wanted to go home and see my dad.
You know what I mean.
I wanted to go home because I knew he'd be proud as peacock, and...
And my mother, she's all excited and she says,
"Go on, talk to him."
"What do you think, Dad?"
"All right, yeah, it was okay. Yeah."
And then he starts. "That's the boy I had.
That's the... shoot on sight."
[Alex chuckles] We're back, we're back pals.
That changed my life.
Seriously that... it was the biggest break of my life.
And I say that to people often now, I say, "Don't miss a big opportunity."
You know, you might only get one in your life.
And that was my one in life.
That was the one that mattered to me.
And I made a vow, that moment on,
that I was not looking back.
I was committed. That was it. I was committed.
Nothing but football for me.
[doctor] The brain controls everything.
Your experience is all stored in your brain, in your memories.
And by that I think you make up your-your identity as a person.
Childhood, adolescence,
the memories make Alex Ferguson him as him.
I remember falling. That's all.
After that, I don't remember a thing.
I just sudden-- stopped.
I just stopped. I was in no-- no-man's-land.
So I remember estimating his mortality
at that point in time as 80 percent.
As in, there was an 80 percent chance he would not survive.
And then, the doctor came and said,
"Look, we're about to take him down
for the operation."
Two people can go in and see him
before he gets operated on.
So I said, look, I'll take my mom in.
And it was a shock. My mom was, "Whoa!"
There was wires everywhere and all the rest of it.
And then, that-that was hard. I felt it then, really.
Um... Sorry.
So...
[Dr Nadir] As we opened the head, we found a large clot.
But if you cut off the blood vessel,
then that part of the brain dies.
So, sometimes you just apply pressure and wait.
And so, I do remember waiting, and waiting.
And after a while, the bleeding stopped.
The brain started resurfacing,
which I thought was a good sign.
I think that day there was five brain hemorrhages.
That day I was-- and three died.
Only two survived, I was one of them.
So, you know, you know you're lucky.
It was beautiful weather. I always remember that.
And you're looking out the hospital window, and you're...
and you're saying, I wonder if I'll ever see--
How many sunny days I'm ever going to see again?
You know? And I found that difficult.
[Cathy] He was upset even when I went in.
And I says to him, if you don't calm down, I'll need to go.
Because if I'm upsetting you as well, you have to keep calm,
you know, especially, for the next 24 hours.
[exhales] I was 22.
I had this friend, um, she says to me,
"There's a really nice girl, just started."
I just saw him walking through.
I'd suffered an injury at football and I had a plaster on my face.
She thought I was either a gangster or a boxer. [chuckles]
[Cathy scoffs] I thought he was a thug.
Then I found out that he was a footballer.
But that didn't make-- didn't make him any different to me. [chuckles]
[Alex] I took her to the movies.
[Cathy] Bought me a box of Liquorice Allsorts,
which he ate all of them.
[chuckles] And a local paper when we come out.
That was my romantic date.
[Alex] We got really close. And, you know, I really loved her.
But, you know, she was Catholic.
And my mother's Catholic and my father was Protestant.
But we were brought up Protestants.
Well, we're different religions.
It did cause problems.
That's the way it was then, you know.
[Alex] Glasgow...
is a city where there's a divide.
[audience cheering and applauding]
There's Protestant, Catholic.
It's Rangers and Celtic.
[announcer] The Old Firm, Celtic and Rangers.
They've been battling now for 75 years.
The battle is not between a team and a team.
It's between the Prods and the Papes.
[men chanting]
Between Protestant and Catholic.
So we just said we'd have a civil wedding.
[Alex] We got married in 1966.
[Cathy] Glasgow Registry Office.
That was the start.
I went to my work. He went to his football.
[Alex] And I really did well.
[announcer] Yes, it's a goal by Ferguson.
I was rumbustious, aggressive.
[announcer] Ferguson! And it's a goal!
I could score goals, you know.
-[announcer] Ferguson! -[audience cheering]
[Alex] And that was... when I heard that Rangers wanted to sign me.
And of course, having supported Rangers as a boy,
and lived, what, 200 yards from the ground.
I was pretty excited about that.
I get in my best suit, and go across to Ibrox.
It was unbelievable.
This big marble hall, you know, it's quite impressive.
It was absolutely fantastic.
[♪ "Wheel of Fortune" by Kay Starr playing]
[Alex] Govan boy signing for Rangers.
Scottish transfer record.
♪ The wheel of fortune
It was his boyhood dream come true.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Ferguson's there! It's a goal by Ferguson!
♪ Will the arrow Point my way? ♪
[announcer 1] Ferguson scores!
[announcer 2] On towards Ferguson.
A good goal by Ferguson! Alex Ferguson's done what he's tried so hard...
[Alex] Anyway, my first season was over...
and we'd lost the league in the last gasp to Celtic.
[announcer] Celtic have again proved themselves Scotland's top team.
If you don't beat Celtic, it's not a good season.
And, uh, certain people had the knife in Alec,
for obvious reasons, you know.
Cathy was Catholic.
[Alex] When I signed for Rangers,
one of the directors, he asked me about Cathy.
And he says, um,
I have to ask you a question about your wife.
Uh, I believe she's Catholic. I says, "Yeah."
He says, "Were you married in a chapel?"
I says, "No, we got married in a registry office."
He says, "Oh, that's okay."
Uh, you know, I should've told him to fuck off.
You know, I really should have.
But having supported Rangers as a boy,
and having an opportunity to go and play for Rangers,
you're prepared to take nonsense.
You know what I mean?
I was-- I let myself down there.
And I let my wife down. And that was, uh, was the important thing.
'Cause she was a devout Catholic.
[stuttering] No, I don't-- My memories of--
with Rangers weren't very happy anyway, you know.
It was a bad time for us.
[Alex] And then, we got the Cup Final against Celtic.
[cheering]
[Alex] Everybody's screaming.
A hundred and thirty-two thousand people.
And there I was,
playing number nine for Rangers.
