Posted on 03/09/2021 4:53:13 PM PST by nickcarraway
The former Aberdeen, Scotland and Manchester United manager was quizzed about wife Cathy’s religion when he was signing for the Ibrox club in 1967.
Sir Alex Ferguson has said he let his wife down by not telling a Rangers director to “ **** off” when he asked about her being a Catholic.
The former Aberdeen, Scotland and Manchester United manager was quizzed about wife Cathy’s religion when he was signing for the Ibrox club in 1967.
Ferguson, 79, told how the club official wanted to make sure he had not got married in a Catholic chapel before he put pen to paper.
In a new documentary Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In, the football legend said he didn’t say anything at the time because he was desperate to play for the club he supported as a boy growing up in Govan, Glasgow.
He said: “Glasgow is a city where there is a divide. It’s Protestant and Catholic, Rangers and Celtic.
“I heard Rangers wanted to sign me and of course having supported Rangers as a boy and having lived 200 yards from the ground I was pretty excited about it.
“I put on my best suit and went across to Ibrox. The big marble hall, it’s quite impressive.
“When I signed for Rangers, one of the directors asked me about Cathy.
“He says, ‘I have to ask you a question about your wife. I believe she is Catholic, were you married in a chapel?’.
“I said, ‘No we got married in the registry office,’ and he says, ‘Oh, that’s OK’.
“I should have told him to **** off.
"I really should have but having supported Rangers as a boy and having the opportunity to go out and play for Rangers, you are prepared to take nonsense.
“I let myself down there and I let my wife down – that was the most important thing – because she was a devout Catholic.”
In the film, which had its world premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival at the weekend, Cathy, 82, says: “We were different religions and it did cause problems.
"That’s the way it was then so we just said we would have a civil wedding in Glasgow registry office.
“It was his boyhood dream come true (to sign for Rangers).
“My memories with Rangers weren’t very happy.”
Ferguson never played for Rangers again after being made a “scapegoat” for the 1969 4-0 Scottish Cup final defeat by Celtic.
Rangers respond to Scottish Government criticism as they reject 'lack of leadership' charge He said: “I was completely bombed out, training on my own.
“I can only assume it was because of Cathy being a Catholic. I’m sure of it.”
The documentary, directed by Ferguson’s son Jason, documents his recovery from a brain haemorrhage he suffered in May 2018.
He tells how he feared he would never speak again and lose his memory after waking up from emergency surgery following the near death experience.
Ferguson retired from the Old Trafford hot seat in May, 2013, after 27 years at the helm during which he won 38 trophies, including two Champions League titles.
Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In will be in cinemas from May 27 and on Amazon Prime from May 29.
Ping
Let it go, dude.
Ironically 1967 was the year that Celtic won the European Cup.
Too many times we dwell on what we did wrong when we should face the future and wait for the next chance to do the right thing.
FMCDH(BITS)
There is no past, and no future. Only the now...
I remember seeing a clip of Fergie, when he was managing Aberdeen, and they had just won the Scottish Cup, and on TV he lashed out at his team:
“And I’m not caring, winning cups doesn’t matter. Our standards have been set long ago and we’re not going to accept that from any Aberdeen team. No way should we take any glory from that.”
That’s why he’s the G.O.A.T.
He’s a great manager and an inspiring figure. It’s surprising to hear him voice regret over something as he always seemed to plow through problems when he was an active coach. Retirement must have given him time to look back a little. A five second moment in time fifty years ago when a guy who held power over his career slighted his wife’s religion, and he shrugged it off, bugs him to this day. Something powerful about that.
The soccer version of Vince Lombardi, who was a devout Catholic himself, and went to Mass daily.
Where'd you find that little gem? Humans are the only creatures that anticipate a future: if we don't have a future, there's no need to improve.
I think it’s time to start talking about reparations for Catholics... The suffering they’ve been forced to endure from these Church of England types since the days of the Tudors must be worth something in terms of financial compensation... For instance... Tons of Irish Catholics left Ireland for religious reasons (and of course, because they ran out of potato’s) but that religious freedom thing was also kind of part of it... Reparations should be in order.
Don’t forget to send Meagan some cash too... She’s apparently slumming it her $14 million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills... Good thing she wasn’t Catholic.
I started looking into the Potato Famine and the English role in it, and I reached the conclusion that it qualified as a “Holocaust” in every sense of the word, and that many in England wanted the Irish population reduced in order to increase their power over the island. And while I despise the IRA and their types with equal fervor, I certainly understand why the Irish would be upset with the English.
Devout Catholics don’t get married in a registry office. But yeah, he should have told the boss to F off anyway.
It was more than just “power over the island”; they wanted the land for grazing animals, and didn’t want to deal with an industrialized country growing behind them while they faced off first with France and Spain, and later Germany.
It was absolutely a genocide; Ireland exported potatoes (collected as rents) throughout the famine while the people starved. When Ireland remained neutral in WWII, England asked them, to black out so German bombers couldn’t use the lights of Dublin etc. to aid navigation; Ireland ignored them.
I doubt Lombardi would have concealed his faith (as Ferguson did in the case of his wife).
True, but it was crazy, I think finally a few years ago Rangers and Celtic finally allowed cross-sectarian players to play for them. You know how crazy that rivalry is and just how big of a deal it is.
Even though the two teams are based in Scotland, the vast majority of supporters are Irish immigrants, the Loyalists root for Rangers and the Catholics root for Celtic.
Recommend a movie on Netflix called “Black 47”.
Thanks - I’ve seen it; grim...
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