Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager of all time and man management was one of his key strengths.
While Sir Alex Ferguson had a softer and personal touch, he was also renowned for his high standards, and the relentless pressure applied to help the team scale unprecedented heights.
This past week Rio Ferdinand explained how David Beckham and Ryan Giggs were petrified of having a poor game with Fergie on the touchline ready to berate them if they did, or worse, immediately substitute them.
Poor performances would frequently lead to Ferguson’s famous ‘Hairdryer treatment’, where the Scotsman would unleash his fury on a player with a verbal barrage inside the dressing room.
One former player has been discussing his experience of this, and says he actually enjoyed it.
Wes Brown on the ‘Hairdryer treatment’
Former Red Devils star and two-times Champions League winner Wes Brown has been speaking about his first ever experience of the ‘Hairdryer treatment’, and says he was initiated early.
Speaking to the Ben Heath podcast, Brown explained he was torn into when he was just 16, with Ferguson left disappointed by a FA Youth Cup defeat.
He explained: “He would come and watch the Youth Cup games, and we got knocked out, I played in the Youth Cup for two years, we got knocked out probably in the quarters both times, and the manager would always come to these games and watch, whether it was with [Brian] Kidd or somebody else, and obviously we got beat, and he absolutely give it to everyone.
“And to be fair we had a coach called Eric Harrison, bless his soul, who did a similar sort of hairdryer treatment.
“But I used to love it. I used to love it. I used to think ‘this is what it’s about’, you know. He wants perfection.
“He wants everybody to understand to get to the first team, he made me understand to get to the first team you need to do better.”
Brown admitted that not all players would have had the same mindset as he did, but that was also what Ferguson was looking for – to see who would rise amid the adversity and use the defeat and subsequent rollicking as a motivator to kick on.
He added: “Some people can take it, some people whinge a little bit and get upset and sulk, I used to think it was a challenge.
“As a kid you see Sir Alex as a sort of a father figure as well, and he’s someone you don’t want to let down, so you take it all in, and pretty much get on with it.”
Wes Brown achievements
Wes Brown made his first team debut at the end of the 1997/98 season before making his proper breakthrough the following year.
His first full season saw Manchester United win the Treble, with Brown making 21 appearances before earning his first England cap in 1999.
Brown also suffered badly with injuries, but still managed to make 362 first team appearances, providing an assist in the 2008 Champions League final for Cristiano Ronaldo to score.
Capable of playing at right-back or centre-back, Brown left United for Sunderland in 2011, before a later spell with Blackburn Rovers.
He was a player Sir Alex Ferguson trusted, and while he is not celebrated like the ‘Class of 92’, Brown was a very successful academy graduate, whose contribution to the club is vastly underrated.
Below is a list of Brown’s full medal haul as a Manchester United player.
- 5 x Premier League
- 2 x FA Cup
- 2 x League Cup
- 2 x Champions League