He is extremely controlling. Wants everything his way. What Beckham should wear, how he should cut his hair, how many days he should spend on his honeymoon, who should he marry and who should he not be with … Is this OK for you? And he would get away after physically assaulting him? For SAF, everything was always about himself.
Arsene Wenger on the other hand is so different. He only controlled what people ate (and that too, through education and not “enforcement”). I never hear any such stories about him. He too was a winner, wasn’t he? But completely different style of management.
Seems Ferguson controlled through fear while Arsene Wenger coached through love.
Both are wonderful managers nevertheless.
In one of Beckham’s interviews he said that once, when he scored a goal from halfway, Sir Alex told him to immediately go to the teams bus and avoid interviews. That is something you can understand and respect, as I can tell SAF was trying to protect David from the media. But, of course, being extremely controlling is definitely not OK.
I agree with you … That does sound like he was protecting Beckham from saying something “inappropriate” in the moment or something like that.
But man, that was his moment, wasn’t it? I can also see SAF not wanting the spotlight go away from him.
Guess we would never know his actual intentions.
I’m thinking positively - to protect David. The media has drained the confidence out of a lot of players and SAF is an experienced manager.