The Succession: CQ’s Bid To Take Over From Fergie …
Does Carlos Queiroz’s admission that he wants the Old Trafford manager’s job represent quiet pressure on the Glazers to anoint him Fergie’s successor?
“It is not up to me, but it is logical that I would like to be one day the manager of Manchester United,” he told the Sunday People newspaper. “Sir Alex Ferguson still has a great desire, even more so after winning the title. He wants to go one step at a time and has no set date for his goodbye. At the moment it is ruled out.”
The manger may not be talking about the exact date of his departure but the coach’s decision to admit publicly his ambition, speaks volumes. It is rare for an assistant manager to so openly covet the top job but then United’s position is unique.
Sir Alex, 65, hints that he might stay on another two seasons but then teases in the next interview that health permitting, he intends to continue long into the future. The manager’s record ensures that he controls his own destiny and there is no chance of a repeat of the 2002 disaster, when Ferguson declared his retirement a year in advance and watched with growing fury as his team crashed.
Chief Executive David Gill, uses media forays to deflect the question of Ferguson’s retirement and claims that it is not a subject for discussion among United’s decision-makers.
Last week, he said “The issue of when he’s going to go was never actually discussed because it’s a non issue for us.”
But hard as Gill tries, the date of Sir Alex’s departure is the elephant in the room commanding maximum attention, for Ferguson’s future remains critical to the planning of United’s owners. The Glazers are surely too shrewd and too greatly in debt to become the prisoner of events. Their single most important task, as far as team development is concerned, is to trust in Sir Alex judgement of his own fitness for the manager’s job, whilst remaining vigilant to any change in circumstances that presents irrefutable evidence that Ferguson should be pensioned off.
Queiroz’s newspaper comments are the clearest proof yet that, whatever the reasons behind Sir Alex’s eventual departure, the Mozambique-born coach wants to be the man to take over. After a miserable year in Madrid, Queiroz may no longer be considered a first rank candidate for the bigger European club jobs. Indeed, it is a safe conclusion that at 54, the coach sees taking the helm at United as his last best chance of steering a major club. Was it this desire and a certain impatience perhaps, that prompted his open declaration of ambition whilst the manager is away on holiday in France?
The football tactician cannot issue an ultimatum to the Glazers that might end with Fergie privately agreeing to set a date for his retirement. Thus, denied the strong arm approach to career advancement and with no margin for error, given Sir Alex’s impregnable position at Old Trafford, Queiroz has no choice but to adopt softly softly tactics. In this context, the newspaper interview is a reflection of Queiroz’s wish that his number two role alongside the Old Trafford master is interpreted as a de-facto anointment.
“I am learning every day at this club,” he added. “I want the league and Champions League. We came close this season, so we have to take advantage of that experience to try again next season.”
Queiroz’s role in United’s title success in 2003 and last season, his close relationship with Ronaldo and the arrival of Nani and Anderson, should give the coach solid reasons for quiet confidence as to his United future. More silverware would only enhance Queiroz’s CV and make it difficult for the Glazers to see beyond the inside candidate for succession.
But Queiroz’s strategy may well require a transfer of power within two years. Otherwise, the coach could find himself flattened by ‘events,’ such as the interest of heavyweight rivals and perhaps, the clamour for Keane, if the United legend makes a real success of Sunderland’s Premiership adventure.
