THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES (SIR ALEX FERGUSON - NEVER GIVE IN)

Mention the name Sir Alex Ferguson to most people and a couple of words spring to mind.

Tough, dogged, Scottish, ruthless, a winner, Manchester United, Aberdeen and hairdryer treatment would probably be among the first phrases on people's lips.

The word vulnerable, however, would not be one of those words you would associate him with.

But that is exactly what the Manchester United icon was when he suffered a brain haemorrhage in his Cheshire home in 2018.

Inspired by his father's fight for survival, Jason Ferguson has directed 'Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In' for Amazon Prime which throws a different light on the most successful manager in the history of the club.

As Sir Alex looks back on a remarkable life, his son's documentary is framed by accounts of his brush with death.

The picture painted is of a fighter on and off the pitch in good times and in bad but one who was really rattled by confronting mortality.

Within hours of his father's brain haemorrhage, Jason Ferguson reveals how he was struck by his dad starting to pour out loads of stories about his life.

It soon becomes clear that that act of remembering was actually a desperate attempt by Sir Alex to reassure himself and his loved ones that he had not lost his memory.

It is very much part of the fighting, never say die spirit that Ferguson was renowned for as a footballer and a manager.

While the voice of the 79 year old sounds a little more frail, his recall is clear and the intelligence that made him such an extraordinarily successful manager is still sharp.

Born in Glasgow and raised in the shipbuilding community of Govan, Ferguson was raised within a stone's throw of Rangers FC - the staunchly Protestant football club he supported in the city as a kid.

The son of a Protestant father and a Catholic, socialist mother, he and his brother were raised Protestant in a tough community where arguments on the street or the schoolyard were often settled with the fist.

His real religion, however, was a firm belief in community - whether it was the sense of community his mother's socialist values instilled in him, the community spirit of the trade unions in the Glasgow shipyard or loyalty to his teammates on the football pitch.

Initially signed as an amateur by the Glasgow club Queen's Park, his aim was to make it to Ibrox and line out in the blue of Rangers.

However he had to graft to get there, subsequently lining out as a forward for Saint Johnstone and often undertaking a commute three times a week to Perth for training and matches.

This meant him getting home from midweek games at 1am, only to get up to work in the shipyard four hours later.

Ferguson admits, though, to losing his love for the game after failing to hold down a regular berth on the Saint Johnstone first team.

Disillusioned, he spent his weekends going to dances and drinking with friends the night before match day - much to the disgust of his father who wanted him to put his football ambition first.

The nadir came when he was arrested for getting into a drunken brawl in Glasgow city centre, followed by another episode where he got a girlfriend to pretend she was his mum to phone in sick to the St Johnstone management before a game.

Bawled out by his parents and ordered by the St Johnstone management to turn up at their Glasgow hotel the following day, he remarkably found himself in the team to face Rangers and scored a hat trick against them.

Beaming with pride about how that mended his relationship with his dad, Ferguson admits this was a seminal moment in his footballing career where he dedicated himself to excellence.

Married in a registry office to Cathy, a Catholic employee in the shipyard, Ferguson landed his dream move to Rangers.

However the dream turned to disappointment.

Approached by a club official who wanted to know if he married Cathy in a Catholic chapel and then expressed relief when he was told it was a registry office, Ferguson tells his son he regrets not having been stronger and telling the man where to go.

Scapegoated after a 4-0 hammering in the Scottish Cup final at the hands of Rangers' rivals Celtic, the documentary charts Ferguson's move into management - initially at St Mirren and then at Aberdeen.

There's a real sense that this is where Ferguson really came into his own.

Former Aberdeen player and later Southampton and Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan recalls how the club had no real training facilities when Ferguson arrived.

The squad used a pitch in a local park and the club car park instead.

Such was the amateurish nature of the set up, Strachan recalls how Aberdeen's players had to kick dog poo off the park at the start of each training session.

It was a club where the players had little ambition but Ferguson instilled in them a desire to win - berating his squad for celebrating a last gasp draw with Rangers.

Initially he targeted wins over his old club before training his crosshairs on Celtic, believing if you regularly beat the Old Firm you would win the Scottish league and other domestic trophies.

Aberdeen would achieve those dreams and more, with the club capturing the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 with an extra-time victory over the Spanish giants, Real Madrid.

Moving to Manchester United in 1986 after the departure of Ron Atkinson as manager, the team he inherited was also a bit of a shambles.

Initially, it was a struggle to revitalise the club and break the culture of mediocrity.

Mindful of the history of United, he focused on youth - building community support by recruiting exciting local talent like Ryan Giggs who wanted to play for United.

However the nature of the task was such that he faced criticism from fans who were impatient for success and he came perilously close to losing his job in January before a FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.

United would win the match and it would propel the squad to a final against Crystal Palace at Wembley which went to a replay.

The decision to drop from that match his out of form, first choice goalie Jim Leighton, who he had brought from Aberdeen, would cost him a friendship but it would also result in them winning a trophy.

It would also herald one of the most remarkable runs of success in the history of the English game.

Jason Ferguson's documentary charts the subsequent highs during his time at Old Trafford, from the dominance of the Premiership to Champions League glory.

Amazingly, though, the documentary isn't a complete hagiography.

Ferguson's ruthlessness and his contrasting treatment of some players are laid bare.

Ryan Giggs contrasts his tolerance of the eccentricities of his French talisman Eric Cantona to the iron rule over him and the rest of the young squad.

Renowned for his angry outbursts at underperforming players, Sir Alex also admits to overstepping the mark a few times, without going into specifics.

However he also insists some players need to be pushed because human nature is such that people often accept what is comfortable rather than strive for excellence.

The documentary is at its most revealing, though, as Sir Alex and his family detail the impact of the brain haemorrhage on him and how close he came to losing his life.

And while he inevitably hails his team's dramatic injury time victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final as the match that epitomised his "never say die, all for the team" philosophy, there are some curious omissions from the documentary.

Ferguson's brief spell as the interim Scotland manager at the Mexico 1986 World Cup following the death of Jock Stein is not really touched upon.

Yet the influence of the European Cup winning Celtic manager and the impact of his death on Ferguson, who was on the Scottish coaching staff the night he died in Cardiff, must have been significant.

The other major omission is any specific reference to Roy Keane, bar the inclusion of a few clips.

For much of United's run of success under Sir Alex, Keane embodied his manager's footballing philosophy but they ended up having a bitter fall out.

Few would dispute Keane, as much as Cantona, David Beckham and Giggs, was a major figure in the Ferguson era - as evidenced by his game changing performance in the 1999 Champions League semi-final against Juventus.

The brutal axing of a player regarded as a favoured son is oddly absent from this account but it revealed a lot about Ferguson's team ethic and his power dynamic.

It seems too significant to be overlooked but perhaps the wounds are still too raw.

A gripping account of a complex and fascinating sporting figure, 'Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In' is a well made documentary and not as rose tinted as you might anticipate.

Ferguson's iconic status has been secure for many years but this is a fitting reflection on his contribution to the game.

The documentary also draws out insights that show underneath the steely visage and the deep desire to win is a man who has regrets.

Far from being the Logan Roy of British football, Ferguson has faced his mortality and just like the 'Succession' patriarch has lived to tell the tale.

And boy, what a tale.

('Sir Alex Ferguson - Never Give In' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on May 27, 2021 and was made available for streaming on Amazon Prime two days later)