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June 2004. And Ferdinand is in another United dressing room hearing a speech showcasing another quintessential Ferguson character trait. There are no tears this time, however. Rather than losing his head and delivering the hairdryer, this time Ferguson was showing his bullish side. An unwavering belief that he could, and would, rebuild the Reds – even in the face of the self-titled Special One. “When Jose Mourinho came in to Chelsea in the summer of 2004 there were rumours that I and various other players might be leaving,” Ferdinand remembers. “But he was like, ‘listen, we’re going to build this team and you’re going to be one of the main parts of it’. He was like, ‘just stay with me’. And he’s probably the only manager at that time in the world that I would have listened to like that.
He said, ‘just trust me. I don’t get things wrong often when it’s football. Stay with me and we’ll get this right’. I was just like, ‘I’m there. I’m behind you, I believe in you.’
Also on board in June of that summer were two men who were to have a huge impact on that 2008 Champions League triumph. The first is a headline name. A once-in-a-generation English talent hot off the back of a breakthrough Euro 2004. A young forward by the name of Wayne Rooney whose transfer garnered headlines and newspaper column inches galore.
The second was an unheralded second coming. The return of Carlos Queiroz to the United fold as Ferguson’s assistant manager following an unsuccessful spell at Real Madrid.
Mourinho’s arrival in the Premier League, despite the Portuguese’s “Special One” proclamations, wasn’t all about him. It was part of, and the start of, a wider internationalisation of the Premier League.
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