What I learned from Fergie

ALEGACY can be pieced together from the learning. Alex Ferguson brings his Champions League-winning Manchester United side to Pittodrie on Saturday to mark 25 years since the Cup Winners Cup success that delivered him the first of four European successes in a, so far, 31-haul of major trophies.

Ferguson, as he has in every posting, made an indelible mark on those he came into contact with at Aberdeen. It is no coincidence that every one of the players who started in Gothenburg against Real Madrid would later coach, the majority occupying senior management positions. Mark McGhee, who has piloted teams for 17 years, is a prime example. Yet what he drew from the experience of working under the British football manager who has no equal proved profound for his playing career.

"Alex taught me what it was to be a centre-forward; he defined the role for me," says the Motherwell manager. "Up till that point, I played off the cuff. I thought my game was all about running with the ball, beating players and scoring goals. On the days that wasn't working for me, I wasn't in games. He made me understand there was more to it than that.

"He impressed on me that to contribute as a team player, I had to hold the ball up and bring in others; put myself about and so make an impression even if I wasn't playing well. He was very specific. I had to win the first header, make my target getting on to the first ball played up. The career that I went on to have was down to that sort of instruction. I'm not saying I was never again anonymous in games; that would happen. But from working with him, on those occasions I was at least anonymous trying to do the right things."

In the Ferguson ethos, doing the right thing extended beyond the football arena. John Hewitt famously scored the winner in Gothenburg. He says it can be summed up in one word what he learned, above all, from his former manager: discipline. "That was a major factor for me," says the Aberdonian. "He struck the right note when it came to our responsibilities as professionals outside of playing – how we conducted ourselves in public and how we represented the club in the press were not taken lightly.

"He was especially keen to impress on the younger players the standards demanded. He taught us about being human beings as well as footballers. We listened because he was such a great motivator and on his way to become the best manager this country has ever produced."

Ferguson hasn't achieved that by winning friends as well as influencing people. Aberdeen winger Peter Weir was twice signed by him, arriving at St Mirren just as he left the club in 1978 before linking up again with him at Pittodrie three years later. "He bought me twice and I played under him for six years so must have done something right," laughs Weir. But it was the "abrasive" fashion with which Ferguson would tell him he had done something wrong that provides the basis for the character building he extracted from the unforgiving environment constructed by "a great man and some guy".

"I learned how to handle myself," says Weir, who now oversees the club's youth operation in the central belt. "Some big players couldn't do that, they couldn't deal with him giving you a roasting and playing you off against team-mates. It wasn't easy, and during the times when results dipped, it was really difficult."

Lenny Taylor was a youth coach at Aberdeen at the time of the Gothenburg triumph and now heads up the club's youth development. Working with Ferguson taught him that strong-arm coaching was far more complex than simply employing bully-boy tactics.

"We hear plenty about his 'hairdryer' approach but it was incredibly instructive to me to see how he used this astutely to serve his high degree of inter-personal skills," Taylor says. "He wouldn't accept standards falling beneath a very high level and motivated people not by saying nice things but challenging things.

"He showed me the level of dedication it requires to be top of your game. Only a couple of days after he joined, our under-15s were playing a Scottish Cup final in Ayrshire. He made sure he was there and that was a measure of him. He took a great interest in the players we were signing, always encouraging us to watch them and find out about their character from school reports.

"But he also made me aware that as well as determination, desire, will and leadership qualities, possessing a great sense of humour is a tremendous asset at the highest level in management. You need the whole package and he showed me you can have that without forgetting your roots. Years after he left, I retired as head teacher at St Machar's Academy and he came along and spent the whole day talking to the pupils and engaging with the teachers, all on the understanding it would be a private visit."

Neale Cooper, now assistant manager at Peterhead, believes such "focus" cuts to Ferguson's core and working under him he learned quickly how fundamental that was to prospering. "The old saying 'fail to prepare, prepare to fail' could have been coined by him," Cooper says. "He was so amazingly thorough in all aspects of his preparation. You might always try to be your own man in management, but you could only learn the right things to do from Ferguson. He is the master and has proved that."