-[announcer] Ferguson about to kick off. -[whistle blows]
In this, the Scottish Cup Final here at Hampden Park.
[Alex] But, as it turned out, it wasn't about football.
It was...
It was a...
Well, there was a price to pay for me.
[audience cheering]
[announcer] And it looks like a corner forced there.
And the thing here is that, Billy McNeill,
the giant-sized center half of Celtic normally comes up.
-McNeill... -[cheering]
And he's done it, and scored a goal!
McNeill comes up there for one of his traditionally famous headers.
Ferguson should've been ready for that one.
Ferguson let it go, and paid the penalty.
Oh, God. What a start.
[announcer] Oh! Bad pass back there.
Bad pass back and it puts Lennox in the clear,
straight in he can go. He's very fast, is Lennox.
Scoring chance. And it's there!
Celtic takes a two-nothing lead over Rangers.
Greig. And here's a terrible mistake there by John Greig!
Three-nothing for Celtic.
Chalmers breaking.
[audience cheering]
I was part of the team that got slaughtered.
No one enjoys that.
And, of course, Alec got the blame of it.
[Martin] They were looking for a scapegoat, and Alec became the scapegoat.
After that, it was like a witch-hunt, you know.
It was my last game. I never played again.
So, I was completely bombed out.
Trained on my own.
I can only assume it was because of Cathy being a Catholic.
I'm sure of it.
Eventually, I left.
And I went down-down the scale to Falkirk.
Went down that, uh, slope a bit, you know.
Oh, I-- Oh, I mean, he was upset, you know, obviously.
And I think a bit angry, you know.
But it made him determined as well, you know.
He was determined that he would go on and prove his self.
[Alex] The thing that drove me most was leaving Rangers.
That spurred me.
I was starting to question the managers.
You know, their way of managing.
That gave me that-- How was it?
That impetus about saying, "I can do this job.
I know I can do this job."
See, because that's my upbringing.
Don't give in.
[Darren] He initially recovered very well.
But he was still in a certain level of danger here.
There was a day when, uh, everybody came in.
There was about 14 people in my room,
and, uh, that was too much, you know.
His mind was trying to keep up with everybody,
so he was doing too much with the brain.
And then, he had a lapse. Uh, quite a-a bad lapse.
My voice stopped.
Trying to get the...
And, you know, you're trying to force it out and you can't get out.
When the doctors came in and I was crying, you know, 'cause...
you felt helpless.
He was really upset with that
because he thought he was going to lose his voice,
going to lose his memory.
I would have hated if I'd have lost my memory.
It would've been a terrible burden on-on the family.
I'm sitting in the house, and I don't know who I am,
I don't know who you are or who my wife is.
In many ways, that would've been the worst thing that could've happened.
Surviving, but losing the memory.
Two of the doctors came in and they just said, "Write."
You know, gave me a pen, write names. Write your family's name.
Write your friend's name. Write your football team's names.
Write your players names.
And I just kept writing, and writing, and writing.
And I'm thinking, "He's writing quite a long time here".
And I went, "Right, okay. Let's have a look".
So I took the book off him, and he's like that.
He was like a little boy, really, to be honest.
[Alex] Aye.
It's impossible to read this.
"The remember that, remember that, that had remember...
the remember, that remember, that has had remember."
I've repeated the word "remember" three times there.
Yeah.
God.
Regarding my health, I'm not actually in control,
in the football world... and at-at United,
I'm in control of the situation.
It's vital.
Because... a player can't do it himself.
A player's only part of a team.
The manager's in control of that.
He's in control of all that destiny.
Dealing with the press,
with referees,
with rivals.
I've got to make decisions that are correct.
You have to make really difficult decisions.
I'm telling you, I was never afraid of that.
I never looked back.
I never looked back because there was always tomorrow
as far as I was concerned, whether you lose or win.
There was always tomorrow.
But, now, if you remember, we spoke about reflecting.
Um, I've done a lot of reflecting on things, uh, that I achieved
and what I didn't achieve, and I think that's been,
has been quite a challenge, actually.
Because you're-you're searching your memory.
And that's what I've had to do.
[man] Aberdeen.
The Granite City.
The silver city by the sea.
[Alex] I'd been part-time manager
for three and a half years at St. Mirren.
I was offered the job to be full-time manager at Aberdeen.
I snapped at it.
And, uh, I had my own philosophy about management.
Hold it there. Come on, big man Dougie.
Get that thigh on the chest.
-Hold it. -[man] Don't move.
Feel the back of your legs.
Hold it for a wee bit.
Obviously, I've got my own ideas and standards.
And through time, this'll come through to the players.
Fingers crossed.
[man] When he first got there...
Well, we're at the level where Aberdeen had been for years.
Where you-- The fans are quite happy if you won a trophy every six years.
And that trophy was either the League Cup or the F.A. Cup.
That was success.
We were a group of guys,
play football just to make a living.
[Alex] But the problem was,
a lot of those players couldn't dream of winning a league.
And incredible as it may seem,
we didn't have a training ground at Aberdeen.
Facilities? There's a park along from us
[boys chattering]
[Gordon] That wasn't that great because you had to
kick off the dog crap, uh,
before you started training.
Yeah, the car park was used mainly in the afternoons.
We used to go to the beach.
And we'd only stop when the actual tide hit a goalpost.
-[chuckles] -[chattering]
But the only thing that mattered was beating Rangers and Celtic.
If you don't beat Rangers and Celtic, you don't win the league.
Simple as that.
[Gordon] I remember, he was desperate.
I mean, desperate to beat the two sides, the Old Firm sides.
Rangers, I felt in particular more than Celtic.
For some reason, I don't know what it was.
But Rangers was the first target.
[Alex] The first time we played at Rangers...
and we scrambled a draw in the last minute.
After the game, the players were all celebrating, jumping up and down.
And I'm, what, I'm saying, "Wait a minute".
I says, "What are you celebrating? I mean... you've only drawn."
And we'd all had kind of... rollockings or bollockings,
whatever you want to call it, before at different clubs.
