FOOTBALL management, bloody hell — Sir Alex Ferguson made it look so easy that a load of his former Manchester United stars tried it.
To say most find it extremely difficult would be an understatement.
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None of his protegees have come remotely close to what the great Scot managed in his trophy-laden career.
Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley are the latest former Fergie apprentices to see their first permanent jobs in English management end with the axe.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, dangling by a thread at Leicester, is set to join them.
Carrick, 43, showed a lot of early promise — taking Boro to the play-offs in his first full season in 2022-23 after a fourth-placed finish — but lost to Coventry in the semi-finals.
He failed to make the end-of-term Championship lottery in the following two campaigns — and paid for it with Wednesday’s sacking.
The Teessiders announced Carrick’s exit in a brief 61-word statement.
It was in stark contrast to the relative love letter Watford released to tell the world they had binned Cleverley.
Carrick’s former midfield partner, 35, finished his only season as a boss in 14th — not enough to convince the Hornets he deserved a second campaign.
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Sporting director Gian Luca Nani wrote: “It has been a privilege to work closely with Tom, to understand how he sees the game and his enthusiasm.
“He deserves to be recognised for this and I’m sure he will have a bright future in the game.”
Van Nistelrooy, 48, is still waiting to learn his fate but it would be a surprise at this point if he was not dismissed after taking Leicester down.
The Dutchman was one of the greatest goalscorers the Premier League has ever seen after crashing in 150 goals in 219 Red Devils games between 2001 and 2006.
So there was a huge irony when his Foxes side failed to net for EIGHT consecutive Prem matches — all of them defeats — between February and April.
It all leaves the managerial success stories of Ferguson‘s former players looking increasingly thin on the ground.
Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville are two of the more disastrous examples.
With Rooney’s ill-fated spells at Birmingham and Plymouth and the latter’s Valencia horror show.
No one could keep up
Roy Keane won Sunderland promotion but his last job was Ipswich in 2011.
Blink and you would have missed Paul Scholes’ 31 days managing Oldham.
Ryan Giggs’ personal problems look to have kiboshed his coaching ambitions.
Jaap Stam got Reading to a play-off final but left the club a year later, while compatriot Robin van Persie’s Heerenveen lost 9-1 to AZ Alkmaar in September — though he is now in charge of Feyenoord.
Mark Robins, the man who saved Fergie’s job with a famous FA Cup goal back in 1990, has had a middling start at Stoke after working wonders at Coventry.
Phil Neville is in the MLS, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Turkey and Mark Hughes has been relegated to the National League with Carlisle United despite bossing six Prem teams across 18 years.
Arguably, the biggest hit is Steve Bruce, in charge of Blackpool and having managed more than 1,000 games — but don’t tell Newcastle fans that.
And with 12 years now passing since Fergie retired, the options of his former players who could still turn their talent to management is fast running out.
Jonny Evans, released by United this month, is the last remaining player to have appeared during Ferguson’s reign.
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