Paul Ince and Sir Alex Ferguson pictured in April 1995 had a difficult relationship. was ever loaned to Manchester United but he played a fundamental role in the club's history and the first trophies for Sir Alex Ferguson, ensuring his survival as a manager. Seeley played in four cup finals for United, including the 1990 FA Cup Final replay when Ferguson turned down goalkeeper Jim Leighton after the team narrowly avoided defeat to Crystal Palace in the first game.
Years later, his son Joe was given a box with an audio system. tapes of memories that his father recorded with a family friend. Of these, author Tim Rich recreated the voice of Les and wrote one of the football books of this year or any other, In Days Like These: The Lost Memories of a Goalkeeper.
He talks about football life before the great transformation of the Premier League and offers a striking look at the chaos — and genius — of Ferguson's struggle to restore United to greatness.
Les Seeley celebrates Manchester United's goal against Charlton Athletic in the 1994 FA Cup Sixth Round. Photo: Colorsport/Andrew Coey Ferguson tells Seeley he will replace Leighton in the 1990 FA Cup Final replay at the post-match party after the first game
We were terrible at Wembley, played off the field with Crystal Palace. Defensively, we can't be worse. I'm looking at Jim Layton. He looks like he's been through torment. He didn't play very well, but the waves of attacks from Palace pushed United's defense to the limit.
We needed to win. United finished 13th this year, as they did the year before. Ferguson served four years. He knows it. As is the chairman, Martin Edwards. As are the players. Jim thinks Ferguson has lost the locker room. I don't know, I haven't been here long enough. Perhaps some of the outcasts are wondering what it would be like with another manager.
Anyway, I'm going to have another drink when Ferguson comes up to me.
“And you? Do you know that your loan has expired?»
“Yes, I knew. Sorry, I'll skip the replay.»
«Do you want to participate?»
«Of course. If the club wants me to participate, I'll help in any way I can.»
«Don't worry, you'll be fucking involved.» Then he leaves.
Seeley hugs Ferguson after winning the 1990 FA Cup Final replay. Credit: Getty Images/Bob Thomas After losing the 1991 League Cup final, Seeley suffered a gash in his knee but is desperate to play in the European Cup Winners' Cup final 24 days later. There is no anesthetic. “Be careful, doc,” I say as the first stitch is laid. “Les,” he says, “you did your job. Now let me make mine.»
By the time the flight to Manchester is announced, I can't take it anymore. I lie down on the floor while someone calls for an ambulance. No one from Manchester United stays with me, everyone boards the flight. Elaine [Les's wife] stays in the empty departure hall and holds my hand. The pain is already indescribable. By the time the paramedics give me gas and air, I'm already in tears of agony.
By midnight, I'm being prepared for surgery. When I wake up, the surgeon is still there, standing at the edge of my bed. He whispers, «Who's lucky then?» He says that at Wembley they sewed me up with mud and grass inside the wound. Washing the knee took one and a half liters of saline solution. There was pus in the joint, and my blood became infected.
“Let me tell you what would happen if you got on that plane,” he says. “It would delay the operation. It is more likely that the pressurized cabin would have strengthened everything around the wound, and you would have had to amputate your leg. In the worst case, we would have buried you.”
In April 1993, United beat Norwich 3-1 and fell one point behind the leaders Villa, but Paul Ince missed the chance to play Eric Cantona< p>As the players rumble down the corridor to the away dressing room, Ferguson waits by the door. When each red shirt arrives, he pats them on the shoulder. Paul walks in and Ferguson says to him, “I'm disappointed in you, Ince. When the hell are you going to learn to look up when you run?»
Considering he scored one of Manchester United's season goals, Paul looks like he just got hit. He lunges at his manager, who stands his ground. The locker room is divided by a treatment table. On one side, Paul is being held down by four of his teammates, yelling, “If you think so, why don't you sell me, are you with…? Then go on fucking sell me. You don't have that fucking bottle, do you?»
On the other hand, Ferguson straightened up, clutching the table and refusing to take a step back. They look at each other, two bulls fighting for control of the herd. Nobody moves. Second by imperceptible second, the crisis begins to deflate. Steve Bruce says: «May I remind everyone in this room that we just beat Norwich 3-1?» Paul sits down. The manager leaves to give his press conference.
