The funeral was for a late employee of John Magnier’s Coolmore Stud and, if the paparazzi could have manoeuvred their lenses close enough, they would have witnessed a powerful scene.
As the mourners filed past Magnier after paying their last respects to the deceased, each kissed him on both cheeks. Magnier is County Tipperary’s horse-racing patriarch.
He has earned the respect he commands. His ferociously brilliant and bold business mind has imposed Coolmore on the racing world as its pre-eminent breeding operation, making him a billionaire.
Sir Alex Ferguson is similarly esteemed for his success and ruthlessness in his field, disposing of such Manchester United icons as Paul McGrath and Paul Ince. Used to getting his own way, he has been unafraid to pick another fight.
What happens now at United will be informed by which of the men blinks first. Neither has become a success by backing down, but one will have to. Those who know Magnier suggest that Ferguson may have met his match.
‘The inexorable force has met the immovable object,†said one racing source. ‘Ferguson thrives on his siege mentality, but he has chosen the wrong man this time.â€
A senator of the Irish Republic, Magnier had his son John Paul christened by the Pope. Yet the profile of this intensely private man does not match the stature of one who moves in such influential circles.
It is this which makes all the more significant the recent actions of the Cubic Expression investment company he and his close friend JP McManus own. The letter sent to the Manchester United chairperson , Sir Roy Gardner, last week, which Magnier knew would enter the public domain, was all the more telling for its uniqueness.
‘It is a measure of the strength of their feeling that they have put their heads over the parapet,†said one source. ‘It is not their style.â€
Though he is not used to such treatment as Ferguson’s, it does not follow that Magnier will back down. He has hired Kroll Associates, with whom he does business as security consultants at the asset-rich Coolmore farm, to investigate all aspects of Ferguson’s life.
It has been suggested that the firm planted uncomfortable questions for the Scot at United’s annual general meeting, and revelations regarding the club’s recent transfer dealings in the Sunday Times probably have an Irish provenance.
A source said these are very wealthy men and they are determined to be vindicated on this issue.
‘If they had to buy the company and sack the board, they will. They would have no difficulty in raising £600-million. If you sold it today, the horse would fetch £50-million. It reflects their fury about this that they are willing to put their £200-million stake in United against that.â€
Magnier, eyes staring darkly from beneath his hallmark fedora, will not let this go. —