Motivating Manchester United: Sir Alex Ferguson's Unusual Tactics Before the 1999 Champions League Final

Ferguson has credited a conversation with Steve Archibald, a former player he managed at Aberdeen, as a key moment in motivating his players during the 1999 Champions League final.

Archibald had reached the the 1986 European Cup final but lost on penalties to Steaua Bucharest, and Ferguson wanted to learn if he could tell his Manchester United players anything useful to help motivate them for the match.

Sir Alex Ferguson used Archibald's advice for his Manchester United side

"I don’t want to go big on this," Archibald tells FourFourTwo. "He won the Champions League – I don’t want to take anything away from Sir Alex. Before that match, he asked me if I had any advice.

"I told him about losing the European Cup final with Barcelona in 1986. I said it was the worst thing you can imagine; seeing the trophy as a player and not being able to touch it. I said I still had this sword in my gut that had to be pulled out.

"I told him, 'They’ll be suffering for the rest of their lives if they lose this game.' He said, 'F**king hell, I’m not telling them that – way too much pressure!' Well, you know how the final went. When I went up the tunnel to give him a cuddle afterwards, he said, 'I f**king told them!' There was a story in the press about him giving this epic Churchill-style speech, but it wasn’t like that. Eventually he explained to the media that we’d had a conversation. But the victory was all his."

Archibald spent two seasons with Ferguson in 1978/79 and 1979/80, winning the Scottish Premier Division title in the second campaign. He departed for Tottenham for £800k that summer, though he was still in his early 20s.

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Remiscing on playing for the legendary manager, Archibald reveals how Ferguson managed to get the best out of every player in the squad even at the start of his coaching career.

"It was that mental toughness," Archibald highlights. "That was how football men were brought up in his day. He had something in his head that was a little bit different.

"We’d be going to play at Ibrox and he’d instil in you how much we all had to want it. You couldn’t dilly-dally – you needed to go into those matches and be aggressive, wanting to come away with all three points. He led us to a Scottish Premier Division title in my final season and it was the first of many titles he won with the club, which was a massive achievement."