A few days later, Ferguson is sitting in his office on the Cliff [training ground] when he sees a rifle barrel sticking out of a crack in the door and slowly swinging open. Here's Paul, aiming a double-barreled shotgun straight at Ferguson's chest. They look each other straight in the eye.
“Don't worry, Grandpa,” Paul smiles. «It's not loaded.»
Ferguson and Ince in happier times Photo: Popperphoto/Harry Goodwin/Paul Popper Champions United could double for the first time in 1994, and the FA Cup final would be Bryan Robson's last game
The day before the final, the manager called Robbo to his hotel room and said he could go out and have a drink because he wouldn't be participating at all. It was a choice between him or Lee Sharpe on the bench and Sharpe had a future at Manchester United, though not that great, as it turned out. Ferguson even tried to give him money to pay for the drinks. Robbo pushed the notes away. He didn't need them and didn't want them.
We destroyed Chelsea. There were three of us, and 20 minutes remained before the game. Bryan could have stepped onto the field in the last 15 minutes, taken a bow, lifted the FA Cup for the fourth time and headed back to the North East. We don't often get what we deserve, but this should have been his.
Other rules for Canton
He is the only person in the United dressing room who has never felt the fury of Ferguson's tongue. Even when he plays badly, the manager never tells him anything, almost never gives instructions. Usually he is simply told to continue his game. Ferguson seems to be genuinely wary of him, as if he knows that Eric has turned his back on so many people in his career. He does not want to be next, so he is indulged.
When Ferguson's eldest son, Mark, gave him his first grandson, the manager was visibly thrilled. He almost missed practice, and when he opened the locker room door, Brian McClair turned to him and asked: “How is little Eric?”
Eric is full of contradictions. The image he projects onto the field with his collar up is that of a lone man. He's not like that. If the team leaves, you will usually find Eric with us. He's having a good time and given the pressure he's under, I'm not surprised. His car is small, unpretentious, dirty and shabby. Looks like he's turned into something. However, he told me that at home in France he had a blue Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible and a Harley-Davidson. Both, according to him, are faultless and are stored in the garage.
Fergie's tirades in Russian
The club hired an interpreter for Eric and Andrey Kanchelskis named George Scanlan, who was a professor at the University of Liverpool and was fluent in French and -French. Russian. He was the official interpreter for the Soviet Union national team during the 1966 World Cup.
If the manager wanted to point out something specific to one of them, or to tease Andrey, they were taken to a side room with a prof, and if the manager started yelling, George would raise his voice at him. You could just make out a stream of words that you couldn’t understand, and someone behind you said: “What does “f—off” mean in Russian?”
Again in European competition — now in the Champions League — for the first time since 1968, United score away goals against Galatasaray in 1993. But that's only half the story
Les Kershaw, United's chief scout, told us that Galatasaray would not give us any problems; they were the weakest team in the tournament. Nobby Stiles, who was now United's youth team coach, wasn't so sure. He told us that they were not as bad as people imagined. It will be difficult for the Turks. Kershaw told Nobby that he was talking nonsense. “We can handle it,” he said.
[For the return leg] The scenes at the Istanbul airport were beyond our imagination. We were bullied, we were pushed, we were threatened. I felt a jolt in my back and heard a heavily accented voice saying, «To hell with Manchester.» I turned to face him, waving a rolled-up copy of Autotrader over my head. We looked at each other for half a second, mutually acknowledging how ridiculous this was, before our guards pushed me and my teammates towards the exits.
In the tunnel [after the game] Eric gets hit on the back of the head with a police baton. Bryan Robson turns to intervene and gets hit in the forearm with a shield. He needs four or five stitches. Once Eric calms down, there is perfect silence. The manager left for the press conference. Then someone—Steve Bruce, because he's always rallying troops—says, «Change and get on the bus?»
There was another row between Styles and Kershaw, ending with United sacking Nobby, who was right about Galatasaray. They left Les. Nobby said United would never win the European Cup playing this way. The fact that he was actually part of the team that won the competition didn't seem to matter much. In fact, when he mentioned it, it was blamed on him.
