Mind Games

In light of Rafa Benitez's recent comments about Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, the papers have gone to town talking about how the Scot is 'master of mind games', how the pressure is clearly getting to Benitez, and how this is all part of some grand scheme to break Liverpool psychologically. A quick persual of google news (one of my favourite pastimes) reveals that currently, 569 online newspapers are running stories containing "ferguson+mind-games."

The top result came from The Times, and strikes me as one of the most ridiculous and lazy things I have ever read. And to think that people actually read this stuff:

Sir Alex Ferguson: master of the mind games

Sir Alex Ferguson’s psychological warfare against his rivals has become a hallmark of his reign as Manchester United manager. Here The Times takes a look at some of the exploits from the master of the mind games down the years.

Before we even get started, whenever I hear a description of Ferguson as being 'master of mind games' I always picture him casting spells in a cave somewhere in the highlands, dressed in a wizard's robes and laughing demonically as he puts a hex on another title bid by Liverpool.

Question: aside from the Keegan incident in 1996, which was very much a case of a man under huge pressure cracking at the climactic moment of the season (with Fergie's comments serving as catalyst), can anyone think of just one other vaguely similar example? Sure, Ferguson has spoken out in the press about other managers, in the way that tends to happen in the Premiership. How is Ferguson having a go at someone construed as 'mind-games', whereas when Phil Brown or Steve Bruce does it, it's described as an 'astonishing rant' or the like? Anyway, back to the Times article.

May 1996: The sight of Kevin Keegan, then in charge of Newcastle United, finally succumbing to Ferguson’s mind games with his infamous, “I’d love it if we beat them — love it!” rant live on Sky Sports ranked No 17 in Channel 4’s list of the 100 Greatest British Sporting Moments.

I cannot disagree with this example. I do find it somewhat disconcerting that The Times are using Channel 4's list of 100 Greatest British Sporting Moments as a barometer for its importance. It finished at number 17?! Is that good for managerial rants or not?

April 1997: After Wenger had claimed that the fixture programme was extended so “Man United can rest and win everything”, Ferguson responded with the putdown: “He’s a novice and should keep his opinions to Japanese football,” referring to the Arsenal manager’s arrival from Grampus Eight, of the J-League, six months earlier. United went on to win the title by seven points.

This is a nicely acerbic putdown. It doesn't constitute mindgames in my book. Is there really a causal link between Fergie describing Wenger as a novice and United winning the league by seven points? Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wenger took charge of Arsenal in midseason and had a squad in transition, adding the likes of Vieira to Bergkamp, Wright, Seaman and Adams, but still weighed down by too many players like Ian Selley, Glenn Helder and Chris Kiwomya? Are we forgetting that Newcastle came second that year?

April 2003: Ferguson scoffed at Arsène Wenger’s suggestion at the start of the season that Arsenal could go through the campaign unbeaten. “I’m sure they’d love to turn the clock back — it might come back to haunt them,” the United manager said. Cue an Arsenal collapse during the final month of the season that handed the title to United.

Again, what is the causality here? Are we really supposed to believe that a manager as good as Wenger and players as good as Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Ljungberg, and Pires would bottle it based on one line? If that's the case, football management sounds like an easy business. Any idiot could have pointed out that suggesting your team might go throughout the season unbeaten is a lofty claim to say the very least. Fergie was just stating the obvious with a little added needle.

July 2006: Andriy Shevchenko had joined Chelsea from AC Milan a month earlier for £30.4 million, which prompted Ferguson to ask: “If you look at us signing Eric Cantona for £1 million and how much you’re seeing centre forwards like Shevchenko going for, you have to ask yourself: is Shevchenko 35 times better than Cantona?” The Ukraine striker subsequently flopped at Chelsea.

Are we really supposed to believe that Shevchenko flopped at Chelsea because Ferguson compared him to Cantona? Should we totally ignore the fact that he was a formerly great player, well past his prime, who had been foisted on an unwilling manager for a vastly inflated fee by his clueless oligarch owner so he'd have another Russian speaker on the staff? The latter is much closer to the truth. Ferguson was merely stating the obvious, and I'm reasonably confident that Mourinho would have done the same thing if he were in a position to.

July 2008: Ferguson sought to pile the pressure on Luiz Felipe Scolari shortly after the Brazilian took charge at Stamford Bridge by claiming that Chelsea’s present squad of players was getting old and that Scolari would struggle to exorcise the ghost of José Mourinho.
“I’m not concerned about Chelsea,” he said. “Mourinho won the title two years in a row and beat us in the FA Cup Final [in 2007], so there’s no one who can improve on Mourinho’s record really. I don’t know how far that team has got to go. Maybe [they've] plateaued in a way. How can they accelerate beyond what they’ve done.” [Sic]
Scolari has hardly set the world alight at Chelsea since and his team will lead United by only a point, having played two games more, if they lose at Old Trafford tomorrow.

This incident was the most recent. The quotes presented here are something of a misrepresentation. What Ferguson was saying was that he felt his squad, being younger, had more potential compared to that of Chelsea, as it had more players in their early 20s. Ferguson added : When you see the ages they've got, apart from Salomon Kalou [who is 22] and Mikel John Obi [21], they are an experienced side. I'm not saying necessarily that they're old because, with the modern-day training methods, you should be playing in your thirties. What I am saying is that I don't see outstanding progress in a team that's in their thirties.

Has Scolari had a slow start at Chelsea because of these comments? In terms of results, Chelsea are just as well placed right now as Man Utd in Europe and in the league. Neither team has been that impressive to date. Fergie's comments here were nothing more than a somewhat accurate assessment of one of his rivals. In the same piece he praised Arsenal and Liverpool...

I'm sick of hearing that Ferguson is a 'master of mind games'. He isn't. He got under Kevin Keegan's skin once, and we have not heard the end of it since. Is Ferguson snarky? Yes. Does he rant? Yes. Does he make disparaging comments about his rivals from time to time? Yes. Is this any different from what other managers do? Not really.