The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 261 The Youth Team is Criticized

"Some media believe that Ferguson's youth training is not amazing in general. After a few years, only Giggs can be considered a successful new star. The Red Devils did not rely on youth training to win the Premier League title. To some extent, this is true. The real success of the Red Devils Class of 92 will take a long time to wait, but Ferguson is still full of confidence in youth training. He personally supervises and cares for them, combining strict requirements with full motivation, so that the Red Devils young players redouble their hard work and use their sweat to produce fruitful results."

--Inscription

Ferguson's criticism of the Red Devils' youth team focused on their performance in the 1992-93 season.

This equally highly anticipated team failed to defend the FA Youth Cup, losing to Leeds United in the final.

Ferguson criticized them without reservation, "Your performance is rubbish. You may imagine that you have all the abilities in the world, but you don't. My team does not need fantasy geniuses, what a shame!"

Gary Neville felt his whole face burning, and the entire youth team players felt ashamed.

Ferguson had high hopes for the Red Devils youth team, and he naturally didn't want the team to give up. Once the reserve team lost to Liverpool, Ferguson criticized every player. Ferguson said: "No matter what the circumstances, no Red Devils team will be allowed to be inferior to Liverpool, absolutely not."

"What the hell is this football you guys are playing?! Not a single player took the initiative to fight, this is so shameful!"

Ferguson knew what the Red Devils youth team lacked. Regardless of whether these players had enough talent, they still needed super-intensive training. Ferguson discussed with Cantona and asked the French striker to lead these young men in some special training. Class 92 was able to follow Cantona in person, and the star personally taught them step by step, and personally explained and guided them on various essentials. The entire Red Devils youth team gained a lot.

In the Red Devils team, rigorous training is not just a privilege for Class 92, but a project that many people will participate in.

Lee Sharpe and Giggs were familiar with Keane at first, but soon avoided the Irishman. Lee Sharpe said: "I don't want to increase training, I don't want to stay in the club and listen to them talking about tactics and cooperation. What I want is a good life and colorful programs. Of course I don't resist training with Keane, I can always beat him with speed, it's that simple. But confrontation is different. We are afraid of colliding with him and carefully avoid his tackles. Even in a small-scale scramble, we don't want to face his flying tackles, as well as various physical collisions."

Giggs warned Gary Neville, Scholes and Beckham, "You must stay away from that guy! Don't fight him physically. You have to know that he is a boxer, he has received formal boxing training, and he often beats up hooligans in bars!"

Ince, the core of the Red Devils midfield, welcomed Keane very much at first. He thought he could be liberated and no longer be scolded by Ferguson for losing his position due to his obsession with attacking. But Ince could not convince Keane, let alone make Keane listen to his command. Ince wanted to make Keane lose face on the training ground, but he unfortunately tasted the iron fist of the Irishman. Ferguson intended to separate the two in the group confrontation, but they soon tangled in the midfield, which quickly developed into a scuffle and a fight.

Bruce said: "Ince is always defeated by Roy, but he never admits defeat. It is hard for people who have played against Roy not to be left with a strong impression. He is like a tank, a mobile fortress, and a steel wall. Oh, and he can also shoot from a distance. He is a heavy artillery, not to mention how lethal his kicks are."

It was normal for Ince and Keane to have problems, but Keane and Schmeichel did not have a good relationship. Irwin recalled: "At that time, everyone was unfamiliar with each other, and Keane was very polite to everyone else, but he didn't want to talk to Schmeichel, which might have angered our 'Great Dane'."

That's right, these two guys didn't get along from the beginning.

Keane was cautious when he came to the Red Devils, but Schmeichel was obviously a bit arrogant. He directly asked Keane to call him "Boss", but was rejected by the Irishman. The two agreed to compete during training to see whether Keane's shooting was better or Schmeichel's defense was more solid. Gary Neville clearly remembered, "After the training, the two guys immediately started cursing and everyone was making a fuss to prepare for the bet. I wanted to help pick up the balls, but was rejected. Keane personally picked up 10 balls and placed them about 35 yards away. Schmeichel stood in front of the goal carelessly, indicating that the distance might be too far, and pretended to be generous and moved away the equipment that served as a human wall. Then? The story took a sharp turn for the worse. Keane's first two shots hit the plane, but later almost every heavy shot was successful! 7 to 3, such a result is unbelievable!"

The heavy artillery roared and flew straight into the blind corner, and Schmeichel was stunned.

On the other side of the court, Ins, who was watching their fight seriously, slowly changed his expression.

The Red Devils' "vacation" in South Africa was very short, and when the new season was about to begin, many media who were not familiar with the Red Devils went to visit the training camp and thought that the Red Devils were all very happy and contented. They were really wrong.

The first thing that shocked everyone was the youth team. All the young players worked twice as hard, giving their all in every game and every training session, and finally achieved success.

In this summer, Ferguson's training requirements for the Red Devils became more stringent, and the team also re-stimulated a strong sense of competition. Ferguson made the Red Devils hungry for the championship again. Under the efforts of Ferguson and the entire coaching team, the Red Devils began to build a spirit of never stopping and pursuing more victories. And under the efforts of the entire Red Devils team, Ferguson's team accurately guaranteed training time, strictly enforced various training standards, carried out excellent tactical training, and built physical advantages in all aspects, so that the whole team reaped high-quality training results.