But this was an intensity
that was not about just that game or something.
It was... everything.
Where you want to go, what you want to do with your life.
Forget all the work we'd been doing,
with passing the ball and technical ability, etcetera, etcetera.
If they're not winners, it's a waste of time anyway.
You're trying to get that character
instilled in the human beings you're dealing with.
When they go on that pitch, they can't leave
their personality in the dressing room.
When I looked at that, I thought there's-there's
something up here.
Somehow there's something inside this fellow...
that's making him angry and driving him.
Well, looking back on it now,
it looks like I bumped into a-a wounded animal here.
Look, rather than explain
how you can bring-bring a winning mentality to people,
I think you've got to produce a project that's working.
[Gordon] Technique, mentally, physically, the whole lot.
-[player grunts] -He put people under so much pressure
to be successful.
[Alex] You have to earn the right
to be an Aberdeen player
that I was looking for.
The coaching and the speed of their play,
the concentration...
If you're doing these things right,
it definitely develops their mind better.
Deep down inside us there's a devil that drives you on.
Um, for whatever reason,
he could make that devil materialise for a game of football.
[announcer] McMaster through to Harper.
Harper's left foot out in front.
It's going to be a goal!
Yes, it's over! It's a goal!
[crowd cheering]
And, sensationally, Aberdeen lead one-nil.
It was really a turning point
because the players are now saying to themselves,
"Right, let's get after Celtic."
That's the one we were after now.
[announcer] Archibald and a chance, and he scores!
Archibald scores!
There's a cross aimed for Archibald.
Latchford drops it, Strachan scores.
Strachan makes it three-one.
Yeah. He-he brought the devil out in me.
You think, "Oh, we're in here." That was the hardest bit.
Because, um... Sir Alex had never won that league before.
None of us had won that league before. So, it was all new to us.
And how we dealt with it.
And at that point, the manager was the most important guy,
'cause we were looking at him for guidance how to get through it.
[host] Now, having beaten Celtic twice in the past month,
is it all about conviction?
Believing in yourselves that you-you can actually do it?
Because I've met infinite number of Aberdonians who say,
"Ah, yes. They're a good team, but they haven't won anything yet."
Conviction and belief is built up in-in time.
Uh...
Mainly with the work that I do myself with the players in, you know,
on their character and their discipline, and having belief in themselves
and conviction in going to places like Celtic Park and Ibrox,
and believing they can win.
-[cheering] -[announcer] Oh, that's a goal!
Steve Archibald!
Scanlon... Yes!
What a marvelous goal to finish this match!
And that's it! They have won!
Alec Ferguson is on now in the penalty area!
Aberdeen have definitely won the Championship!
Alec Ferguson, can you blame the man
for going out of his mind temporarily?
[muttering indistinct]
[men cheering]
-[man 1] Yeah! -[man 2] All right.
[Alex] So, I'd been looking for an assistant for a while.
It couldn't have been better for me. That's what I wanted to do.
That's what I enjoyed doing, uh, the most so, uh,
it was perfect for me.
Oh, it was a nightmare, the two of them.
Um, and it was-- It was like most managers
have bad cop, good cop.
Well, it used to be Sir Alex, bad cop.
Worse cop... [laughs] with Archie.
After a couple of weeks, the players--
the players must've been saying to themselves,
"Jesus Christ. There's two of them."
[laughs]
You were steeped in the thing, football-wise.
I was steeped in it.
[Cathy] He never had much of a home life.
He never saw the kids much.
That was his job.
Well, he got on with his job, and I got on with the kids.
Cathy brought the kids up. And I'm not... I'm not proud of that.
[announcer] Five past three on Friday afternoon,
and Aberdeen leave Pittodrie for the drive south.
He was never there, so you see,
you always thought he's-he's always at work.
But, um, and he was. I mean, he's a workaholic.
I regret not having spent more time with you,
but that was the nature of my job.
It's consuming in terms of how it can get inside you.
But we got a reward for that.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Well, the European flag.
The UEFA flag flying over Pittodrie!
[Archie] Bayern Munich versus Aberdeen.
Well, let's put it this way, right?
Aberdeen and Bayern.
Bayern have got 70,000 in their stadium.
Aberdeen had 20, right?
[announcer] Augenthaler, looking for a chance to shoot.
[cheering]
[announcer] And that's the moment that Aberdeen were dreading.
[Gordon] When I look back at it now, our training, the intensity,
he was testing us.
[announcer] That's a great cross.
Eric Black is there!
It's off the line. No! It's put in by Simpson!
And Aberdeen are level.
He didn't want anybody next to him
that he knew would
let him or the team down...
in a crisis moment.
[announcer] And that is a special goal,
which might well end Aberdeen's challenge in Europe.
At two-one, there was a crisis moment.
We needed two goals.
-[cheering] -[announcer] The header finds the net!
Can they make it?
There's Eric Black!
The goalkeeper knocks it out.
It's in the net, and Aberdeen are in front!
Pittodrie goes berserk.
[cheering]
[announcer] Well, that score line
is almost impossible to believe.
The final whistle goes, Aberdeen have won, perhaps, their greatest victory ever!
Alec Ferguson dancing a jig of delight on the track, and well he might.
[cheering]
[Alex] That game was monumental to me.
I mean, God Almighty.
[people chanting, cheering]
[Alex] Real Madrid, in the final of a European tournament.
Real Madrid are the most successful club in the world.
For a small club in a small town, this had made their lives.
[female reporter] Thousands of Don's fans are travelling
to support their heroes' first European final.
[male reporter] Light refreshments
were already being served in the bar
and proving so popular that reinforcements
were being brought in by the trolley load.
What are you going to do after the match?
-Get drunk. -[all laugh]
Celebrate.
-What happens if we lose? -Still get drunk.
[laughing]
[chanting] ♪ We're going to do it ♪
♪ We're going to do it
♪ We're going to do it for you ♪
[singing] ♪ We're the Dons From Aberdeen ♪
♪ And we're gonna do it for you ♪
That's all you're getting.
