An 11-year-old wrote to Sir Alex Ferguson in 2005 critiquing his tactics and it was brilliant

Say what you like about the methodology of most football managers, Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t ‘most’ football managers. You would have had to possess the combined bravado of Eric Cantona and Zlatan Ibrahimović to have dared tell him where he was going wrong back in 2005.

So then, give it up for Paul Golah-Ebue; a 21-year-old Manchester United fan, he recently revealed a letter he wrote to the serial trophy amasser a decade ago to offer seriously in-depth tactical advice on where the Scot was going wrong.

Part of a school project of writing to a famous person, the letter starts with a brief-if-polite introduction before getting to the weighty stuff, advising that he wouldn’t go with the 4-3-3 formation when 4-4-2 works better, claiming Wayne Rooney works better in a central role just off Ruud Van Nistelrooy and adding he would have never let Carlos Queiroz choose a side against Norwich. Maybe he was the real assistant Ferguson needed.

Heck, he even criticises Ferguson for letting David Beckham go over an argument, showing he clearly has the marketing nous to back up his footballing intellect by pointing out that Golden Balls sells lots of shirts.

Unfailingly polite, meticulously detailed, it’s a letter that bellied his tender years. So you can imagine the shock all around when FERGIE ACTUALLY REPLIED, dropping Paul “a wee note” to say it was nice to hear from him.

There was no mention of the youngster’s aforementioned advice but then maybe he knew he was right. After all, speaking to The Mirror, present day Paul even thinks it might have had an effect:

"I wish I could claim he did, but not really. Although, in the Champions League Final three years later, we did start with a 4-4-2, and Rooney was upfront... but I think it would be stretching it to claim credit for that!"

[Via: The Mirror]