Sir Alex Ferguson keeps the belt he was beaten with by his favourite school teacher who inspired him to greatness, he has revealed.
The former Manchester United manager said the ‘gritty determination’ of the formidable Elizabeth Thomson who taught him as a boy rubbed off on him – along with the use of her belt – now a prized possession kept at his home.
‘It’s in my study,’ Sir Alex said, recalling his schooldays at Broomloan Road Primary in Glasgow for The Times’ Educational Supplement’s feature, My Best Teacher.
‘My grandchildren are terrified of it. Six from that belt and you were in absolute agony. I used to try to draw my hand away.
‘But that was the sort of punishment you had if you stepped out of line.
‘In my case, it was usually for fighting in the playground.’
Teacher and pupil kept in touch throughout his trophy-laden career in football with Rangers, Aberdeen and Manchester United.
‘When she died, I couldn’t go to the funeral because Manchester United were playing abroad, but months later I received a parcel,’ he said.
‘She had bequeathed her belt to me. Her nephew sent it to me along with a letter that said: ‘You’ll know more about this belt than anyone’.
Sir Alex, now 72, built a fearsome reputation for disciplining his players – and referees – with his ‘hairdryer’ treatment.
And though corporal punishment was banned in British state schools in 1987 he fondly recalls his schooldays in the 1950s, when teachers did not ‘spare the rod’ and as a boy from Glasgow’s mean streets he stood, hands out, waiting for his punishment from Mrs Thomson.
‘That’s the perfect word to describe her. The area of Glasgow I grew up in, Govan, had one of the highest truancy rates in the city. She came from a different world, really. She was from a middle-class, wealthy family, but she had a raw determination about her.
‘When she first got to Broomloan Road Primary, she went round to the house of every student who wasn’t in her class that day and said, ‘If your kid isn’t in school tomorrow, I’ll be back at your door’.
‘Maybe 2,000 teachers turned the job down, turned down that sort of challenge, but she thrived on it. She improved everyone she touched. She actively sought out challenge.
‘The three ingredients to Elizabeth, when I think about it, were personality, determination and energy. Anyone who’s in charge of someone else needs those three ingredients. It just won’t work without them.
‘When I think about her now, I realise that it wasn’t all about education. Mrs Thomson endeavoured to make you want to be the best you could be.
‘Yes, I think there’s part of me that comes from her. That determination and that sense of drive. That ‘never give in’ attitude she had about all her students.’