♪ And we're gonna do it for you ♪
[music playing]
♪ And we can play
♪ 'Cause Alex Ferguson He knows the way ♪
♪ And we're gonna do it
♪ We're gonna do it
♪ We're gonna do it for you
And we were fantastic.
[announcer] McLeish has come up late.
And a goal is there!
And it's given... by Black!
♪ All the way Every night and day ♪
[announcer] McGhee making the break,
and Hewitt waiting in the middle!
[cheering]
[announcer] Hewitt!
♪ Every night and day
♪ Singing a European Song
[announcer] Oh, they've done it! Aberdeen have won!
♪ Singing a European Song
♪ Oh, all the way
♪ Every night and day
♪ Singing a European
[announcer] The pride of Scottish football,
Aberdeen, received a huge welcome
as they returned home bearing the European Cup, Winner's Cup.
[female reporter] Britain's most northerly professional football club
has never seen anything like this.
The greyness of the Granite City was transformed.
[crowd cheering]
[paper rustling]
[Alex] The amazing response has been from managers
and-and directors in England.
-[host] In England? -Yes.
Well, we have one here from Bob Paisley of Liverpool,
which is marvelous, you know.
"Congratulations, you've done us proud."
[host] How difficult is it to adjust to another cup final?
Well, it's just got down to this stage now
that we don't want to disappoint anyone.
Well, in fact, the very last game you played
for Rangers was in the Cup Final, was it not?
[audience cheering]
[Alex] The last game of the year, the Cup Final against Rangers,
is as good a time as any to demonstrate who's the best team in Scotland.
[announcer] That's a good ball. McGhee likes his position.
It could be there. It is!
The winner! That will win the Cup.
[announcer] There's Alec Ferguson.
Okay. Alec Ferguson, many congratulations winning the Scottish Cup
for the second year, but it was close.
[reporter] Were you surprised by the way--
[reporter] Can you give a reason for the disappointing performance, then?
[cheering]
[Alex] I can't understand why I did it.
The only thing I can think of was that...
I wanted this to be the moment, when we...
we set ourselves as the best team Scotland ever had.
[Jason] In all honesty, was it about being the best team in Scotland?
Or was it about hammering Rangers?
I think it was, probably, about beating Rangers.
This was my moment to say, "Right, you're gonna get it."
I wanted to put the knife in them.
I think it was that, really.
[Mark] I think that my dad...
was pointing at a totally different target to-to other people.
I think he was already thinking,
"Look, my horizons are beyond Aberdeen.
Beyond Rangers, beyond Scotland.
I've beaten these guys. I've totally different aspirations now."
My dad's an optimist.
He's an absolute clear optimist.
And so, you know, he's willing to dream big.
[male announcer] Manchester United sacked their manager,
Ron Atkinson today.
[female announcer] And the man who's going to replace him
is Aberdeen's Alex Ferguson.
[male announcer] 1986 has been United's
worst start to the season since the war.
[male announcer] The camera shutters and the microphones strained
at the first appearance of the new boss.
[male announcer] Manchester United is the most famous name
in English football. There's no bigger news.
If there is a man, is he the man to follow you?
Yes, I'd have to be honest. If I'd have been the chairman
and I'd have got rid of somebody like me, I'd have taken him.
[Cathy] Moving across the border was, you know, going to the moon.
And I wasn't-- I wasn't happy because I didn't want to leave Aberdeen.
But I knew there was no way he would refuse that job.
[camera shutter clicking]
[man] We've brought Alec down from Scotland this morning.
Perhaps, we'd like to go straight into the questions.
[male reporter] You've come here with the club 19th in the First Division.
We need to look at the facts for themselves.
We haven't won the League for 20 years, right?
That is a great challenge for the Manchester United players,
and will be until it's achieved.
And the only way we can win the European Cup is by winning the League.
Because that's the great desire.
[Alex] And my first day there,
I went to Old Trafford.
Even though it was an empty stadium,
you can feel the spirit of the place.
It's like a theatre with ghosts walking about it.
Memories.
[male announcer] Matt Busby, the maestro of Manchester United...
This is the place where they've created...
Gods.
[male announcer] The manager, Matt Busby, transformed the whole approach
to modern day football with his commitment to a youth policy.
I have a scouting system whose sole object is to go out
looking for young, promising school boys,
youth club boys, and indeed, any young players.
[male announcer] Manchester United were supreme soccer champions of Europe!
[Alex] Matt Busby doing what he did
to bring all these young players into your first team,
this is what I believed in. This is what I was good at.
This is what I wanted to do.
[Alex] So, it was question time.
What do I really need to resurrect the club?
One way of doing it was the proper youth system.
That can be the spirit of the place.
The new spirit.
I had a meeting with Brian Whitehouse who was the reserve coach.
And a meeting with Eric Harrison.
And they were Ron Atkinson's men, of course.
They had a youth game. I think it was second or third week there.
They were shocking Jason, they were shocking.
I went in after the dressing room, I couldn't stand it.
And I went berserk with them.
And I knew Eric was not pleased. Eric was not pleased.
And he came to see me the next day.
He says, "Look, that's my job.
I've never known a manager to come in."
And I says, "Yeah, but you've never known a manager like me."
The first thing he did, was we got all the scouts together.
I'd only two scouts in Manchester.
And he says, "We need to do something about that."
So my job was to...
flood Manchester with scouts.
So as he could have his way of building a football club,
from the bottom up.
[Alex] We had to make a mark on Manchester itself.
It was only a few weeks after I arrived, and, um, there was a steward.
Says, "Boss, there's a young lad.
He's training with Man City, he's a United fan.
He's an absolutely fantastic player,
and we're doing nothing about it."
So I went to see him.
[man] I did notice him while I was playing.
"The Man United manager, what's going on there?"
It just doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen.
[indistinct shouting]
[Alex] You see him dancing over the pitch.
You know...
[shouting]
[Alex] Sensational.
Feet, very narrow. Balance, fantastic.
We got him signed.
