He's the legend who built a managerial career on an innate ability to spot a player at the flick of a boot.
Yet one of Sir Alex Ferguson ’s first impressions of the fellow Glaswegian icon who went on to become Scotland’s record cap holder and joint highest goalscorer was astonishingly that: “He won’t make a player.”
Kenny Dalglish has lifted the lid on his lifelong friendship with Sir Alex in a new book on the giant of the dugout set to be published next week.
Ahead of his 80th birthday, Fergie: Under The Hairdryer offers an insight into the legendary manager’s unique way of operating, told through the recollections of those who know him best including Dalglish, Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Gordon Strachan and many more.
In it, Dalglish – voted last year as the nation’s greatest footballer – reveals how Ferguson was far from moved by their first encounter on the park.
But he goes on to destroy the myth that the two were at constant loggerheads during their time as fierce rivals at the top of the English Premier League.
They may have had many high-profile encounters as managers on opposite sides of Manchester United and Liverpool divide and there was the widely speculated fall-out from Dalglish’s withdrawal from the Scotland 1986 World Cup squad through injury.
But it’s back to a brutal Old Firm reserve match in 1968 that the Liverpool legend recalls his first proper encounter with Ferguson – one which more than left its mark.
Dalglish writes: “I joined Celtic in 1968 and Jock Stein took a great interest in the kids and used to move us about so we all played in different positions to add to our experience.
“You were sometimes playing in a position you didn’t really want to play in and that’s why at Celtic Park, in a reserve game against Rangers, I found myself at centre-half up against Fergie.
“I don’t think I ever got off the floor to win any headers, which is no surprise when you look at the difference in our physiques.
“The biggest thing I can remember was Fergie using his elbows at every opportunity. They were a real nuisance. But we still ended up winning the game even though I can recall him not being too complimentary about me, telling someone, ‘That wee fat boy won’t make a player’.
“Despite that he has always been someone I can approach and talk to about many subjects.”
Dalglish’s association with Ferguson, who only three years ago battled back from brain surgery after suffering a haemorrhage, harks back to their Glasgow roots where his father-in-law taught Ferguson the ins and outs of the pub trade after the then-Rangers striker bought a bar with one eye on the future.
But it was in the dugout that his career famously exploded into worldwide fame with Aberdeen and United.
Between them they won an incredible 17 English top-flight titles.
But despite the rivalry there’s always been a deep-down respect. Dalglish continued: “When he was manager of Manchester United he was a fighter and he displayed similar qualities in fighting back to health from his brain haemorrhage a few years back.
“What I liked about him most as a manager is that he stood his ground for his club and his players.
“He defended them all to the hilt and rightly so. He was always in their corners. I played under Alex for a short while for Scotland when he was assistant to Jock Stein. I enjoyed his training because he clearly knew the game.
“He then took over as national manager after Jock died suddenly and was in charge of Scotland at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico.
“As everyone knows I withdrew from the squad after damaging a knee ligament with the surgeon telling me that if I went to the finals I would jeopardise my chances of being fit for the new domestic season with Liverpool.
“It was said at the time that I withdrew because of a dislike of Alex, or wasn’t happy with the squad he selected. It was all a load of nonsense.
So too were any suggestions that we were often at each other’s throats.
“Like I said, we’ve had our disagreements, some of them played out in public, but they were always a storm in a teacup.
“We played Manchester United at Anfield in April 1988 on our way to winning the title. But on that day we were leading 3-1 only for United to come back to draw 3-3 despite having Colin Gibson sent off.
“That didn’t leave me in the best of moods but evidently Fergie wasn’t happy either.
“He was moaning in the tunnel that teams never get a decision at Anfield, coming out with stuff like that to the media.
“He was in full throttle, giving his opinions to a radio man, and I heard him when I had my six-week-old daughter Lauren in my arms.
“As I passed by I said to the radio interviewer, ‘You’re better off talking to my baby. She’s only six weeks old but you’ll get more sense from her than him.'
“Fergie wasn’t happy and let out a mouthful in my direction. ‘Careful Alex, the baby’s a bit too young for that’, I answered back.
“But there was no feud, nothing was ever carried on.”
● Fergie: Under The Hairdryer by John Richardson is released on October 21 and is being published by Reach Sport.
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