Source: Daily_Mail
PIERS MORGAN: Is this the start of the decline and the fall of Fergie empire?
Sir Alex Ferguson is a keen student of history. In his interview with the gut-wrenchingly sycophantic Alastair 'I support Burnley andManchester United' Campbell for New Statesman magazine last week, he banged on about how much he loves reading about, and picking up tips from, such great leaders as Abraham Lincoln.
So I'm sure Sir Alex won't mind me also turning to past events totry to glean some insight into what is going on with Manchester United.
Until two weeks ago, Sir Alex's empire looked unbeatable in any competition.
Their squad appeared to be the biggest, most powerful army of men ever assembled on a field of combat.
I, like many, was convinced they had a real chance of winning the first-ever quintuple.
But history tells us that when any empire reaches that point of virtual global supremacy, equally total ignominious collapse usuallylies never far away. So it seems with United.
Thrashed 4-1 by Liverpool, then stuffed 2-0 by Fulham, they now find themselves engulfed in self-doubt, bitter recrimination, civil unrest and that decaying stench that follows the gloriously intoxicating aura of invincibility.
We Arsenal fans know all about that. After going through the 2003-04 season unbeaten, our own Invincibles disintegrated faster than former RBS boss Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin's smirk after the vandals struck.
For United, though, the parallels with the Fall of Rome are a more obvious analogy.
One of the best history books ever written is Edward Gibbon's The History of The Decline And Fall of The Roman Empire, an enormous series of tomes that charts in vivid detail how and why the seemingly unstoppable Romans went belly-up.
In a nutshell, the demise began with too much money and arrogance, leading to a breakdown in the phenomenal discipline that had made the Romans omnipotent.
Overpaid, and overfed, the star soldiers grew lazy and took their eyes off the ball.
This led to stupid mistakes, a loss of their all-important fear factor and, as a consequence, increased levels of confidence in their enemies. Sound familiar, Fergie?
I watched the United games against Liverpool and Fulham and could scarcely believe what I was seeing.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a limp shadow of the goalscoring machine of last season.
Wayne Rooney showed once again the petulance that has blighted his career.
And as for Dimitar Berbatov, he is displaying all the commitment and fighting spirit of a diseased aardvark.
But for me, the defining moment that signified the possible beginning of the end of the Ferguson empire came when Fernando Torres made such a muppet out of Nemanja Vidic.
For the country's best defender to be humiliated on the biggest stage in such a way was a hammer blow that seemed to suck every vestige of imperialistic life out of the hapless Serb and his colleagues.
I wrote a few months ago that if Steven Gerrard and Torres stayed fit, then Liverpool could win the league.
And, as virtually every other football pundit still maintains that United will recover and prevail, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I believe Liverpool will win - IF, and it's a crucial 'if', those two phenomenal players remain injury-free for the rest of the season.
On a more positive note, I suspect that the decline and fall of the Ferguson empire would not have quite as catastrophic an effect on civilisation as the decline of the Romans had.
That sounded the death knell - for centuries - for literacy and education, sophisticated architecture and the rule of written law.
I can't quite see the departure of Mr Rooney, the Theatre of Dreams or United's shocking disciplinary record leaving quite the same vacuum.
And to all those United fans who will mock me when they read this, let me remind you that on their shirts, your players still have the letters of their sponsors, AIG.
Which is ironic really, because at the time that deal was struck, AIG were the Roman Empire of global insurance - a supremely successful, seemingly unbeatable entity at the top of their game.
Today, within just a few months, they have become a disastrous laughing stock, brought to their knees by greed and laziness.
They were a bunch of Berbatovs - very expensive but averse to due diligence.
Blips in football are nothing new but to blip at this particular time of the season, in this alarming way, just when your most ferocious rivals hit the form of their lives, may not just be 'squeaky-bum' time for United and Sir Alex.
It might be Time, period.
Well done, Harry, that's King's England career buriedI bow to nobody in my admiration of Harry Redknapp, who remains in my view the best England manager we haven't had yet.
But I don't think he has thought through the implications of his comments on this whole Ledley King business.
When Harry says that his Spurs star 'can't play two games in the same week' because of his persistent knee problems, I don't doubt him for a second.
Persistent problems: Ledley King (left)
But, by admitting that publicly, he is effectively ending King's England career.
We cannot possibly risk taking a defender who can't play two games in a week to a major competition.
The only way you win European or World Cups is by having a fully fit, stable team that play as a unit (particularly at the back) and can turn out for three games in a week, if need be. King, according to Harry, can't even train during the week.
He just swims a bit, has a cycle and turns up to join his colleagues the day before a game.
Then, as soon as he finishes the match, his knee swells to three times its normal size.
King is a very talented and very loyal footballer. But by revealing the full state of what a chronic crock of mangled flesh King's knee has become, and pulling him out of the England squad, Redknapp has buried the man's international career forever.
P.S.: Kevin Pietersen has been taunting me for the last few weeks about his fantastic £1.1million deal to play in the IPL tournament in India, where they worship England stars like him and Freddie Flintoff.
Now, because security concerns mean the host venue has had to be switched and brought forward, he can only play for two weeks, at a third of the money and in South Africa, where they all loathe him for switching his allegiance to England.
Oddly, KP's suddenly gone a bit quiet on the texting front.
Fans, have your say
I have been wondering who you reminded me of, with your outspoken arrogance, and then I saw a documentary on ITV last night and the penny dropped - BRIAN CLOUGH. That sneering closing image of him could quite easily have been you. MARK GUERIN
Piers says: 'Brilliant. I loved old Big 'Ead, believe he was the greatest manager of them all and can think of no finer comparison.'
What do you think about Gary Lineker and his Match of the Day cohorts? Isn't it about time they were put out to grass and some fresher, livelier punditry installed? They always seem so fatigued. JERRY COUCH
Piers says: 'No, I love them. Even Shearer. Punditry is a bloody tiring business, trust me. Zzzzz.'
After your award to Hull City's captain, Ian Ashbee, I was starting to warm to you, very slightly, but your article on Phil Brown shows that you are still a pompous upper-class lardy gimp who, unlike the hard working people in the 'wastelands of the North-East', has never contributed anything meaningful to this country and never will. Kind regards. TONY THEAKSTONE
Piers says: 'Thanks, Tony, I wouldn't like to receive your 'unkind' regards.'
David Beckham may not be your match in either intellect or education but at least he has a genuine talent. Remember John Updike's quote: 'Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.' SHAUN AMBROSE-JONES
Piers says: 'Are you suggesting that I'm a talentless, ugly, fame whore? In which case, I agree.'
