Sir Alex Ferguson has ever been a name to watch for, in fact, every time he faces the media, he seems to be advising other managers how to stop players sustain injuries and how to keep them motivated over a longer period of time. He is now serving UEFA as their coaching ambassador; hence is keen to help European soccer. Players’ diving habit has recently been a cause of concern for every club and almost every manager tries to restrict his players dive unnecessarily on the field which sometimes poses a risk of penalty shootout as well. Though, he admitted, players will have to scarify their attacking style a little bit if they want to recover from this problem. He was talking about how he helped United starlet Ronaldo and Ashley Young to recover from early days anywhere diving habits. According to him, it is the manager who should be held responsible if his players are accused of this and coaches should be trained enough to keep this practice out of their game plan. UEFA president Michel Platini, who appointed him to spread the awareness throughout in Europe, expects him to use his long serving experience for the benefit of soccer.
Describing diving as the unwanted action on the field, 72-year-old legendry said, “It is an element of the game we don’t like seeing. I have tried to address it myself with some of my players over the years. When Cristiano first joined us he had that dramatic action but he listened very carefully that you can’t do that and he improved tremendously and has been an even better player because of it.
“We had an issue with Ashley Young last year or two years ago and he’s tried hard to address it. It’s up to the coaches, I think they have got to influence players that they have to be better than that. But it’s not just in England, it’s common in a lot of countries.”
Meantime, he also thanked European governing body to appoint him as an ambassador and said, “It is an honour and a privilege to accept this role as ambassador for Uefa. With the experience I have had over the years I hope I can help young coaches in particular in an industry which is becoming more difficult.
“Young coaches have to be prepared to make sacrifices and time is not a guaranteed issue in modern-day football because it has become very much a results industry.”