He was a breath of fresh air, he really was.
So... he was the future.
[indistinct shouting]
But putting that aside,
you need results in your first team.
But I knew that.
When you look round that squad, it was just a dysfunctional unit.
"Fifth of March, 1988.
Lost 1-0 at Norwich. Absolutely shocking display."
[male announcer] Manchester United conspicuous by their absence.
[Alex] "Sunday, had the players in for a talk."
[male announcer] Manchester United have won nothing since '85.
It's not good enough.
[Alex] "Lost 1-0 to Liverpool.
Shocker of a game."
[male announcer] Alec Ferguson, his team in severe problems.
[Alex] "Lost 2-1. Team is lacking confidence."
Did it affect your confidence at all?
Lack of success affects everyone's confidence.
Did you know the pressures were going to be quite as great
when you left Scotland?
No. No. I didn't-- I didn't realise that.
[Alex] "Lost two-nil to Southampton. Totally disgusting."
[male announcer] A beleaguered manager.
[Alex] "Sunday. Frustrated."
[Alex] "Saturday, 23rd of September. V Man City."
[male announcer] United all over the place! Morley!
[audience screaming]
[Alex] "Lost 5-1."
[male announcer] Alex Ferguson won three championships with Aberdeen in Scotland.
But he's finding it a far more difficult prize
to get his hands on south of the border.
[Alex] I remember after the game...
I got home.
I just stayed in my bed, you know?
Probably the best place to be.
[car door closes]
I'd been there for over three years,
and that's when the cries were coming out, you know?
Fergie out.
[crowd chanting] Fergie out! Fergie out!
Fergie out! Fergie out! Fergie out!
[chanting continues]
We got calls into the house. I remember that, yeah. I do.
You know, "Go back to fucking Scotland," and all that.
"You're fucking useless."
I would just put the phone down, you know.
And Cathy got a bit upset with it.
[Cathy] You were getting abusive phone calls.
I found that really hard.
It would have just been like a tightening of a screw on her.
It was just an instrument of torture.
[Cathy] I got sort of a, paranoid.
The magpies drove me crazy.
One for sorrow, two for joy, so if you only saw one before a game,
I mean I-I used to be looking for the other. [chuckles]
I went to him, and so did my brothers,
and I just said, "Dad, it's not working.
You're not going to be able to succeed here.
You know, it's-it's-- you know, it's killing us,
and I just don't think you're going to be successful."
And for his eldest son to have basically gone and said,
"We don't believe in you. You're going to fail. You need to give up,"
which is not quite what I said, but it's what I meant.
And he said, "I really think I can succeed here. I really think we're close."
And I was like, "Oh, deluded. What are you thinking?"
[Alex] "January 1st, good luck! F.A. Cup."
[male announcer] For Manchester United, Sunday's match
at Nottingham Forest has been looming.
[male announcer] United are going to Forest
currently fifth bottom of the First Division.
[male announcer] It's being billed as Alex Ferguson's last stand.
His Alamo.
[Alex] The day before,
Martin Edwards, the chairman,
called me up to his office.
And he says, "Doesn't matter what happens on Sunday,
you'll still be the manager, I can assure you of that."
And that was good of him to do that.
Now, that's not to say, that was cast in stone, that.
Because if the crowds had gone down,
and we end up at the bottom of the league, you're away.
I could half agree with the club if they said, "Well, we've had enough."
[male announcer] Alec Ferguson, who celebrated his 48th birthday last week.
And I suspect in the last seven weeks, he's aged a bit more than that.
[male announcer] OÖrlygsson, kept in by Martin.
Hughes, he's got a lot of room.
And here's Robins!
[audience cheering]
[male announcer] United are through!
Some joy at last for Alec Ferguson.
There's a smile on the face of the United manager.
After so many problems, at least, they've won this crunch-match.
[Alex] That was a pivotal game.
And of course, we were struggling in the league.
But now the F.A. Cup was keeping us alive, you know.
[male announcer] Yes! Manchester United are at Wembley.
[audience cheering]
[Alex] We got to the-the Cup Final.
But I had a big problem in my mind.
Jim Leighton.
Jim was having a horrid time.
[male announcer] Long range shot...
Oh! A mistake there by Jim Leighton.
[Alex] Jim...
I gave him his debut at Aberdeen.
I brought him to United.
[male announcer] Alex Ferguson said he is the best goalkeeper in Britain.
[Alex] At Aberdeen... did well for me.
[male announcer] And once again, Leighton is Aberdeen's hero!
Fantastic goalkeeper, Jim. Top, top goalkeeper.
[Jim] The fact that I'm supposed to be the best goalkeeper in Scotland,
you get a lot more respect. Plus, the confidence has done me
an awful lot of good as well.
-[audience cheering] -[Alex] But now...
He didn't seem to have the same confidence about himself.
[male announcer] There's the man. Alex Ferguson.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[male announcer] Free kick to Crystal Palace.
Andy Gray's back on his feet to take it.
[male announcer] Thorn, O'Reilly's in there!
And was it over the line?
And it's a goal!
[Alex] He was making mistake after mistake.
[male announcer] Wright! Goal!
[audience cheering]
[male announcer] And the referee has blown,
and the F.A. Cup Final of 1990 ends in a draw.
[announcer 2] And they'll have to come back
and do it all again on Thursday.
But after the game, Jim's like that.
Head was right down, right down.
It got to that point that you say to yourself,
"I have to pick a team that's going to win the Cup."
I don't think Jim's part of my thinking in that.
So, we had a wee bit of an argument about that.
He would've played him again, Archie. He would've.
But he knew he was only doing it through his loyalty to Jim.
I just said that, "Oh, well, you know, that'll finish Big Jim."
[Alex] When there's a doubt, there's no doubt.
And I-- I'd made my mind up. I'd made my mind up.
I then went to Jim's room.
And I told him, and he burst out crying.
[male announcer] So, the big news is that Jim Leighton is dropped.
A major decision by Alex Ferguson to drop a goalkeeper
who played in so many Scottish Cup finals for him.
