Alex Ferguson My Autobiography (40 page)

We prepared meticulously for the 2011 Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley. Plans don’t always work.

The best team I ever faced. The great Barcelona side of 2011.

What better man could you have beside you than Bobby Charlton? He was a loyal and wise friend to me.

It’s not an old bus stop, it’s The Cliff, our training ground until 1999. Scholes and Giggs travel back in time with me.

Lyn Laffin, my indispensable P.A., helps me with the daily mountain of admin.

Daid Gill was the best chief executive I worked with. Straight-talker; knew the game; always loyal.

Read all about it. Phil Townsend, our communications director, talks me through the day’s papers.

Staff numbers increased enormously in my 26½ years at the club. I valued them all. Here I am with the laundry team.

Albert Morgan, kit man, friend and wisecracker, in the Old Trafford changing room, August 2011.

Edwin van der Sar was one of the great goalkeepers of the last 30 years. I should have signed him earlier.

David de Gea, a magnificently athletic young goalkeeper, who grew in stature after joining us from Spain.

The tunnel of love. Making my way to the pitch, Old Trafford, August 2011.

The one-time King of Old Trafford, Eric Cantona, returns for Paul Scholes’s testimonial in the summer of 2011.

Mick Phelan and René Meulensteen were my trusted assistants at the end. I owe all my coaches a great debt.