When Manchester United were beaten by Leeds United of League One in the FA Cup there were those who had the nerve to bring up the ’R’ word. Retirement.
They made a powerful case why Alex Ferguson might hang up his hairdryer sooner rather than later, much of it surrounding the financial problems off the pitch at Manchester United and an uncertainty on it.
Less than two weeks later the Old Trafford debris is sprinkled with banning orders. One television reporter and five national newspaper men reportedly have been excluded from Old Trafford.
Manchester, meanwhile, has witnessed its most pulsating derby for more than a quarter of a century and United have taken their place in the first major final of the season.
That sound like Ferguson is going anywhere soon to you? Not to me it doesn’t, unless we are talking about Wembley or the Manchester United trophy room.
It would be foolish to say United do not miss Cristiano Ronaldo. Silly to say anything other than not forking out the cash needed to keep Tevez at Old Trafford looks like a footballing and commercial mistake.
Yet Ferguson still has something at Old Trafford which is worth more than Ronaldo and Tevez.
It is the work-until-you-drop, never-know-when-you-are-beaten ethos which has been the bedrock in winning 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League cups, five FA Cups and three League Cups.
It was that spirit which saw Teddy Sheringham and Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer pop up to score the two goals which won the European Cup in injury time in Barcelona back in 1999.
It was no coincidence that Wayne Rooney scored the goal which defeated Manchester City and took United to the Carling Cup final, also deep into injury time.
United have done something similar on nine occasions so far this season.
It has been Ferguson’s trademark down the years in which he has endeavoured to invest in players with at least as much character and courage as talent.
In men such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, in the autumn of their careers but who will carry the will to win into their dotage.
In men such as goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar, whose timely intervention, sprinting to the touchline when City’s Craig Bellamy was coming under fire from coins and bottles, helped defuse the nastiest of incidents.
In Rooney, whose selfless industry and rich goal form makes up for the inadequacies of some of his colleagues. In Darren Fletcher, too, a foot soldier whoFerguson praised in particular saying he “played like he had two engines”.
It is the effort and desire of such men which keeps Ferguson’s fire burning.
Yet there is another reason why those who seek to write off Ferguson do so at their peril. It is the rise and rise of City, who are not there yet but who clearly are closing the gap.
They are getting to Ferguson. The money. The posters. The posturing. The boasting.
The very mention of their name irritates him, in a way Chelsea, Arsenal and even Liverpool never have done.
Man City give Ferguson, even after 35 years in management in which he has seen and experienced just about everything, fresh reason to get out of bed in the morning.
You could see it in his eyes and in that trademark celebration after Rooney’s winner on Wednesday night.
At 68, Ferguson is sharp of mind and fit of body. He appears still to thrive on confrontation even if the control he once exerted cannot be the same in a changing room of multi-millionaires.
One day Ferguson will retire. Of course he will. But everything says those whose headlines screamed ’Is It Time For Ferguson To Ride Into The Sunset?’ so recently have got the timing wrong. Badly wrong.
