Is Alex Ferguson more daunting than Brad Pitt?

Sir Alex Ferguson, who celebrated his 71^st birthday on New Years Eve has said that he is hoping to stick around a little longer as manager of Manchester United.  The Glaswegian has been at the club for twenty-six years and has won about a thousand trophies at Old Trafford (probably more like thirty seven but anyway) and it is fair to say that his shoes will be pretty hard to fill.

Despite the club being one of, if not, the largest in the world is it really a job that anyone would want?  Talk about a long shadow being cast over you.  It would be a bit like going out with someone after Brad Pitt has split up with them.  Yes, I’m sometimes funny and perhaps even a bit attractive but your ex-boyfriend is who?  I think I’d be so worried about those that went before me I’d be too embarrassed to get naked in front of her.  

I think that the only person with enough chutzpah to, figuratively, get naked in front of Brad Pitt’s ex-girlfriend (if you’ll come along with me for the metaphor) is Jose Mourinho.  I’m not convinced by those that get mentioned for this job by the mainstream media.  I don’t think that David Moyes has the requisite European experience and I wonder if Pep Guardiola would be too quiet, too withdrawn for the Old Trafford crowd.  

I think that after someone as bold and as brash as Ferguson can be you need someone to continue his legacy.  Mourinho is a master mind-game player and a brave forward-thinking manager he is also sufficiently full of himself to fill those large shoes and then complain that they pinch a bit at the back.  He may even be the man to bring Ronaldo back to Manchester.  I also think that Mourinho would give a damn who he was naked in front of.

Peter Stickney

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