And on it may hinge an awful lot of futures.
And Les Sealey gets a surprise call-up.
[Alex] Sealey was not as good a goalkeeper.
But he thought he was, you know?
[male announcer] Pardew closing in and so was Mark Bright.
And that's the first test for Les Sealey.
And Les Sealey does well.
And it's Gray. Oh! Saved by Sealey's legs! That's a good stop!
The goalkeeper takes credit again.
Lee Martin, inspired run on the far side. A chance here... and a goal!
Manchester United have won the F.A. Cup!
Alex Ferguson's first major trophy at Old Trafford.
And just look at that man's face!
The years seem to have fallen away there from Alex Ferguson,
after a season of torment and tribulation.
[Alex] Making big decisions affecting players' careers...
is not easy.
He might have called it ruthless.
[interviewer] Do you still feel a Manchester United player?
I don't think-- they days are gone now.
-[interviewer] Really? -I think so, yeah.
I think from both sides, those days are gone now.
Never spoke to me again.
Yeah... so...
You lose a friend, or you lose
someone that you'd given his first opportunity in life.
But make no mistake, it was the correct decision.
[audience cheering]
-[Jason] Want some water? -I'm all right.
[Jason] Okay.
[Alex] I got home.
All the things that were bottling up inside me...
it was a sort of, uh, opening up.
You know, you just want to spill it all out.
[Jason] I don't know if you want to kick off?
No, I think that, um...
[clears throat]
It's been an experience. I think that...
What I-- what you realise is...
that what happens when you die,
is it... people suffer cancer,
and there's a long period before they do.
But when it happens like that, they say it's the best way to go.
But you don't remember anything.
When I collapsed that Saturday morning,
and I had no idea from that moment on, what-what happened.
People say that I was sitting up talking in Macclesfield Hospital,
before I went to Royal Salford.
But I don't remember a thing. So...
I'm not sure when the moment comes and you do die,
whether it's the best way to go.
In the moments when you're on your own,
there's that fear and there's that loneliness.
That creeps into your mind and...
you don't want to die. You know, and that's where I was at.
I don't want to, I'm not gonna die. I don't want to die.
These things did flash through my mind quite a lot.
[Cathy] They had wanted him to go
to the first game of the season at Old Trafford.
But Dr George says no, it was too much, you know.
Far too much. And we said that ourselves, you know.
'Cause everybody's going to be-- Cameras, everything, you know.
I have a slight concern about going to watch United again
in terms of the first time.
[Alex] A third of my life has been at United,
creating a certain type of football club.
But you're still walking into a sort of, uh, an unknown...
situation for yourself.
Somewhere inside you, you know, there's a doubt.
[chattering]
[Alex] A long-term approach always suited me,
to go the long road to shape my future.
[male announcer] And number 14 is 17-year old Ryan Giggs.
Manchester United believe we may be seeing the start
of a very special career here this afternoon.
[Alex] If you get them young enough,
and breed the important values
of what you're trying to achieve with them,
they became that particular person you were looking for.
Do you have to treat them, you know, differently to-to the established stars?
Absolutely. You've got to be real hard on them.
Because they're facing for the first time in their lives...
-[interviewer] Harder on them? -Oh, yes.
-[interviewer] Really? -Absolutely.
They're facing for the first time in their lives, media attention.
And you won't get the crit-- you don't get any criticism from journalism
to young boys. It's all praise.
-That's ahead. -Do you sometimes feel like a bully?
No, no, no, no! I think they realise that it's for their own good.
[Ryan] My Dad left when I was 14.
I had two mainstays in my life:
my granddad and the manager.
There was definitely that father-son relationship.
Um, sometimes that was good,
sometimes that was bad because he felt he could say whatever he wanted.
Um, which was tough to take, especially when you're an 18, 19 year-old.
[no dialogue]
[Ryan] Honestly, sometimes, you know,
he would have fights with the players, or nearly have fights.
I wanted to, because he would be right in your face,
screaming at you.
[Jason] To the outside world, you've got this reputation...
as this fearsome character.
Yeah, absolutely.
That fearsome character
has been portrayed throughout my career.
I mean... [stutters] That's the baggage I've had to carry.
[Jason] Maybe times when you felt,
"Oh, went maybe a bit too far there."
Oh, there'd be plenty times.
[Alex] But...
I don't think there's anything wrong with losing your temper
if it's for the right reasons, you know?
Where they didn't reach their expectation in a game,
because everything's built around what we expect
in terms of the standard of our training,
and the ambitions of the football club.
Because my experience of human beings...
they'd like to do things the easiest way.
The minute you-you accept a bad performance from them,
or a bad technical aspect of their training,
they'll do it again.
[Ryan] I remember, against Juventus.
I spent the whole half, I mean, which is what I did, dribbling, and yeah.
Conte was taking it off me. And they were going on and attacking.
And I wasn't having a good game.
At half time,
and the manager just went for me straight away.
"Stop dribbling in midfield." And this argument started, and...
I've got these blackcurrant drinks
that we used to have at half-time, and I threw it.
Threw it right at the gaffer's feet.
[male announcer] So Giggs is off.
[Ryan] He was always in control.
You were never in any doubt, who was the boss.
Yeah, I could be.
I could be ferocious
in terms of my criticism after games.
But sometimes I never said a word to them.
Sometimes I would gather them altogether,
and I never made myself predictable.
[Ryan] But away from football,
he would sometimes spot if there was something wrong.
"Is everything okay at home? You know you can always talk to me."
That was comforting to me. That was comforting to me
that no matter how many arguments we have,
how many-- if I wasn't playing well, if he dropped me,
that I could always come and talk about things.
Because then, it wasn't about football.
It was about how you are as a human being.
[Alex] It wasn't as if I was their best pal.
But they always knew I would find a way to help them.
If you want to be the proper manager,
and be in control of a unit as big as that...
you have to know them all.
All these different people...
with all these different stories.
[man] I wasn't happy, so I just reacted.
It wasn't really the football I dreamed about.