Cantona was once regarded as a madman in Leeds United because of his initiative to practice extra, but he became a pioneer model in the Red Devils. More and more Red Devils players are doing the same thing, not to mention Gary Neville, Beckham and other youngsters who always wait until the end before leaving, and Ince who feels the crisis. As for the big brother-level players such as Bruce, McClair, and Mark Hughes, they also began to try to practice extra. Even Lee Sharpe, who became famous at a young age, occasionally practiced feints and accurate crosses to turn down dates with beautiful young girls. The laziest person in the team is Pallister, who is unwilling to waste a drop of sweat. This guy is a strange flower in the Red Devils team. He claims that he can be responsible for the defense line, and practicing long-distance running and strength training is meaningless to him. He is even unwilling to work too hard in training, and always retreats after completing the task. But even so, Pallister cannot escape the training plan of the entire team and the test that everyone must pass.

The only one that Ferguson asked to train specially was Giggs. But Giggs was not willing to train hard, he was actually very wild. Giggs had become a rising star in the Premier League and was beginning to enjoy success. But Ferguson was very strict with the 20-year-old Giggs and did not give him much free time.

Giggs was extremely reluctant to participate in Keane's extra training, as he was only thinking about the colorful world outside the club. This made Keane feel that Giggs was still "very slippery", loved to play, had many tricks, and always had his own ideas.

"Giggs is like lightning. No one can stop him as long as he wants to." This is how Keane feels. "I am very happy that he is in the same team as me. I don't have to defend him in the game."

Keane did not have many opinions or suggestions for the little guys like Beckham and Gary, because they were actually not much different in age, and they all wanted to train hard and keep practicing to improve their game ability, so they often hit it off and often made appointments to train together.

Keane said: "The atmosphere in the Red Devils is special. This is a tough school. The standards they require are extremely high. Most people can't complete basic training. But as long as you can break through their standards, you will have enough respect in Carrington. We are a big family. Some players will take care of you. Bruce is usually very gentle. He will meet all your ideas and be responsible for helping you solve all problems. Although Ince has a reputation for being conceited, he will provide useful advice because he is very good in training. I only have a problem with Schmeichel. I think he is another creature. I often help him train to receive crosses. As long as I pass a bad ball, he will yell: "Why let him train with us? He is a fucking piece of shit. "

"It was because of his direct attitude that I decided to give him a little lesson in shooting training." Keane's idea was simple. He then competed with Schmeichel in 5 sets of shooting training. Only at this time did Schmeichel realize that he had really provoked someone he shouldn't have provoked, and every shot of Keane would make him painful.

Keane quickly integrated into the Red Devils team, just like Ince did in the past, or like Cantona and Davenport last season. After training and practice matches, Keane became more and more comfortable with the adult team players and won their respect.

Keane said: "I used to think that the Red Devils or the players from Liverpool's youth training were very, very good. Every one of them was Best or Charlton, but now I play with players like Robins and Lee Martin, and I feel that there is not much difference between me and them. I began to realize that they are not much better than us, and everyone has great potential. We sat in the stands and watched them play in the cup final, but suddenly they were no longer gods in our hearts, no longer out of reach. Not only me, but all of us newcomers have sky-high self-confidence. Can you imagine Robson preparing to take a free kick in an intra-team match, but being driven away by Beckham? That happens often in our team..."

Keane has always maintained a special respect for Robson in his heart. He said: "Robusson was my childhood hero. He gave me the greatest motivation in the youth team, although he may not know it. One morning, a friend called me and said that Robson wrote an article in the newspaper about the young people who were emerging in the Red Devils. I still remember the scene of reading that report as if it was yesterday. I saw Robson talking about me:'If he can't become a top player, I will be surprised.' This is the greatest motivation my idol gave me, and I was full of energy for it. It sounds like a small thing, just a line in the newspaper, but I have been unstoppable since then. If Robson believes that I can reach the top, it is enough for me."

Robson was not the only one who praised Keane and the Class of 92. Ferguson was full of confidence and constantly praised the potential of the Red Devils' youngsters. In an interview in the summer of 1993, Ferguson publicly said: "If they can't succeed, then we can all go to bed."

This interview was not taken seriously by many media at the time. People generally believed that the head coach needed to be very cautious in training young players and refuse to hype them up - but when it came to talented young players like Keane and Class of 92, Ferguson was willing to make bold predictions.

Gary was proud and unusual that many other team managers began to praise the Class of 92 and compared them to the Busby Babes. Gary said: "We received incredible praise, and when I became a member of the England youth team and won the U1993 European Championship in the summer of 18, the whole world was singing praises. I played as a right-back for the first time and was in a very good team. Five of us - myself, Butt, Scholes, Sol Campbell and Robbie Fowler - later entered the national team, and we had three Red Devils. It was an incredible achievement, knowing that we also had Beckham, Phil... and the real genius Giggs."

That England youth team defeated many strong teams, and Gary also defeated many future superstars. This meant a lot to him and his teammates. The taste of victory is happy, and trophies and gold medals will give people confidence. These young people of the Red Devils have become more ambitious and want to win more.