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The shock news that Sir Alex Ferguson had quit as manager of Manchester united. No one from the club actually gave a reason but press speculation is that Ferguson fell out with the Glaziers over the sale of Ruud Van nistelrooy
Speculation was rife as who would take over from him……
Several names were mentioned from Sam alladyce to Martin O’Neill to take over the reins of this once proud club.
Several days had passed and every manager had distanced himself from the job saying they would never be able to follow in the great mans shoes.
Then on June 28th the Matlock Town secretary put a call through to the chairman’s office asking whether they could have permission to speak to me…..regarding the vacant job….As I walked into the office I could see and hear the chairman laughing loudly I asked “what’s so funny”
Manchester United want you as the manager, it must be a wind up!!
The chairman promptly hangs up, not before telling the caller to stop wasting his F@{:?ng time, With the mood he was in I thought it not a good time to ask for a contract renewal, so I sat at my desk dreaming of what would happen if it was true, little did I know the next day things would change my life forever.....
June 29th: As I walked into Causeway Lane, I noticed the atmosphere seemed different. Before I had time to lock the car the secretary comes running out “ Mr Wilson “ come quick the chairman wants to see you..
I walk into the boardroom and see the chairman at his desk with two suited men, sit down Mark says the chairman….
I take my seat “these two gentlemen are from Manchester United” that phone call we had yesterday was no joke, the colour runs from my face….
The chairman looks at me “ive agreed a compensation deal with them and if you want the job at Old Trafford you can go and wish you all the luck.
I turn to the gentleman (David Gill and Maurice Watkins) why me, why not any other manager… When you was qualifying for your Coaching badge Sir Alex noticed your potential and always wanted you at the club in some sort of role, maybe the under 18s”
Would you like the job “I know it’s premature but we’ve called a press conference for the 2nd July……
I look at my chairman and he just nods his head (probably thinking of the new merc he can buy with compensation)… I shake hands with David Gill and accept the job; the contract signed there and then £38,000 a week for 12 months…. Not a bad pay rise
2nd July 2006 as the press gather inside Old Trafford I nervously wait to be called into the press room, David Gill introduces me and as I enter there is deathly silence…..The first hand rises so Mr Wilson what makes you think your good enough to run a club as good as this…just as I’m about to answer with some witty remark David interrupts, if Sir Alex thought he was good enough then I think he is…… The next reporter so Mr Wilson what have you got to say to the fans…” I know they wont be happy and that they’d expect a top named manager but as a fan of this club myself I know which way I want the club to go, and that is to win the league and take control off of Chelsea” “now if you don’t mind ive got a club to run” with that I get up and leave…..
David walks into my office and lets me know the transfer budget and fixtures… You’ve got £7,500,000 as we have just bought Micheal Carrick.. so its not a lot but you should manage with what you’ve got. 2nd July 2006
With the fixture list in my hand I knew I had only 12 days before my first set of games…A tour of Belgium… my first game would be against Willebeck, but before that I had to think were I wanted to strengthen my team..
Martin Ferguson had just come back from a scouting trip into northern Europe and had recommended a young left back/centre back called Jereon Drost.. He plays for Heerenveen and was only 19years old... a perfect cover for hienze and Silvestre….then there was Lee Catermole an 18 year old midfielder from Middlesborough...
After quick negotiations between the clubs I made my first signings… Drost for 1.2 million and Catermole for 1.9 million, some quarters of the press questioned my choices of players but these players would build my foundation for the club.
July 14th 2006 my first match as manager a friendly against Willebeck, I decided to best way to start was with a First xi of GK Van der saar
RB G.Neville
LB P.Evra
CB R.Ferdinand
CB M.Silvestre
RM C.Ronaldo
CM P.Scholes
CM M.Carrick
LM R.Giggs
CF L.Saha
CF W.Rooney
Before the kick off I told the players to go out and show me what they can and I wished them luck,
It was strange sitting in the dug out watching these players instead of being in the pub watching them, now they were my players and there reputations lay in my hands………
As the referee blew the whistle I knew this was the start of what hopefully will be a very successful career or the start of a disaster which will cast my name into the Graeme Souness reaches of football management…. Willebeck 0 – 3 Manchester United
The game couldn’t have started any better though with us dominating the game and after only 2 minutes Wayne Rooney had thumped the ball high into the back of the net with there goalkeeper just looking like a dummy, as I raced out the dug out to comgratulate him I had the sudden urge to run down the side of the pitch like Barry Fry, but decided not to,,, it was only a friendly and the sight of the Belguim fans made me think twice…
The game panned out and we was dominating but lacked a killer touch up front… but with half time fast approaching I decided to leave any changes till later, on the 44th minute Ryan Giggs ran at the defence and did a quick one two with Rooney and slotted the ball into the back of the net 2 – 0 half time…. The second half was again a very tight affair with Evra scoring the only goal of the half on the 49th minute….so my first game ended 3 – 0 so not a bad start but I was worried about the cutting edge in attack
July 17th Whilst working out my team for the next friendly I received a phone call from Chelseas Peter Kenyon, “ Mr Wilson how much do you want for Rio Ferdinand” Not for sale…. We will offer you £15,000,000
As ive told you Mr Kenyon hes not for sale…..with that the phone hangs up July 18th Looking through the papers I notice the back page story.. MAN.UTD turn down Rio bid, just what I needed the sceptics will be loving this, then theres a knock on the door its Rio, is it true he asks, what?
