GLENEAGLES, Scotland, (Reuters) – Alex Ferguson was yesterday unmasked as the man Europe captain Paul McGinley has asked to address his team on the eve of the Ryder Cup but the former Manchester United manager will be leaving his hair dryer at home.
McGinley had said previously that he had a big name in the pipeline but the secret was let out when Ferguson was seen on the course yesterday morning.
“The one thing he asked me to do was keep it quiet, we wanted a bit of a surprise for the players. But I guess it’s not a surprise,” McGinley told a news conference.
“There are a number of things that he’s dealing with that he was particularly good at that I think he’ll be a particularly strong fit.
There’s a lot of similarities, and I’ve met him a number of times over the last few months. The more I’ve met him, the more there was just such a natural fit.”
McGinley said he played with Ferguson in a pro-am 15 years ago and, after a few subsequent meetings, asked him to help out once he had been named captain.
There will be none of Ferguson’s firebrand changing room roastings, however, with his famous “hair dryer” assaults on errant players left firmly behind in the world of football.
“This is not about him being a headmaster and coming in and preaching to them. This is about fun,” said McGinley.
“The areas that I’ll be talking to the players about, him relating it to football and getting some football stories. So I very much like to think that we’re both coming from the same direction and he’s talking along the lines that I’ll be talking this week.”
Ferguson stood down as United manager following the 2012-13 season and has had to suffer on the sidelines since, as first David Moyes, and now Louis Van Gaal have failed to maintain the high standards he eventually set after his own shaky beginnings.