Fergie's philosophy
We were having coffee in the hotel one day before an away game, and Ferguson told me that once he decided to get rid of a player, he never changed that decision. He never walked down the halls contemplating a decision. “You can't go home and worry about a player, what's going on with him or his wives and families. You have made a decision,” he said. “You did it for two reasons. First, you did it for yourself, because players who are not good enough or not motivated enough will fire you. But mostly you did it for the club. It's business, football, and if you're ever a manager, Les, you remember that.”
Alex Ferguson is an extraordinary man. At his fingertips he is a football man. But he is not a good person. Ron Atkinson [Seely's manager at Villa] is not a good person either, in case you're wondering. He's great company, great laughs, but if need be, he'll stab you.
Ferguson and Schmeichel
At every club I've ever been to, I've looked at the first choice goalkeeper and thought, «You can be caught.» When I saw Peter Schmeichel, I immediately knew that this was not the case. He had no weaknesses that I could see. He was the best goalkeeper I have ever seen. And yet Ferguson teased him, criticized him in a way he had never done with Cantona.
Peter is a special person at Manchester United. He is not particularly liked. I don't think many at Old Trafford are close to him; he is simply respected for what he does. By the way, no one has the right to touch his gloves. When we go to Anfield [January 4, 1994] we lose a three-goal lead and draw 3-3. The locker room is murderous and the manager lies to Peter. He criticizes his kicking, his positioning, and even his basic goalkeeping ability. Peter responds and tells him to «fuck off» four times. I'm not surprised that Peter breaks down because the manager is ruthless with him. He tells him he's done for United and we all think that's it. The dressing room is quiet because none of us can remember Ferguson changing his mind after he announced something.
Going up to Steve Bruce, I say: this? Do you think he's done with Peter? «Nope. He's too important. If only it were Denis…» And we both burst out laughing, because the thought of Denis Irwin sending Ferguson to hell four times is too ridiculous for words.
For the first time ever one of us can understand that. remember, Ferguson stepped back.
Seeley entertains during the 1990 FA Charity Shield between Manchester United and Liverpool. Photo: Colorsport/Shutterstock Seeley visits Ince to watch the horse races on TV at his new home. Paul studies the horses walking around the arena, commenting on how they look, what they have done and what they will do. I hear a chug coming from the French windows. Harry is Paul's gardener. He has a big gas mower and creates nice straight green lines. You can play tennis on it.
As the horses obey the starter's orders, the growl gets louder and Paul continues to look over his shoulder. As the race nears its climax, Harry stands right by the French windows trimming the edges, the noise drowning out the commentary. Paul jumps up, throws open the windows and yells, “Harry! If you don't turn that thing off right now, I'll make you eat it.» Then he runs out into the middle of the garden, looks up at the sky, and yells, «In the first place, I never wanted a goddamn lawn!»
An impossible task to throw off Schmeichel
At half-time United lose 4-0 to Sheffield Wednesday [March 16, 1994] and as we go down the tunnel the manager tells me 'I'm going to put you in the second half'. As he explains his decision to Peter, another fight breaks out. Peter stands up, «I'm not fucking okay with this.» All of a sudden, this looks like another argument that is going to get completely out of hand. Before that happens, Ferguson steps back and mutters an apology to me.
[Following United's 1-0 defeat at Wimbledon on April 16, 1994] Ferguson went up to Peter and said, 'I don't know. if I choose you next week. That's enough for me. You make mistakes every fucking week. The following week, the Manchester derby took place at Old Trafford. Of course, Peter was chosen. United won 2-0.
The fact is that Peter always wants to play, regardless of the state of the season and the opponents. In October [1994] we played Leicester at home in the League Cup. Before the match started, I was fucking in one of the urinals when the manager came over to use the facilities. Standing next to me, he said: “I was going to play with you tonight, but you know what the hell happens to Schmeichel when you ask him to leave. I'm so sorry.»
Days like this: Quercus' Tim Rich's Lost Memoirs of a Goalkeeper is out now in hardcover at a suggested retail price of £20.
Свежие комментарии