All language subtitles for Sir.Alex.Ferguson.Never.Give.In.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

-[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]

[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]