Sir Alex Ferguson made one of his most personal confessions, reflecting on the serious health scare he went through and the emergency brain surgery he had to undergo.
The legendary former Manchester United manager, 40 years after the day he took over as manager of the “Red Devils,” reflected on that moment through excerpts from his new book and highlighted the crucial role played by his wife, Kathy.
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“I survived because my wife, Kathy, was downstairs when she heard all the shoes falling from the shoe rack onto the wooden floor. If she hadn’t been there, maybe the referee up there would have blown the final whistle for me,” Ferguson said.
The Scot had collapsed at home and required immediate medical attention, subsequently undergoing a difficult period of hospitalization and rehabilitation.
His account of his first return to Old Trafford after his ordeal was particularly moving.
“The welcome I received from the fans that day meant more to me than anything else I’ve ever experienced. More than Aberdeen after winning the Cup Winners’ Cup, more than the title parades with United, more even than the last game of my career,” he confessed.
Ferguson admitted that the moment had a completely different emotional dimension for him.
“I felt as if they were welcoming me back from the dead. In a way, that was true. Many of the stories written after the news of my brain hemorrhage read like premature eulogies.”
The man who defined an entire era at Manchester United also spoke about the fear of being forgotten that one might feel when stepping away from active play, even if their name has already gone down in history.
“It was an incredible feeling. Something I’d never experienced before in all those years, from the working-class housing in Govan to Buckingham. It was like confirmation that they hadn’t forgotten me.”
He added: “I know it sounds strange when my name is on a stand at Old Trafford, there’s a statue of me, and a street outside the stadium is named after me. But when you’re lying alone in a hospital bed, it’s very easy to think that the rest of the world never knew you existed.”
Ferguson didn’t know that on that day, fans had been asked to be in their seats 15 minutes before kickoff.
When he appeared on the field and his return was announced over the loudspeakers, the entire Old Trafford crowd rose to their feet to applaud him.
“I didn’t know what to do. Whether I should bow or clap along with them. But it didn’t matter,” he recalled.
*photo source: AP
