More talked about than Margaret Thatcher’s death but not quite as popular as the election of the Pope.
That was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Twitter epitaph following news of his retirement last week. Not too shabby for a 71-year-old football manager who once called the social networking site a ‘waste of time’.
Within an hour of Manchester United’s official announcement of Ferguson’s retirement, there were 1.4million mentions of the news on Twitter.
The club’s hashtag, #ThankYouSir-Alex, was the No 1 global trend — the topic discussed most frequently — within just eight minutes. David Beckham’s Facebook tribute to Ferguson was ‘liked’ by more than 95,000 people within an hour.
Poor Fergie from the band Black Eyed Peas must have wondered what on Earth was going on when her Twitter handle @Fergie was suddenly mentioned hundreds of thousands of times; such was the clamour for people to discuss and dissect what had been widely predicted in that day’s newspapers.
Maybe the real Fergie can now find time to take up Twitter during his retirement. Pope Francis has 2.4million followers; there’s someone to knock off his perch.
Twitter was made for sport, and particularly on days like this when people so clearly felt the need to share their memories and thoughts or simply to laugh at adults being sent home from work because they could not contemplate life after Ferguson.
There was plenty of gushing — particularly and amusingly from the BBC staff Ferguson refused to speak to for so many years — and then there were those, like me, for whom United is Ferguson; those who have never known anything else. For the 20-something generation, it really did feel like the end of an era. Twitter initially seemed an apt place to chart it.
You can see why sport and Twitter thrive off each other. It is fast, live, exciting and bouncing with opinion; provides a seemingly direct line of communication to the athletes we love to watch; and encourages the statistician geekily lurking inside many a sports fan. Numbers, dates, runs scored, all there in 140 characters: to argue over, most probably.
Over and out: Ferguson lifts the Premier League trophy after United's 20th title triumphBut this insatiable thirst for information had reached laughable levels by Thursday afternoon. United leaked news of David Moyes’s imminent appointment to their 33million Facebook followers before hastily deleting the post that welcomed ‘new manager David Moyes’.
Meanwhile, the over-eager fingers of grown men (it was mostly the chaps, I’m afraid — on my timeline at least) hovered over keyboards and smartphones, determined to be the first to confirm the news everyone had read in black and white over their cornflakes. ‘DAVID MOYES IS THE NEW MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER.’ Really? We’d never have guessed.
While last week played to Twitter’s strengths, it also showed its limitation as a medium for dissecting and evaluating sports news.
The last great truly ‘old-school’ manager might be about to unplug the hairdryer for the last time, but 140-character statements from the great and the good were nothing compared to the pleasure of sifting through newspaper coverage or seeing a picture gallery of Ferguson’s 27-year reign at Old Trafford. You can’t ‘cut out and keep’ a tweet.
Announcement: Manchester United used Twitter to tell the world about Ferguson's retirementTwitter became all too much; a swirling sea of opinion and counter- opinion that made newspaper pages a welcome respite from the madness.
It’s funny: this week, with all its Facebook messages and Twitter missives, could have reflected not only the end of Ferguson’s United career but the demise of the newspapers that have charted it for nearly 27 years. Instead, it has shown quite the opposite.
WHAT THEY SAIDVijay Singh is suing the PGA Tour after the Fijian, a three-time winner at the majors, claimed that he had been ‘publicly humiliated and ridiculed’. It follows the doping case that saw the 50-year-old cleared by the organisation of any wrongdoing for using deer antler spray. Yes, deer antler spray. We’ll just leave that one there, shall we?
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Jonny Brownlee, the triathlon star who won a bronze medal at London 2012, was told at the start of the year that he might not race at all this season owing to an ankle injury. On Saturday, however, the younger brother of Olympic champion Alistair won gold in the World Triathlon Series in Japan.
Champ: Jonathan Brownlee of Britain celebrates his victory at the ITU World Triathlon Series race in Yokohama ...AND THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING THIS WEEKWatched the London Sevens at Twickenham, which attracted a world-record crowd of 71,898 on Saturday. Most could not have cared less about the rugby, mind you, but that is a serious show of support for a sport that thrives in a party atmosphere.
Attended the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year dinner, where Gareth Bale was a worthy winner. He spoke very well, too, although it is such a shame the last few recipients have opted for a Q&A format rather than making a speech.
Cycled the Thames Bridges Bike Ride in support of the Stroke Association. It was a relief to reach the quieter streets of west London as the complete disregard that is shown by some drivers towards cyclists never fails to amaze me.
More... Wayne didn't fancy it! Fergie bombshell as Man United boss confirms Rooney has asked to LEAVE Old Trafford this summer The end of Fergie's time! United's legendary boss chokes up as he addresses Old Trafford after final home victory of reign... and he calls on Red Devils fans to back incoming Moyes all the way LIVE: Farewell Fergie! Sir Alex's final day at Old Trafford after 27 years in the dugout All the latest Manchester United news, features and opinion
