How Tom Cleverley is spearheading Fergie's plan to bow out with legacy of youth
How Tom Cleverley is spearheading Fergie's plan to bow out with legacy of youth
By Oliver Holt
Published 23:02 17/08/10
Tom Cleverley, a young player many believe is destined to become a part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last great Manchester United side, is sitting in an office, talking.
There is something about him that tells you he has been at United since he was 11. He is assured, mature, single-minded and happy to make whatever sacrifices he needs to.
He grew up in Bradford but the way he speaks makes him sound like a composite of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
His eyes light up twice. Both times it is something to do with training that brings animation to his features. Cleverley is someone in love with the game.
The first time it is the mention of some YouTube footage he has told the rest of the United first team squad about that makes him smile.
The 30-second clip shows the Spain squad training and Valencia’s Juan Mata producing a dazzling piece of skill that involves dragging the ball behind one foot with the other and then nutmegging Real Madrid’s Raul Albiol all in the same movement.
Mata celebrates his feat, laughing, while a couple of the Spain players put their arms around Albiol in mock consolation. United’s players, Cleverley says, have been trying to reproduce the trick.
The second time his face comes alive is when Cleverley, who turned 21 last week, talks about training at Carrington with the United first team squad. In particular, he says, watching Scholes and Giggs doing their job and pursuing their art is breathtaking.
Most players who have trained with Scholes, either for United or England, say that. They mention the way he strikes the ball and the joy of watching his technique.
A few hours later, Scholes lofted a perfect pass to Giggs who drove home a volley to seal United’s 3-0 win over Newcastle at Old Trafford.
“It’s the way nothing fazes them, too,” Cleverley says.
“You can learn so much from those two. They don’t have to say anything to you. You just have to watch them. It’s their temperament and they take that into the pitch. I have been watching Scholes all through pre-season so it didn’t shock me when he put in a performance like he did in the Community Shield.
“He is not the type to sit you down and have a heart-to-heart chat with you but he is a great mentor for me.”
At at time when the country’s focus is turning to youth in the battle to recover from the disappointment of England’s performance in South Africa, a world of possibilities is opening up for Cleverley.
Players like Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs have already been given their chance by Fabio Capello as the England manager tries to re-invent both himself and his team and Cleverley and Everton’s Jack Rodwell cannot be far behind.
Cleverley, who can play anywhere across the midfield, made a big impression when he was on loan at Watford last season and was voted the team’s player of the season.
The previous season he had a spell on loan at Leicester.
“The hostility of places like Millwall and Leeds toughens you up,” Cleverley says. “I went from a boy to a man in the Championship.”
He also starred in United’s pre-season tour of America and scored a superb individual goal against the MLS All-Stars in Houston. Premier League clubs are queuing up to take him on loan but Ferguson has said he wants him to stay at Old Trafford this season because he is ready to fight for a place in the team.
There is something else about Cleverley: he epitomises the agelessness of Ferguson, the way that the United boss can inspire a new generation of players as effectively as he did when he first took the job 24 years ago.
He commands respect, not just because of what he has achieved but with the way he interacts with his players.
Other older managers fall out of love with football and especially footballers. Not Ferguson. His man-management genius, his enthusiasm for the people around him, are undimmed.
“His team talk before the Community Shield was fantastic,” Cleverley says. “He inspires me.”
The progress of Cleverley, whose career is being guided astutely by Simon Kennedy, Brian Lara’s former agent, hints at the idea that a new wave of home-grown talent is ready to form the core of the last side Ferguson commands before he retires.
There are high hopes for Cleverley, Darron Gibson, Danny Drinkwater (on loan at Cardiff), Matt James (on loan at Preston) and Reece Brown, Wes Brown’s younger brother. Jonny Evans has already broken through and Federico Macheda kept Michael Owen out of the squad against Newcastle.
There are echoes of the 1992 FA Youth Cup winning side that contained David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Giggs.
If Ferguson sticks to his plan not to send Cleverley out on loan, he will get his chance in the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and maybe a few League games.
Cleverley has his own plan. “If I get chances, my aim is to please him enough that he has to play me,” he says.
Ferguson’s reluctance to enter the transfer market has been widely attributed to the fact that the Glazer family have no money to give him.
Maybe there’s another reason. Maybe Ferguson looks at Cleverley, Drinkwater, James, Evans, Macheda and Brown and sees another group of kids who can take the League by storm and send him into retirement a happy man.
Read more:
Oliver Holt column Tom Cleverley interview - How Manchester United starlet is spearheading Sir Alex Ferguson plan to bow out with legacy of youth - Oliver Holt - MirrorFootball.co.uk
