The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson (Paperback)

Because because Crick lacks the passion (even if, as the publicity blurb tells us, he “estimates he has attended three-quarters during Sir Alex Ferguson’s sixteen years at Old Trafford”) he doesn’t really get to grips with his subject. It’s very much the work of an outsider – it smells of the executive box rather than the deep heat of the changing room.

Crick has made his name as a political reporter and has written books about Jeffrey Archer and Labour’s Militant Tendency. It shows. There is more, for example, in his Ferguson biography about Tony Blair and his press secretary Alistair Campbell than about Roy Keane, who has been arguably the most important player in Ferguson’s Manchester United.

When talking about press criticism of United, Crick writes: “The goalkeeper Jim Leighton became another target, partly as a kind of surrogate for Ferguson himself – in rather the same way that, in politics, attacking Peter Mandelson has been a way of getting at Tony Blair.” This explains nothing to a football fan who has no interest in the politics of New Labour (and judging by the rate of abstention in the last general election, that’s probably most football fans): meanwhile, a football fan who does know New Labour would get a seriously misleading impression of Jim Leighton.

Another really painful remark is the description of Lothar Matthaus as “the Bayern defender” – which, for those of you who know nothing about football but like your jazz, is rather like calling Diana Krall “the Canadian piano player”.

In seeking to expose the “many sides” of Ferguson, Crick reveals his own inability to understand the ethics and motivations of the working-class background that the Scot came from. Despite disliking Margaret Thatcher, Ferguson “has no qualms about giving significant financial support to Manchester Grammar School, even though it is a private school”. So what? Self-advancement, especially through education, was always part of Ferguson’s and older generations’ driving force.

Hence, despite some interesting information here and there (I didn’t know for example that in 1958 Bobby Charlton pulled out of a European Cup semi-final against Milan to play in an England friendly) Crick never really gets to grips with Alex Ferguson and his phenomenal success.

An effective biography of the Manchester United manager requires someone with a knowledge and feel for football – because without football, we wouldn’t be reading it, would we? Until then, I recommend Ferguson’s autobiography.

So, I set about devouring this most gargantuan of tomes with glee and good heart, only to be sadly disappointed by Mr Crick's total failure to engage the reader, show any empathy with the sport or Ferguson's achievements. Furthermore, his clinical and detached style made reading this the hardest work for the first time since I left school.

5 months to completion (my reading of, not Mr Crick's writing of !) says it all.

Interesting, but absolutely no comparison to Ferguson's own work, "Managing my Life", which I wholeheartedly recommend.

This book is purely for those all-consumed with Manchester United and Ferguson himself , rather than those eager to get an insight to one of the sports most successful and intriguing figures.