Sir Alex Ferguon decided to take some unusual advice from his Manchester United players during half-time of the 1999 Champions League final, when his team was losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
Earlier, Ferguson said he had spoken to Steve Archibald, the player he worked for Aberdeenbefore 1999 Champions League final helped inspire his players during half-time.
Archibald reached the European Cup final in 1986 but lost on penalties to Steaua Bucharest, and Ferguson wanted to know if he could tell Manchester United nothing useful for the players that will help motivate them for the match.
Sir Alex Ferguson took Archibald’s advice in his Manchester United team
“I don’t want to dwell on this matter,” says Archibald FourFourTwo. “He won the Champions League – I don’t want to take anything away from Sir Alex. Before that match, he asked me if I had any advice.
“I told him about losing in the European Cup final against Barcelona in 1986. I said it was the worst thing imaginable; see the trophy from the player’s perspective and not be able to touch it. I said I still had a sword in my stomach that needed to be drawn.
“I told him: ‘They will suffer for the rest of their lives if they lose this match.’ He said, “Fuck, I’m not telling them that – way too much pressure!” Well, you know how the finale went. When I went into the tunnel to hug him afterwards, he said, “Fuck, I told them!” There was press coverage of him delivering an epic Churchill-style speech, but he eventually explained to the media that we had had a conversation, but the victory was all his.
Archibald spent two seasons at Ferguson in 1978/79 and 1979/80, winning the Scottish Premier Division title in the second campaign. He left behind Tottenham this summer for 800 thousand pounds, even though he was still about 20 years old.
Reflecting on playing for the legendary manager, Archibald reveals how Ferguson managed to get the best out of every player in the squad, even at the beginning of his coaching career.
“It was this mental resilience,” Archibald emphasizes. “This is how footballers were brought up in his time. He had something a little different in mind.
“We were going to play at Ibrox and he impressed on you how much we all wanted it. You couldn’t play rashly – you had to go into those games and be aggressive to get away with all three points he led us to the Scottish Premier Division title in my last season and that was the first of many titles he won with the club which was huge achievement.
