Sir Alex Ferguson may have once vowed to knock Liverpool off their perch - but the former Manchester United boss was more interested in knocking Roy Keane’s block off when he was challenged to improve his fitness with a bit of boxing.
United’s former Power Development coach Mick Clegg has revealed how he used to goad Fergie into throwing his hardest punches by teasing him that he would never be as adept as Keane when it came to the noble art. Clegg introduced boxing into his fitness regime after Keane told him he loved the idea of getting the gloves out at Carrington - and the manager then decided to put a few rounds in himself to keep in shape.
Clegg recalled: “Roy loves boxing. He did a bit as a kid, so it made sense to introduce it into his training. But pretty soon, most of the other players wanted to have a go as well. It got very competitive - as you’d expect from a team that was packed full of winners. And after I’d given Sir Alex a bit of stick about his own fitness, he asked me if we could do some sessions.
“I usually had to go banging on his office door to get him into the gym. Not because he didn’t want to do the work-out, but because he was so bloody busy. Eventually I started going in at 7.30 in the morning because I knew Sir Alex would be the only person in the place at that time. He called me ‘Hitler’ because I wouldn't let him off the hook.
“I used to run a boxing club in one of the two gyms I still run - and the best way to get someone to train hard was to push their buttons. With Roy Keane I would usually say something nice about Teddy Sheringham. Roy didn’t seem to like Teddy, so it got under his skin. With Fergie, I used to say ‘you’ll never be as good as Roy Keane. You can’t punch as hard as he can’ - and it always did the trick.”
Clegg’s sparring sessions with Ferguson may have even saved the Scot’s life. Ferguson was fitted with a pacemaker at the age of 62 in March 2004 after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat a few months earlier.
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Clegg recalled: “We were having a boxing session and I mentioned that he didn’t look right. In typical Fergie fashion, he told me to shut up and that he felt fine. But I was worried.
“I told him to put his hands on a heart monitor on one of the machines and I could see his pulse was spiking. We tried another couple of monitors, same thing. He was adamant that the equipment wasn’t working properly. But he just didn’t look right. Mike Stone, the club doctor, put a heart monitor on him and got similar results.
“Not long afterwards, Sir Alex underwent an operation to have a pacemaker fitted. He said in his book that he spotted the signs himself - but that isn’t how I remember it. The main thing, though, was that the problem was diagnosed and treated.”
Mick Clegg: The Power and the Glory is published by Reach Sport.