Just lost that passion for the game.
[Alex] I always remember, I'd gone to a game in Paris.
And I was sitting between Michel Platini and Gerard Houllier.
And right out of the blue,
Michel says, "Why don't you sign Eric Cantona?"
And I says, "Well, isn't there a bit of baggage there?"
And Michel says, "Look, he's a great lad.
He just needs to be understood."
[male announcer] Football. And Manchester United have signed
the French international striker, Eric Cantona.
[chattering]
[interviewer] You shocked everybody with the signing.
He's got a fiery reputation. A fiery Frenchman,
and with due respect, a fiery Scot.
How's that relationship going to develop?
I think that hopefully I've got the experience to handle it.
It's maybe a new challenge for me, too.
-[interviewer] Is it a gamble? -No, I don't think it's a gamble.
[Alex] When I met Eric,
I said to myself, "Right, I'm going to forget his past.
I'm not going to mention any of his behavior. It didn't matter."
What mattered to me was
what we could do in terms of bringing him into our fold.
Like, a new kid, as if he was an apprentice, or a newborn baby.
It was to give him that opportunity to be himself.
In anything I do in my life, if I don't feel free...
I become crazy.
He knew exactly what I needed, psychologically.
More than a manager.
Somebody strong enough to deal with any kind of personality.
[Ryan] He was just treated differently.
Black tie do.
I walked in, my top button's undone, manager's gone straight for me.
"Get your top button done! You're representing Man United!"
Two minutes later, I'm sulking in the corner.
"Flipping heck, he's just had a go at me, again."
Um, Eric walks in with a white linen suit
with white/red Tiempo Nike trainers on.
So I am like, flipping rubbing my hands. "What's he gonna say?"
So he goes over, shakes his hand, and then turns to us and go,
"Lads, that's style."
But...
when-- when they-- somebody like Alex Ferguson give you the freedom you need...
to express yourself,
you have to deserve it, yeah.
And you know how lucky you are to have this freedom.
It's why I worked...
so hard and I tried everything.
Everything-- I could give my life to him.
He was, and is still a great psychologist.
[Alex] Psychology is someone else's word.
I call it...
management.
[announcer] Cantona's looping header... And a goal!
[audience cheering]
[announcer] Cantona. Oh, look at that pass!
Oh, that's brilliant!
[Eric] It was like a dream for me.
That's the football I dreamed about.
And the spirit around football I dreamed about.
I think that was the first time of my life I felt like it was my place.
That's my house.
[announcer] And here's Giggs.
Over the goalkeeper. Cantona!
[audience cheering]
Eric came at the right time to lift United.
[announcer] Eric Cantona, who was only 11 and a half months old
the last time Manchester United won the title.
We are going to do it. It is going to happen.
[announcer] Bruce, yes! Unbelievable.
There's still a bit to be done,
but Alec Ferguson almost celebrating the championship.
[announcer] And he's going to the right, away from the marker.
-Ince! Yes? that's it! -[audience cheering]
Get in, you beauty kiddo!
[announcer] Good evening from Old Trafford.
There hasn't been a night here like this
for over a quarter of a century.
But once again, Manchester United are the champions.
It's been a long, long wait
since those days of Best and Law and Charlton.
[singing and cheering]
[Alex] It was unbelievable, the relief.
It was tangible. That frustration of 26 years had gone.
This was a club that had come alive again.
-[cheering] -[announcer] The champions of England!
The ultimate accolade for all players.
[Alex] You could-- you could smell the roses.
You could smell the roses.
There's no question about that.
And, um, it was non-stop after that.
[announcer] Elkins header only goes to Cantona. A glorious goal!
[cheering]
[announcer] Manchester United have won the double.
[Alex] And now, the plan we had was finally the foundation.
[announcer] Oh, beautiful goal from David Beckham!
And Alex Ferguson is delighted that one of his youngsters
has restored Manchester United's lead!
[announcer] Alec Ferguson has done something never previously achieved.
The Double-Double.
[cheering]
[Alex] Winning was always based on my own attitude to failure.
You have to treat losing as part of the progress.
Throughout my life, a defeat or a failure
sparked something inside you.
That I did something about it.
As human beings, you have to understand
that adversity is part of your life.
And when it happens...
you find yourself.
[announcer] Watford won. To Old Trafford then,
where Ian Dennis will be watching Manchester United against Wolves.
[announcer 2] And Manchester United have made four changes...
[announcer speaking indistinctly]
[Alex clears throat]
The Club were going to make, uh, a presentation to the fans
that I was back, you know.
And I think,
the dilemma I had in my own mind was going in front of 75,000 fans.
I'm a bit nervous. Well, not nervous, but you know.
Sort of a...
How do you put it?
Tense I don't know... maybe.
[Alex] In the recovery part...
I was starting to get these dreams and repeated messages.
Like a recorder.
I had this song, kept going through my head.
[humming]
All the time.
And then there was another one.
"And Beckham crosses, and it's a goal,"
going through my head every night.
I don't know why that is.
I can't explain that.
Maybe Barcelona.
[Alex humming]
[humming continues]
[chuckles] You like my singing?
[paper rustling]
What's this?
You were supposed to fill this in some time ago.
[Alex] Statement of health?
Your full name.
Alexander Chapman Ferguson.
-Scottish. -And proud of it!
Are you pregnant? No.
High blood pressure, heart attack, angina pectoris
or any other disorder of the heart or blood vessels?
No, but that's coming.
The way that team of mine's playing the now.
That's it? Right.
[indistinct singing]
[Alex] 1999.
We'd won the League again.
And we'd won the Cup again.
But to be honest,
it was all about Europe.
[announcer] Keane! Roy Keane with a captain's goal
for Manchester United!
Manchester United are in the European Cup Final.
Full speed ahead Barcelona!
[Alex] In my time at United,
my priority was the European Cup,
the Champions League.
There was an anxiety in me.
I'd won all these trophies, cups and leagues.
But not won the Holy Grail.
It's about a reward for sticking to what you believed in.
