Manchester United Football Club News

• Nickname:Red Devils
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

• Ground:Old Trafford
• Capacity:68,174

Ferguson berates fragile stars

18 Nov 2009 - 16:06:21

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Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that today's footballers are far softer than previous generations.

Ferguson, 67, has enjoyed an amazing 23-year reign at Old Trafford, but accepts that managing in the modern environment provides a different set of challenges to days gone by.

He commented: "It's a different player character we've got today. The players are more fragile than players of 25 years ago.

"They are more cocooned today by their agents or the press they receive at times. They are less likely to hold their hands up and say they're at fault for things.

"If you go back 30 years ago you had a player who had a certain pride and responsibility in their own performance.

"They were less protected so they could come in and say 'hands up, it was my fault, blah, blah, blah'. That was good.

"But today they are very protected. They are more fragile than ever and that's a lot to do with the type of people who protect them, agents."