The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 260 No Drop of Sweat Will Be in Waste

"The reporters who visited the Red Devils' base were all stunned. This was by no means a team that had just won the league title. Their training intensity, their hunger for victory, and their fierce internal competition were much stronger than those teams facing relegation danger."

--Inscription

Summer is here, and while most teams are still giving their players holidays, the Red Devils have gathered their players in advance to start their pre-season preparations.

The plan was jointly made by the club's commercial promotion and team training departments, and Ferguson agreed. This long-distance plan to fly to South Africa was widely commented on, and many media believed that it was just a vacation trip, a commercial money-making trip. Flying over the long mountains and rivers to carry out commercial operations, many people regarded the Red Devils' arrangement as a leisurely trip to celebrate their success.

Keane, who had just joined the team, was not very interested in going on a leisure vacation at first. Ferguson explained to Keane that this activity was not just a simple trip, but there was a scientific training plan along the way that would allow all the players to recover and improve.

Keane boarded the plane with a nervous mood, but he soon found that his previous worries were unnecessary.

Even so, Keane was still very worried that he would not be able to keep up with the team. Keane's sense of crisis came from the first Red Devils training session he attended. He could not complete all the items in the first training session of the Red Devils, and the team's five-man match was a complete defeat. He did not even touch the ball in the whole game and was always played around by others. Even if Keane was drunk and reveled because of the successful signing, and there was also the influence of more than a month of doing nothing after relegation, it was also a fact that he could not reach the level of the Red Devils.

Keane found that no matter what little things it was, the Red Devils would do them well, far better than other clubs.

First of all, the whole team takes training very seriously and is extremely focused and dedicated. When Keane first arrived, he already felt that his teammates were very competitive. No matter what training program or game, it would always become a competition to strive for the top. Even some of the simplest strength training would eventually come to a few arm wrestling or weightlifting competitions to decide the winner. Keane quickly recognized the ecology within the Red Devils team and knew that the competition within the team was far more cruel than in the Forest team. This was of course thanks to Ferguson. The training atmosphere within the Red Devils team changed because of Ferguson. After he coached the Red Devils, the competition within the team became more and more fierce. Excellent players have always been like this, always facing competition and challenges from other players. In the Red Devils, first-team members must do their best to fight for it in order to get a chance to start. Even if the first-team performs well, they still have to guard against the new stars that suddenly emerge in the youth training camp. The Red Devils' training is close to actual combat, and even exceeds actual combat, and fierce conflicts will occur. Intra-team group matches are often a mixed confrontation between the main team and the reserve team. Whoever performs better may appear in the starting lineup of the next official game. This is sometimes more intense than playing a regular game.

Keane later said in his autobiography: "The Red Devils have many outstanding players, the strongest players in the entire league. And what I particularly admire about coach Alex is that he never thinks these players are good enough, but insists that the players train hard and constantly improve their standards. The Red Devils players have a very strong sense of crisis and do not allow themselves to be worse than anyone else. The competition here is very fierce at all times. Everyone has his own characteristics and hopes to play to his own strengths. They will fight with real swords and guns in training and internal games. The fists and feet I saw in Carrington and the scenes of killing people and horses in practice games are much more than in official games. If this place is like a military camp, then the Forest team’s training base is like a playground."

The intensity of the Red Devils' training was something Keane had never experienced before. This feeling also occurred to players like McClair. As for Pallister and Bruce, the feeling was even more sour. Of course, the Red Devils also absorbed new things, such as Mark Hughes's meticulous training at Bayern and Cantona's multiple projects. Kanchelskis from Ukraine experienced two very different training systems, but he believed that his teacher and Ferguson actually reached the same goal.

Keane was eager to improve himself, and this environment was undoubtedly the best. He quickly adapted to this intensity - compared to the difficulty and intensity of boxing training, these were much less scary.

"Why did Forest get relegated? Or I guess that's why."

Before joining the Red Devils, Keane heard a saying that the Red Devils were able to win the Premier League title because of Cantona, so he was very interested in this Frenchman. There are many players in the Red Devils who are interested in Cantona, but they are all concentrated in the youth training players. The core players such as Robson, Bruce, Hughes, and Ince are not very close to Cantona. First of all, these are all English nationals and have their own pride, while Kanchelskis and Schmeichel have their own areas of concern and are not often mixed with Cantona. In the English media, Cantona is indeed the biggest trump card for the Red Devils to win the championship. He has a different technical style and game rhythm, and some personal technical characteristics. The preparation and footwork used in shooting are very different from those of English players. Not only that, the most critical thing for Cantona is the control of the rhythm of the court and his innovative contribution to the attack on the ribs.

