Sir Alex Ferguson is determined not to allow little Crawley Town any chance of causing an upset against Manchester United in the fifth round FA Cup tie at Old Trafford on Saturday. Together with his assistant Mike Phelan, the wily manager was at Wrexham on Tuesday to check on the non league side ahead of the game. Top of their list of things to see was 28 goal hotshot Matt Tubbs, with Fergie confessing that “A lot of people are talking about these boys – I thought I’d take a look for myself.”
Tubbs took the visit as a great compliment to his Blue Square Premier club giving Ferguson a big thank you for paying Crawley such a huge compliment saying “It was great to see Sir Alex and his assistant watching us from the stands. We were all made up when we spotted that. It shows a tremendous amount of respect to us to do that – as it would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to have disregarded us as ‘little Crawley’.
“To take the time to run the rule over us like that shows a lot of class and tells you why he is such a great manager’ he continued “I’d like to say a big thank you to him for showing us so much respect. I’m sure Sir Alex would have been impressed with our commitment. It was a tough, physical game. But we couldn’t afford to hold back and try to avoid risking injuries.”
“Winning our league is the priority and the United game is just the icing on the cake” Tubbs explained “don’t get me wrong – it will be fantastic to go there and enjoy the atmosphere and we’re going to lap it up. But these league games are going to define our season, not our cup run.”
Talking on behalf of his team mates, the Crawley hit man continued “I’d be lying though, if I didn’t admit since the cup draw was made I’ve thought about what it would feel like to score on Saturday. It’s what dreams are made of isn’t it? And Old Trafford is meant to be the Theatre of Dreams!”
The former Salisbury star’s brother Andy and some of his mates face a bit of a dilemma on Saturday – as they are United fans. Tubbs said “They are saying they won’t know who to support on Saturday but if they’re looking for tickets from me, it had better be us!”
Ferguson obviously did not need to make the trip to Wrexham, many other managers would have simply sent a couple of their coaching staff but Sir Alex was determined to cross every T and dot every I to ensure that nothing stands in the way of United’s smooth passage into the sixth round – irrespective of who their opponents happened to be.
Should Ferguson have sent his assistant to Wrexham?
