Cristiano Ronaldo received the hairdryer treatment just once from legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Alex Ferguson : Ronaldo | Teams coached | Young
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson CBE is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Chapman Ferguson | ||
| Date of birth | 31 December 1941 | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time and has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football.
Ferguson is often credited for valuing youth during his time with Manchester United, particularly in the 1990s with the “Class of ’92”, who contributed to making the club one of the richest and most successful in the world.
Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo received the hairdryer treatment just once from legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 37-year-old has worked under numerous coaches for each of his four professional clubs, not getting on with Rafael Benitez at Real Madrid or Maurizio Sarri at Juventus.
Insiders say it was because they treated him like a ‘normal player’, where Ronaldo needs to feel loved and special.
One man who ultimately mastered this was Ferguson. Ronaldo refers to Ferguson as a ‘father figure’ and the pair share a strong bond to this day. That doesn’t mean he escaped his infamous hairdryer treatment, though.
Rio Ferdinand, who won three Premier League titles and a Champions League in the same side as Ronaldo, recalled the story last year.
During the 2005/06 season, United travelled to Lisbon and the home of Benfica in a must win Group D match. Of course, Ronaldo had been a Sporting Lisbon player and was getting himself wound up for the occasion as Ferdinand recalls.
“The game became the Cristiano Ronaldo show,” Ferdinand said: “He was trying to show his skills and nothing was coming off. We lost and afterwards the manager absolutely destroyed him. ‘Playing by yourself? Who the hell do you think you are?’.”
Alex ferguson Teams coached
In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire, at the comparatively young age of 32. It was a part-time job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single goalkeeper at the time.
He gained a reputation as a disciplinarian, with club forward Bobby McCulley later saying he had “never been afraid of anyone before but Ferguson was a frightening bastard from the start.”
| Teams managed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | East Stirlingshire | ||
| 1974–1978 | St Mirren | ||
| 1978–1986 | Aberdeen | ||
| 1985–1986 | Scotland | ||
| 1986–2013 | Manchester United | ||
In October 1974, Ferguson was invited to manage St Mirren. While they were below East Stirlingshire in the league, they were a bigger club and although Ferguson felt a degree of loyalty towards East Stirlingshire, he decided to join St Mirren after taking advice from Jock Stein.
Ferguson joined Aberdeen as manager in June 1978, replacing Billy McNeill who had only managed the club for one season before he was offered the chance to manage Celtic.
Aberdeen had started the 1979–80 season poorly but their form improved dramatically in the new year and they won the Scottish league that season with a 5–0 win on the final day.
Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season, 1982–83. They had qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup as a result of winning the Scottish Cup the previous season, and impressively knocked out Bayern Munich, who had beaten Tottenham Hotspur 4–1 in the previous round.
Young
Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born at his grandmother’s home on Shieldhall Road in the Govan district of Glasgow on 31 December 1941, the son of Elizabeth and Alexander Beaton Ferguson. His father was a plater’s helper in the shipbuilding industry.
| Senior career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1960 | Queen’s Park | 31 | (15) |
| 1960–1964 | St Johnstone | 37 | (19) |
| 1964–1967 | Dunfermline Athletic | 89 | (66) |
| 1967–1969 | Rangers | 41 | (25) |
| 1969–1973 | Falkirk | 95 | (37) |
| 1973–1974 | Ayr United | 24 | (9) |
| Total | 317 | (171) | |
He grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road, which has since been demolished, where he lived with his parents and his younger brother Martin, who also became a footballer & attended Broomloan Road Primary School and later Govan High School.
He began his football career with Harmony Row Boys Club in Govan, before progressing to Drumchapel Amateurs, a youth club with a strong reputation for producing senior footballers.
And he also took an apprenticeship as a toolmaker at a factory in Hillington, being appointed a union shop steward.
Ferguson played as a forward for several Scottish clubs, including Dunfermline Athletic and Rangers. While playing for Dunfermline, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league in the 1965–66 season.