There are always many Cantona fans at the Red Devils training base, but they are basically ignored by the Frenchman. Cantona likes quietness very much. He usually trains alone and does extra practice alone. At most, he occasionally guides young people such as Lee Sharpe, Giggs and Beckham. In front of Cantona's technical movements with a unique temperament, the children of Class 92 of the Red Devils are really fascinated. Now that Keane is here, there is one more person to observe and learn Cantona's movements and football wisdom. It can be said that Cantona is slowly leading a new trend in the Red Devils training base. These followers of Cantona are increasing. They are attracted by the unique temperament of Cantona, which is a mixture of elegance and rebelliousness, and a mixture of quietness and rudeness. They are impressed by Cantona's mysterious ability to dominate the team's rhythm and lead the team to victory.

Keane wanted to understand what kind of person Cantona was and why he was successful at both Manchester United and Leeds United. Keane initially thought that Cantona was a wandering soul. Cantona had joined numerous clubs but never settled down, and Keane didn't think Cantona would consider Manchester United as his final destination.

Keane found that Cantona was always eccentric and had a very special temper. Cantona was alienated from everyone in the team, except for the head coach Ferguson. Cantona was not even satisfied with Schmeichel's arrogance and stupidity, and did not want this rough Dane to direct his training. Cantona and Schmeichel had many conflicts in training, and they almost broke up completely several times. He also used his own set of warm-ups before training, and Ferguson and Kidd did not seem to care too much. His dribbling and passing were always different from those of English players, and unlike Eastern European players like Kanchelskis, Cantona's assists and shots were full of unique artistic inspiration and unique wisdom.

In Keane's eyes, Cantona always stood up on the high collar of the Red Devils jersey, with a mysterious aura. Cantona always held his head high and looked confident, as if he was the ruler of the stadium, controlling everything. This was even more obvious at Old Trafford, the home of the Red Devils. This was his stage and his territory. He loved this place, and the fans loved him too. This atmosphere would allow him to dominate the stadium, and even the opponents would cooperate with him in his performance.

Most of the Red Devils' players like Cantona very much and always trust him blindly. They always think that there is nothing that Cantona can't handle and he can always solve all the problems and bring victory to the team.

Keane's observation was very intuitive. "Cantona rarely participated in our defense. He had privileges. His privilege came from the fact that every time the ball came to his feet, he could always change the situation on the field like magic - he would seize any opportunity, even the opportunity that was not an opportunity, and then "bang", the ball went in and we won. I have never seen anyone who can play like him. He always controls the ball with great ease, passes through people gracefully, shoots with great spirit, or makes a precise and gorgeous pass, or a fatal assist."

"I can only say that I am deeply shocked. Eric is a person who strives for perfection, both on and off the field." Keane concluded, and then quickly made up his mind to learn from Cantona.

Ferguson also publicly called on everyone in the team to learn from Cantona and learn from the Frenchman in various aspects. Ferguson most hopes to see everyone be like Cantona, never satisfied, and able to fight bravely. Ferguson knows that Cantona has brought about the trend of continuous training in the team, and now he hopes that everyone will have the self-requirement of continuous improvement. Ferguson said: "Everyone look at Eric, he won the league championship at Leeds United, and then came to us and won the league championship again. He always keeps moving forward, and is never satisfied with small successes like those guys who have no enterprising spirit. Our entire team must have this spirit, continue to move forward to the championship, and continue to strive for more honors!"

"You guys, don't be like those little guys in the youth team. They got carried away after winning the FA Youth Cup for just one season and couldn't even defend the title. They are rubbish! If they don't change this bad habit immediately, there is no hope for them to enter our first team! Absolutely not!"

Cantona didn't mind being a role model, but he still found Keane special. This was the first main player who took the initiative to ask for extra training with him since he joined the Red Devils more than two years ago. The young guys in the youth team didn't have the courage of Keane. Cantona said: "Many people say that it is very rare for Keane to show me kindness, but I don't think so. I didn't know him before, but he took the initiative to ask me to train with him and complete some extra projects, which I really appreciate. At his age, it is the best time to continue to improve his skills, and taking the initiative to train is very important."

Cantona said: "I am very happy to see Keane's continued progress in the Red Devils. After easily completing all the team's training programs, he would specifically choose Lee Sharpe, Giggs, Kanchelskis and other attacking players to practice together. Those guys were impatient and hid away in a blink of an eye. After that, he had to come to me specifically to let me practice against him. I have to say that he is an active guy, very competitive and demanding of himself."

In the attack and defense training, Cantona praised Keane for his remarkable progress. "This guy is very smart and hardworking, and he has a very strong will and tenacity. He must reach the best standards. He is very fast and has a high arrival rate. Every time I get rid of him, he always thinks about it and figures out some details, which will cause me more trouble next time. I have to say that his feet are strong and his body is very resistant to collisions. He is almost like a shadow following you, although many times he blindly chases the ball, but these can be improved with experience. In the big family of the Red Devils, what is least lacking is experience. Robson, Ince, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, Mark Hughes... They can all provide enough experience and various lessons."

Ferguson wanted the competition within the team to be more intense, and he wanted the whole team to consciously examine their own shortcomings and consciously work harder. He severely criticized the youth team this summer, which scared the entire youth training camp. The reason for this was that these young men had developed some pride and underestimated their opponents, and some bad signs appeared.