That you turned down a bid from Chelsea, YES why you do that you should of asked me first. Look im the manager and I decide if you will talk to another club. With that Rio storms out and slams the door
Great the perfect start to the day, as the day goes by I cant concentrate on the forth coming friendly against Clubbe Brugge, but as it turned out I didn’t need to worry too much about it C.Brugge 1 – 3 Manchester United
The first half we was all over them scoring through Saha (3) and a penalty by Rooney (18)
With the second half commencing I brought on Drost and Catermole for the first starts and they impressed, Brugge scored with a fine goal on the 71st minute but we were too dominant and Carrick put away another penalty on the 83rd minute after Saha was fouled…..
After the game Rio came up to me and asked to be put on the transfer list, I looked at him and told him that if he doesn’t want to play for the club he can go home and play in the reserves till a decent offer comes in for him, the other players looked on in shock, I turned and told them I wont be taken for a fool and that if they don’t want to play for the club they wont its as simple as that……..
July 19th I get another call from Kenyon I noticed Ferdinand has been sent home, yes I replied…Is he injured….That’s none of your business, How about £20,000,000 for him he asks,,, frustrated with the conversation I say the only way you will get Ferdinand is if you give me £ 40,000,000. Yet again our call is ended with me slamming the phone down, god that mans annoying and to think he used to work here… what a numpty
July 21st the final game of our tour is against KV Mechelen
I decide to name an unchanged team and the team didn’t let me down KV Mechelen 1 – 3 Manchester United
The first half was quiet but the second half was a different matter with them scoring in the 48th minute to wake my players up…
But ever reliable Giggs scored on the 62nd minute and later he found the net in the 88th quickly followed by Saha in the 90th
So 3 friendlies and 3 wins but id have preferred more goals by my attackers July 22nd on arrival back at Manchester I received a call from Kenyon £40,000,000 and he’s ours yes if you’re referring to Ferdinand… Ok now can we talk to him… yes?
July 25th David Gill asks me if I was sure that selling Ferdinand was the right decision, I want a team of players who want to play not a team of whiners like him….That’s fair enough he says but have you read the paper..
Has Wilson Gone Mad is one question asked by the head of the local fan club….
David asks that £40,000,000 is yours for the transfer budget. Have you got any players you want, Darren Bent is one and Fernando Torres is the other player I want
Well let’s see what Charlton say and we’ll look into Torres later
July 26th Charlton want £10.25 million for Bent, Gill questions it, it’s a bit pricey but he was top English scorer last year and has scored a lot in the friendlies, and we all know he should of gone to the world cup instead of Walcott….Ok go for it so over the next 2 days I negotiate with Charlton and sign Bent on the 28th for £10.25 million, the fans seemed happy but still there was questions about my judgement so I told the players that there will be a media blackout till the start of the season……
With 3 weeks till the start of the season I had a lot of work ahead of me
With the start of the season fast approaching me and my assistant Carlos Quieroz sat down and started talking about the forthcoming season, looking through the squad we had noticed a lack of strong midfield talent, not saying there wasn’t any but we needed strength in depth if we was going to challenge on all fronts….
There was a lot of talk in the papers about Aaron Lennon from Tottenham moving to this club and that. Carlos had watched him at the world cup and said he would be the perfect player to fit into our team, I knew negotiations with Tottenham were going to be difficult as he was one of there best players and especially as they had just lost Carrick to us.
I tried with a cheeky £8,000,000 bid to test the water but I knew I could bid higher, Martin Jol wasn’t too impressed with the offer and said we would need to go a lot higher….After consulting my chairman I rang in a new bid of £10,500,00 plus future incentives… Two hours later I got the call I wanted and started talking terms with the player… £35,000 a week £1200 assist bonus plus a nice signing on fee of £500,000….
1st August: As I paraded Lennon to the media I could see the look of shock on some of the sceptic’s faces, how did a novice manager get a class player to sign for him….
2nd August: Manchester evening news ran a story about Lennon signing and most of the fans had started to back my decisions as manager, but there were still some hard core fans that would need a lot more persuading…
10th August 2006Manchester United v Sheff.Utd
My first competitive game in charge against newly promoted Sheff.Utd, with a the Old Trafford crowd cheering us on the bookies had me as favourite to kick off my career in winning style...
starting line up: Gk-van der saar, Rb-Gary Neville, Lb-M.Silvestre, Cb-J.O'Shea, Cb- W.Brown, Rm-C.Ronaldo, Cm-P.Scholes, Cm-M.Carrick, Lm-R.Giggs, Cf-L.Saha, Cf-W.Rooney
I decided to go for ana atacking approach hopefully causing the newly promoted Defence some problems, as it turns out Sheff Utd provided a more sturner test and with things all square at half time the crowd let me players know what they thought. In the changing room the players sat looking sorry for themselves, I told them was no pressure it was the first game of the season...
The second half was alot different with Ronaldo causing all sorts of problems for there defence and in the 75th minute he was fouled for a penalty... Up steps Rooney and with one swing of his foot he shoots the ball goalward only for him to hit the post and out for a goal kick...
Just great, it was going to be one of those days...
And it was 2 minutes later Rooney was on the recieving end of a bad challenge from former United boy Keith Gillespie, which ended his game..
I brought on new signing D.Bent and Aaron Lennon , Lennon replacing Giggs....in the 83rd minute Saha tried a specualtive shot from 30 yards which the keeper turned round beautifully for a corner.Everyone went up for it leaving only Van Der Saar in our half, As Ronaldo sent the ball into the Sheff Utd area the ball skims Claude Davis head and ends up in the back of his own net...The Old Trafford faithfull went mad and so did I, my first game and a win. Even if not the most convincing of starts... Manchester United 1 - 0 Sheff.Utd (og 84th minute)
As we got back into the changing room the physio pulled me to one side, Rooneys knackered his knee could be a few weeks out, we will find out more tomorrow....Maybe I best start thinking about cover , maybe Torres Ill have to speak to Mr Chairman....
From Matlock Town to Manchester United 
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