No one is sacred any more – not even Fergie and Klopp

 

It’s a disrespectful age. Statues are coming down; reputations are being shredded and the social media sewer spares no one.

And football is no different.

Two living giants of the modern game have had their post-management roles come under uncomfortable scrutiny of late.

Even when immortality beckons, both Alex Ferguson and Jurgen Klopp have discovered there’s no immunity if they are seen to put a foot wrong in their dotage.

Fergie has been stripped of his ambassadorial gig at Manchester United while Klopp is to take the Red Bull shilling to become some sort of football advisor.

“Nice work if you can get it,” might have been the reaction at a more forgiving time.

Neither seem like hanging offences and they are very different: one is being slammed for not going sooner, while the other for starting too soon – at least in the eyes of some.

Both could have done without the furore and perhaps a little background is needed to quell a few misconceptions.

Eric Cantona may not have done his homework when he typically shot from the hip on twitter, calling United’s decision “scandalous.”

“Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to do anything he wants at the club until the day he dies,” added the Frenchman.

It reflects the gratitude Cantona still has for Fergie sticking by him after his infamous kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace fan in 1995.

But maybe he didn’t know that the club had just sacked 250 staff – many of whom were low earners and long-serving – in a sweeping cost-cutting exercise.

To any rational thinker, putting those workers, who averaged £40k pa, out of jobs while keeping on a soon-to-be 83-year-old on £2 million a year for glad-handing was not a good look.

Fergie was given a table in the inner sanctum of Old Trafford to wine and dine a dozen guests of his choice at United’s expense after every home game.

Cantona might ask himself how he would have felt had he been one of the 250.

Fergie was given this privilege after he resigned as manager in 2013 and it has led to the obvious question: why didn’t he offer to quit as ambassador and save Jim Ratcliffe the trouble?

What might have seemed an admirable gesture to the legendary boss at the time, has surely past its expiry date.

And it might have backfired anyway as subsequent successors would no doubt suggest.

Fergie’s omnipresence at Old Trafford inhibited them, not least when cameras switched to the stands and his inevitable glower when things went wrong on the pitch.

As socially savvy as he likes to think himself, Fergie should have seen the opportunity to gild his reputation even further by making the magnanimous gesture.

But nope, as with United’s current strikers, it was an open goal missed.

Even worse, it has caused other examples of Fergie’s fondness for money to come to the fore.

As a trade union leader, he was at the forefront of striking for more pay and, as a young manager at Aberdeen, for asking for payments for a few extra quotes.

His hairdryer was not confined to players and could very quickly become a blowtorch.

But the most fateful example of Fergie losing not just his temper but his judgement led to the dreaded Glazers taking over.

It was his dispute with the then United owners, Irish race horse duo, JP McManus and John Magnier, who owned a horse called Rock of Gibraltar.

Developing a late love of the turf, Fergie became friendly with the pair but mistakenly believed that their gesture to allow the horse to wear his (and United’s colours) entitled him to half the stud rights.

He threatened to sue but the Irish duo, although they knew they’d win any court case, didn’t want the publicity and settled the matter out of court. But in disgust, they soon sold the club – to the Glazers.

So, things have gone full circle and the timing of Ratcliffe’s decision, coming just as United are enduring another difficult season, adds a touch of piquancy to the on-going saga.

In some quarters, nothing will sully Fergie’s reputation with United and in the football sense that’s absolutely right.

But it was his greed that ultimately led to the Glazers and the barren period that’s still going on.

It hasn’t taken long for Jurgen Klopp to arouse similar sentiments in some nit-picking quarters about his new job since leaving Liverpool.

When he was announced as Red Bull’s new global head of football, it came as a surprise on two counts.

First that he was so soon getting itchy feet after leaving burned out at Liverpool in May, and, secondly, that it was the fizzy drink empire.

Klopp has always been portrayed as a man of the people since his days at Mainz while Red Bull is seen as the arch enemy of the people’s game – at least in Germany.

So it was called a “betrayal” by Mainz fans who held up a banner last week asking, “Have you forgotten everything we gave you?”

That’s a bit harsh even for protectors of Germany’s 50+1 ownership rule and they were probably not privy to Klopp’s unique relationship with Red Bull.

A month before co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz died in 2022, the Austrian invited Klopp to one of his many villas near Salzburg to chew the fat about football.

The two discovered they were on the same wavelength with regard to attacking play, nurturing youngsters and boosting lesser lights to higher levels.

“His football philosophy is not too far away from ours,” Klopp said.

Although there was no further direct contact, Klopp had an inkling of where he might end up post Liverpool.

And with his agent Marc Kosicke close to the man who has been running the show since Mateschitz passed on, Oliver Mintzlaff, it was only a matter of time.

After all, who can blame Klopp? To remain in the game yet not have that 24/7 pressure that took its toll at Liverpool, and be able to travel the world dispensing wisdom to willing disciples.

It is perhaps a warning to the rest of us not to put these men, great though they are in football, on too high a pedestal in life – and to get our facts right.

Neither has committed a heinous crime and, to all but hardcore German fans, Klopp has done nothing wrong.

But these days even legends have to be careful where they tread. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.