Fergie manages not to mention facts as he inducts Benitez

Matt Stead

Sir Alex Ferguson managed not to mention facts while inducting Rafael Benitez and five other managers into LMA’s 1000 club.

Benitez was one of six managers recognised at a ceremony attended by Gareth Southgate on Thursday, with Carlo Ancelotti, Tony Pulis, Claudio Ranieri. John Toshack and Sven-Goran Eriksson also inducted.

The sextet join an elite group of 24 managers to have reached the milestone, of which Ferguson is chief.

Ferguson reached 1,500 games as Manchester United manager alone, and clashed with a number of bosses, including Benitez during the Spaniard’s time at Liverpool.

Benitez infamously embarked on a rant about ‘facts’ in 2009, but Ferguson managed not to allude to it when welcoming the new managers.

“To achieve 1000 games is very good and you have got to admire them because I’m sure at points in their career they’ve had to face that pressure,” said Ferguson.

“The great quality they have is the resilience that experience gives them to have lasted the distance of 1000 games.

“It takes a lot of perseverance and sacrifice, not just from them but from their families because it goes it back into the families.”

On the pressures of the modern game, Ferguson added: “You don’t survive if you don’t win, that’s for sure.

“I remember when Peter Reid was managing Manchester City and after five games into the season he lost his job. It’s crazy if you think about it but it happens and the only way to overcome that is to win matches.

“In the modern game it’s a result industry, without a doubt. So to survive all the intensity and the pressure that managers are under today is quite exceptional.”