As we enter 2007 my team Manchester United sits proudly at the top of the English Premiership 6 points ahead of mega-rich Chelsea who have won the Premiership for the last two seasons.The United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reached 65 years of age on New Year’s Eve and he is still going strong with no sign of wishing to retire. Good luck to him – he is doing as much as anyone, by example, to rid us of age discrimination.
There are many factors that go into making Sir Alex the most successful British football manager. Not least his incredible work ethic and dedication.
I love the story told by Peter Schmeichel ex-goalkeeper at Manchester United. Apparently Schmeichel was the most dedicated player when it came to the daily drudge of training. Schmeichel says he was always the first player to arrive in his car at the training ground – often around 6.30 am. He says that Sir Alex’s car was already there every day and as Schmeichel says ‘The bonnet of Sir Alex car was already cold.’
I do not believe in overnight success as I have often written. One of the greatest qualities of great leaders is hard work and maintaining that work ethic when you have apparently reached the top of your profession.
Good health and good luck to Sir Alex and Manchester United for 2007.
4 comments:
Reminds me of Joe Paterno. Joe has been head football coach of Penn State (Pennsylvania)University for a long, long, long time. He was once offered a million dollar contract (a lot of money in the 1960s) to coach a professional team and he turned it down out of love for his job, the team, and the university. Joe recently turned 80 and he is still going strong. His team played in a top-tier bowl game on New Year's day and Joe had to coach from the prss box because he had his leg broken a couple of months ago during a game when a player accidentally ran into him. Penn State won their bowl game and Joe doesn't look to retire any time soon. We should all be so lucky as to be able to keep doing what we love for that long.
Fantastic story - thanks for sharing that Mike. People like Sir Alex and Joe Paterno (I had never heard of him) are truly inspirational.
Another is my Academic Supervisor Professor George Giarchi who is 76 yers old going on 18. He still works at Plymouth University and puts many people half his age to shame with his enegy and enthusiasm. Gives us all hope aye? :-)
Happy New Year to you and yours.
I dont support the reds but I can fully see why they are successful. It comes from the top, he may not be able to run as fast as them but no one can challenge the bosses dedication and work ethic.
RAC | ICS
I know am biased when it comes to Sir Alex but to me he epitomises everything we need to know about truly great leadership. He is hard working, dedicated and totally focused. If you can maintain that for as many years as Sir Alex has done at one of the highest profile jobs in the world then you must have something very special in your make up. I hope he carries on for a few more years yet.
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