Premier League - Ferguson attacks BlatterEurosport - Tue, 28 Oct 14:59:00 2008
Sir Alex Ferguson has launched a vicious attack on Sepp Blatter, likening the FIFA president to an unhinged African leader and questioning his credentials to serve as chief of the game's ruling body.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, the Manchester United manager spoke candidly about Blatter's comments on Cristiano Ronaldo's failed move to Real Madrid, in which he compared the 23-year-old's plight to that of a slave.
"I think Sepp Blatter is in danger, or has reached a point where he is being mocked within the game," Ferguson said.
"Whether he's getting too old, I don't know. But these things happen to people in power. Look at some of the despots in Africa. From a position of great power, he has uttered so many ridiculous statements that he is in danger of seriously damaging his credibility.
"When he came out with that stuff it created a furore and rightly so, the year after the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of slavery."
I can't remember the correct order, but wasn't it C. RONALDO who 1. either initiated use of the term slavery in the way Man U was handling proceedings or 2. C. RONALDO endorsed comments that he was indeed being treated as a slave.
Ferguson said the Ronaldo saga is thankfully now over, but he remains aggrieved at the manner in which Madrid approached the situation and the underhand tactics they employed in an attempt to sign the FIFPro World Player of the Year.
"When we sold Gabriel Heinze to Real Madrid we knew it was going to happen, because Ronaldo is very close to Heinze," he said.
"I knew what they were doing. I don't believe they were interested in Heinze - good player though he is. The endgame was to get Ronaldo.
According to published reports, Heinze wanted to move to Arsenal (or was it Liverpool?) However, Fergie refused to sell a Man U player to one of his main domestic competitors.
"What made it really obscene was that Madrid, as General Franco's club, had a history of being able to get whatever they wanted, before democracy came to Spain."
Ronaldo is one of a host of the world's best players Ferguson has lured to United during his 22-year reign, but he will leave Old Trafford regretting the one who got away.
The most successful manager in British football history has won 10 Premier League titles and two Champions League triumphs since his arrival from Aberdeen in 1986, achieved with help of inspired signings such as Ronaldo, Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney.
But even Ferguson can't always get what he wants. Along the way there have been players he has missed out on, and none hurt more than an enigmatic Italian whose move from West Ham fell through in 2002.
"Paulo Di Canio would have been capable of becoming a truly great player at Manchester United," Ferguson said.
"I mean, he was a great player, but when you have a player like Di Canio, who expresses himself as an individual, like (George) Best and Cantona did, and (Ryan) Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo and (Dimitar) Berbatov do.
"We make heroes quickly here. Di Canio could have been in that category."