[upbeat music playing]
[Alex] This was the big one.
The mood was great.
The set-up was right. Everything was right.
Game on!
[cheering]
[dramatic music playing]
[announcer] Let's not forget however much
Manchester United want to win this trophy back,
Bayern Munich want it just as much.
They have the tradition, too. They have the expectations, too.
And they have had to wait a long time, too.
[Alex] It's something that I'd had on many occasions,
you know, that... that, um, butterflies in the stomach.
You know, you want the game to start right away.
-[whistle blows] -[audience cheering]
[whistle blows]
[announcer] Free kick on the edge of the box.
Tense moment.
-[whistle blows] -[announcer] It's Basler!
-Oh, first blood to Bayern Munich! -[crowd cheers]
[announcer] Mario Basler with a little over five minutes gone.
And Manchester United have made it hard for themselves.
[indistinct announcement]
[cheering]
[screams]
[announcer] Bayern are playing very well, aren't they?
Very efficient. They've got a game plan
they're playing at and they're sticking at.
[Alex] We were a wee bit anxious looking.
We weren't making the chances we would normally make.
[announcer] It has not gone Manchester United's way.
[Alex] They were the better team.
[announcer] Scholl. Looking for Jancker.
Looking to let the ball run. Support. Stefan Effenberg. Oh!
[announcer] It's still Basler on the ball.
Scholl taking over.
Oh, delicious chip hits the post.
You don't see that going anywhere else but in the net.
More danger now.
Scholl's there with a header. Jancker with the overhead. Hits the crossbar!
Twice the woodwork has saved Manchester United.
Last four minutes.
[Alex] They were big chances.
But... we survived.
[Alex] The Beckhams, the Giggs', the Scholes', the Butts, the Nevilles
were all brought up with a mentality
that mirror you.
Where I came from...
[men singing]
[Alex] ...stand up for themselves.
♪ We shall not be moved
And stand up for their team.
It's always been in me.
And I like to see myself in my team.
To connect...
to that history...
of self-sacrifice,
the determination.
That working-class feeling into people.
Together.
[Alex] You didn't win them all.
But you stood up for yourself.
-[whistle blows] -[audience cheering]
[announcer] We're in the last of the 90 minutes.
What we need now is the fourth official
to hold a board up with about 20 on it.
[Alex] It had run away from us.
I started to think what I was going to say to the players.
And the only thing I could say is, they were great.
They'd had a fantastic season.
I was proud of them, I really was.
It's gone against us this time, you know.
And the fourth official put the board up.
Three minutes.
[announcer] Three added minutes.
Cross deflected, out for a corner.
Can Manchester United score?
In towards Schmeichel. It's come for Dwight Yorke.
Cleared. Giggs with a shot. Sheringham!
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Teddy Sheringham with 30 seconds of added time played
has equalised for Manchester United!
They are still in the European Cup!
[Alex] It was bedlam!
That's what it was, it was bedlam.
And it was, uh, funny.
It was as if fate had come along and says,
"It's your turn, Alec."
[announcer] Extraordinary climax at the Nou Camp Stadium!
[cheering]
[Alex] Just hold it.
Calm.
Composure.
They've gone.
♪ We shall not be moved
[Alex] Another corner.
[announcer] Beckham in to Sheringham. And Solskjaer has won it!
[cheering]
[announcer] Manchester United have reached the promised land!
[man] I don't believe--
[screaming]
[man] I don't believe it!
[Alex] And when it comes to the final bit...
I don't watch the game, I watch the referee...
to see him putting that whistle in his mouth.
[whistle blows]
[cheering]
[Alex] The game's over.
The game was over.
God, we've done it.
[interviewer] Alex Ferguson, they put you through the mill, into injury time.
Almost lost the cup, and you win it. The new European Champions.
The treble. The dream come true for you.
Oh, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football, bloody hell.
But they never give in, and that's what won it.
[cheering]
[Alex] You start thinking,
where's Cathy?
I wonder where she is.
Cathy.
The period in the hospital,
I wrote letters, yeah.
I wrote down what I wanted to say to Cathy.
That's right.
"I am proud of you, Cathy, and your determination.
All your years,
you've shown great strength.
But my heart should pray for life.
I don't give up.
I was weak and lonely and miss you, your light.
My sons and you I'm proud of.
You brought up the way in control and inspection in school.
I wasn't able, but I was too busy working."
Mm. Amazing that...
It's an abbreviation of my life really.
It's maybe an apology really for not always being there.
Uh, and I think...
I think that's what the letter's about, really.
She is an amazing woman.
She really is the catalyst of all.
She sacrificed to support me one hundred percent.
Fifty-three years married, you know.
That tells you a lot, really.
You know, there's a lot of sacrifice comes into that. And, uh...
Um, a lot of patience married to me. [chuckles]
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] 1986 was the year Alex Ferguson took over.
And now another landmark year.
Champions of Europe! Champions of England!
Winners of the F.A. Cup! Everything their hearts desired.
-[Jason] Was this the greatest moment? -Definitely.
Without doubt, it was my greatest moment as a manager.
It's exactly epitomised all my teams.
And I look back and...
say now that-that was, uh, the spirit.
It was a spirit, and it was there, right through to when I left.
That night...
it showed itself.
Showed all the qualities that got you there in the first place.
They came out that night. Never give in.
Absolutely brilliant. That's my best ever.
[Alex] You worry...
you'll lose all this history.
All these memories.
But they live on.
And they'll never be forgotten.
[announcer] Old Trafford.
This afternoon we are honored and delighted to welcome back
someone who has been part of the tapestry of the history of this club.
Has won five F.A. Cups, four League Cups,
ten Charity Community Shields, one European Cup Winners' Cup,
one European Super Cup, two Champions League titles,
Intercontinental Cup, one FIFA Club World Cup,
and 13 Premier League titles!
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] The impossible dream made possible
by the greatest British manager ever.
Give the warmest of Old Trafford welcomes to Sir Alex Ferguson!
[crowd cheering]