Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed how ‘Fergie Time’ was a simple trick he used to employ during his tenure with the Red Devils, claiming that it usually worked in high-octane situations.
Man United were often rumoured to have extra assistance from match officials when it comes to injury time, and Sir Alex believes that Old Trafford turns into a different enviroment in the last 15 minutes of any match; precisely why his little trick worked all the time.
“That’s why I used to go to my watch. I never looked at my watch, I didn’t know how many minutes.
“It gets across to the opponents and the referee, which is a little trick. The thing about the last 10-15 minutes of a game, particularly at Old Trafford, you’ve got 65,000 people there.
“At half-time I always stress: don’t panic, be patient, wait. In the last 15 minutes you can do what you like. I’m a gambler, shove bodies up front, take the gamble … it didn’t always work but a lot of times it did.
“If you’re in that dressing room after the game and we’ve scored in the last minute, the electricity is unbelievable, they’re jumping on top of each other, hand-clapping, it’s a fantastic place to be.
“Most important thing is that those fans are walking out of the stadium desperate to get down to the pub to talk about, desperate to get home to tell their wife and their kids what happened at Old Trafford in the last minute of the game. And that’s my job, to get them home happy.”
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