Sir Alex Ferguson’s football career could have gone in a very different direction after he turned to alcohol and fell out with his father
Sir Alex Ferguson once found himself behind bars following a drunken brawl during a period when he had a falling out with his family and “went off the rails.” The Manchester United icon celebrates his 84th birthday on New Year’s Eve.
His achievements led United to surpass Liverpool as England’s most decorated football club, before his retirement following a final title win in 2013 and the subsequent downturn in the club’s fortunes. However, Sir Alex has admitted his career could have taken a very different path following a regrettable episode in the 1960s.
At the time, Fergie was a forward for St Johnstone and confessed to turning to alcohol while struggling with being left out of the first team. He was on a part-time contract, juggling work in a Govan shipyard with evening training sessions in Perth.
In the documentary about his life, ‘Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In’, he opened up about the incident and his relationship with his father. He recalled: “I was getting despondent about football because I wasn’t a first team player all the time.
“My career was going down the pan and I went off the rails a bit. I was going out in town and I started going out on Friday nights even, the day before a game.
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“My dad would say, ‘You can’t go to the dancing if you’ve got a game tomorrow.’ That’s when we fell out. It got to a point where he said, ‘Go your own way and we’ll see what happens,’ and then we weren’t talking to one another.
“For two years, between 1961 and 1963, we didn’t talk. One night I went out and I got drunk and I ended up in a fight and ended up in jail. I went to court and got fined £3. I was a bit of a black sheep.
“That period has always been in the back of my head and I have always regretted it. Here’s me with the background and upbringing I had, and I surrendered.”
Ferguson’s fortunes changed dramatically when he scored a hat-trick against Rangers, which mended the relationship with his father and marked a pivotal moment in his career.
He added: “It was the most important game of my life. I wanted to go home and see my dad because I knew he would be proud. I said, ‘What do you think, dad?’ He said, ‘It was alright, okay,’ and then he starts, ‘That’s the boy I had.’
“We were back pals. That changed my life, it was the biggest break of my life and it was the one that mattered to me. It was the most important game of my life.”
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