Sir Alex Ferguson chaired the 16th Elite Club Coaches Forum meeting at UEFA's Lyon Headquarters

Sir Alex Ferguson chaired the 16th Elite Club Coaches Forum meeting at UEFA's Lyon Headquarters

In what was a star studded event at the UEFA headquarters, a host of coaches from the European elite clubs attended the 16th Elite Club Coach Forum which was chaired former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. The list of attendees ranged from Jose Mourinho to Shaktar’s Mircea Lucescu. However the current United manager Louis Van Gaal who’s still struggling to settle with the pace of Premier league gave it a miss.

Various issues where discussed, and one of them was the possible changes to away goal rule which was introduced nearly fifty years back. With every manager present at the forum, giving their opinion on the above issue;

Sir Alex was quoted: “There was a bit of a debate about whether it has any significance today,” said Sir Alex Ferguson

“Some think it is not as important as it used to be ... and the attacking emphasis on the game today means more teams go away from home and win.

“If we go back, say, 30 years, counter-attacking consisted of one or maybe two, players. Today, counter-attacks have players flooding forward in fives or sixes and really positive, quick passing.“

“What is helping is that the state of the pitches, pitches are fantastic nowadays, so coming out of defence with passes is much easier than it was 30 years ago, and you get a better attitude to counter-attack today than you did 30 years ago,” Ferguson said.

“From a personal point of view, when I was playing at home, I used to say to myself, don't lose a goal,” he added.

The other major top which came to the forefront was the UEFA seeding policy. Withdraws being a repetitive, there was critical discussion which took place regarding seeding policy based on the team’s last five year performance in the competition.

And here’s what two time winner of the trophy Six Alex Ferguson had to say:

“I don't necessarily think the seeding plays a great part.” He added: “You take what you get and your performance is the most important thing.”

“From a personal point of view, when I was playing at home, I used to say to myself, don't lose a goal,” he added.