Disaster is an overused word in sport but, if there has to be a place for it in the football lexicon, it is fair to say Tuesday’s was a game that had potentially disastrous ramifications for Alex Ferguson. An early departure from the Champions League would not just have wounded his pride, it might also have wreaked havoc on his chances of making it to a 20th anniversary at Manchester United.
The Glazers might have accepted Ferguson’s explanation about Roy Keane, they might even be willing to brush over the team’s erratic Premiership displays, but it is highly doubtful that they would tolerate a November exit from the Champions League.
Just the very thought of what a Villarreal victory could have done in tandem with a Lille defeat of Benfica must have been enough to make these ”lifelong United fans” nauseous given the bags of gold that would be forfeited. Joel Glazer could be seen gnawing his fingernails and the same fears will harass his family all the way to United’s final group game against Benfica.
Playing Champions League football after Christmas has become something that United fans assume they are buying into when they pay for their season tickets and their displeasure was recorded in the final, vengeful chant of ”Keano”. It was for Ferguson’s benefit as much as Keane’s, but the manager should be equally preoccupied right now with the reaction of the American contingent who stood dolefully at the end, clapping politely but looking anything but satisfied.
Even before the Glazers moved into power the club’s annual income and expenditure were structured around reaching the last 16 of Europe’s premier competition. The new owners’ debts make prolonging the involvement in Europe even more essential and Ferguson should know enough about this regime by now to appreciate how badly Malcolm Glazer would have received an afternoon phone call in Tampa: ”Sorry, Daddy, bad news …”
In football terms the public perception of Joel, Bryan and Avi Glazer is of three American versions of Tim Nice-but-Dim trying to come to terms with the offside law. Yet their wide-eyed, Homer Simpson innocence should not disguise the fact that if United fail in Lisbon they will probably not hesitate in recommending that the manager is ushered out of the door at the end of the season.
As Ferguson can testify from his dalliances with John Magnier and JP McManus, successful businessmen — and their children — do not accumulate hundreds of millions of pounds unless they are prepared to be ruthless.
There were times, indeed, when the Glazers must have pondered whether the supporters’ faith in Ferguson is still absolute. True, the manager was applauded when he stepped on to the pitch before kick-off to accept a rather bizarre award for ”services to the Champions League”.
But within a few seconds the first cry of ”Keano” had emanated lustily from the stands. It was a chant that began in the gut and quickly swept round the stadium. And when it died down, it began again. At the final whistle it felt like a massed show of dissent against the man who had precipitated the captain’s departure.
Look closely and it was possible to make out Keane’s name emblazoned across the back of supporters’ tops. T-shirts proclaiming ”Keano — Legend” were for sale on Sir Matt Busby Way and television reporters scoured the forecourt for someone to lament his absence. They did not have to look too hard either before or after the game. Keaneites jostled one another out of the way to have their say. ”The problem,” observed one, ”is that Keane’s standards are higher than Fergie’s.”
One certainty is that Keane would have been distinctly unimpressed with the sterility of United’s attacking thrusts. Ferguson tried to argue that ”it wasn’t a bad performance”, but his side have not scored in seven of their past eight Champions League ties. If they lose to Benfica they will suffer the ignominy of finishing fourth in Group D and not even qualifying for the Uefa Cup. Not that rubbing shoulders with Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough would feel like much of a consolation anyway.
”I’m optimistic,” Ferguson said unconvincingly. ”We’ve been in this position many times before.” But if he is to convince the Glazers he is still the right man to lead United forward, there may have to be some harsh words behind closed doors, even in Keane’s absence. — Â