Former Manchester United and Aberdeen boss Sir Alex Ferguson was not afraid to address any of the swipes that were aimed in his direction during his managerial career.
Sir Alex Ferguson was often unfazed by the noise around him, including the claims of ‘Fergie Time’ being labelled against Manchester United during their major success.
However, the admirable quality about the 84-year-old iconic Scotsman was that he would keep himself straight to the point with the ‘myths’ around him at Old Trafford.
Ferguson, who is widely considered one of the best managers of all time, showed his hand against another ‘criticism’ that was directed towards him at the Red Devils.
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Sir Alex Ferguson’s response about African players once again showed the number of myths around his Man Utd chapter
Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary Manchester United first-team squads would include players from around the world during his historic 26-year managerial reign.
Whether it was South Korea’s Park Ji-sung and Japan’s Shinji Kagawa to Brazil’s Anderson and France’s Eric Cantona, Ferguson looked everywhere for his talent.
However, the legendary Scot was unable to raise a solid foundation of players in his United squads that came from the African continent — and not for a lack of trying either.
Following his retirement in 2013 as United manager, ESPN reported in 2014 that the lack of African players in Ferguson’s teams was brought up by different press.
No matter how the myth was presented, Ferguson already addressed the reason why he was unable to have more African players among his ranks at Man Utd.
“I have nothing against African players,” he said at the Aspire4Sport Conference in Doha in 2010, as per quotes carried by ESPN.
“We need footballers and I don’t care where they come from. If they have the quality, we will take them.”
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Sir Alex Ferguson’s highs and lows with trying to sign African players showed there was no substance in the Man Utd myth
Ferguson’s last signing at Man Utd before he retired was Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Zaha, not to mention the previous four African players he had during his reign at the club.
Quinton Fortune, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Manucho and Mame Biram Diouf were all African-born players to feature at the Red Devils under Ferguson’s tenure.
The unfortunate part for Ferguson is that he never had a major African-born Man Utd star, which was only amplified by transfers that failed to happen for the club.
Whether it was John Obi Mikel’s late move to Chelsea over United or the work permit and financial issues around a Michael Essien deal, Ferguson missed out on some big-name players.
That is not to mention the likes of Mark Fish, Adam Ndlovu and Sulley Muntari all being linked with United during Ferguson’s legendary reign, only for the Red Devils to fail in their bid to sign them.
Ferguson put his case forward as clear as day and it was only circumstantial factors that prevented him from having a standout African player from the continent in his team.
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