FINDING a successor to Brian Kidd is a problem that will have to wait. For the present, in trying to fill the serious void left by the departure of an immensely valued assistant, Alex Ferguson must rely on the resources of his own nature. Manchester United should be grateful that the reservoir is deep.
There is never a good moment for the disruption of a successful partnership but in the case of Kidd's appointment as manager of Blackburn Rovers the timing for United could hardly be more destructive. The deal was completed with yesterday's vital Premiership match against Aston Villa looming, and Bayern Munich to be faced four days later in a Champions League group decider likely to prove as tense and important as any 90 minutes at Old Trafford in years. If the Germans had scripted last week's developments, they could not have contrived more help for their cause.
Ferguson has done nothing to conceal the depth of his sadness at that sequence of events but through his subdued reactions there has run a predictable strand of realism and of determination to prevent the coherent policies that have recently brought so much success to Britain's biggest club from being even temporarily undermined. "We won't be derailed by this," he said on Friday. "One thing I have always been able to do is handle problems positively. I believe in moving right through them. It is upsetting for the players, because Brian was close to them on a daily basis and had the knack of making all of them feel they had a relationship with him. But they will adjust. Ultimately players want to play football and win matches and at this club you are forced to win matches. There is no time to lament things that happen. If I left, I'd hope the system would go on functioning effectively.
"I admit to feeling especially disappointed because I thought when we fended off Everton's approaches to Brian in the summer, and gave him an improved contract, we could look forward to quite a few fruitful years of the terrific working arrangement that had given us four Premiership championships and two Doubles in our seven years together.
"I had recognised early how special Brian could be and when I brought him in as my No 2 I encouraged him from the start to go abroad and learn from the major clubs on the Continent. He made a lot of those studying trips, especially to Italy, where he forged many good connections. He combined ideas he gathered there with some excellent initiatives of his own and the basic principles that I have always applied, and there is no doubt that his training sessions were exceptional.
"But I have insisted on a high standard of creative training wherever I've been and I'll be taking over again for the time being at least. I'll simply have to detach myself from the hundred and one other obligations I have here so that I can plan and structure the sessions.
"Obviously I won't be able run around as Kiddo did. I'm about eight years older at 57 and my right hip has been giving me trouble but the club physiotherapist, David Fevre, will take the warm-up, or perhaps Jimmy Ryan, the reserve team coach, could do some of that work. I'm lucky that I have still got quality people around me. Jimmy, for instance, has long experience in the game and as a fella he is different class."
Ferguson's personal attempts to keep Kidd included an intense conversation with him in the drying room at White Hart Lane after the Worthington Cup loss to Tottenham Hotspur last Wednesday night, then a telephone discussion on the Thursday morning followed by another that day with the solicitor who was representing the assistant manager in the Blackburn negotiations. "I could tell Brian was set on going," Ferguson told me. "If you know people well, there is always a giveaway that tells you when they really mean something.
"When Eric Cantona said he wanted to leave I could see in his eyes he was resolved. It was the same when Peter Schmeichel told me he was quitting.
"The signs were there with Brian. His decision surprised me but if he had made up his mind to try managing on his own I can understand that and, in fact, I can admire him for it. He obviously feels ready for the change. It's a different experience. As a No 2 you don't have to fall out with anybody but as manager you run the risk of making an enemy every time you pick a team. But Brian takes a lot of talent to the job and he knows that I wish him nothing but the very best."
One of the more puzzling elements of the coverage of Kidd's move has been the widespread acceptance that he was being paid £150,000 or less at United.
My own impression is that twice that amount as basic salary, with bonuses added for the kind of success which has been a habit at Old Trafford in the Nineties, would be nearer the truth. However, since reports that Blackburn are paying him slightly over £600,000 may if anything be conservative, the allure of Jack Walker's package cannot be questioned. Kidd is a football man of substance who, had he declined this latest invitation to go solo, might have been haunted subsequently by the guilty suspicion that he had let himself and his family down. I, too, hope fervently that he succeeds with a daunting assignment.
The least edifying aspect of the entire episode was surely the apparent inclination of Martin Edwards, the United chairman, to concentrate far more on the issue of financial compensation for Kidd's loss than on the implications of what was happening. It might have seemed that, with the millions promised by the BSkyB takeover, Edwards could have afforded more impressive priorities.
Ferguson will not be rushed into appointing a new assistant but he is already mulling over an interesting list of names, British and foreign. What can be said is that one or two individuals prominently touted in the prints have less chance of the Old Trafford job than they have of the papacy.
