Alex Ferguson's humble Manchester United hollering that is inspiring John Rankin 20 years on

“Rankin, is your mammy awrite for sugar?” He can still hear that gruff, Govan voice bellowing down the corridor of Manchester United’s training ground. After a 20-year playing career, it’s amazing what sticks in your mind. But John Rankin has never forgotten such a simple, humble example of Sir Alex Ferguson’s brilliance. It’s those things that made him the greatest manager of all time.

And the iconic figure that every young Scottish gaffer is still trying to aspire to. Rankin was a kid at Old Trafford for three years before signing for Ross County in 2003. In Dingwall, he worked under another doyen of coaching in this country, Alex Smith. Now, he’s embarking on his own journey as a boss having taken the reins at Hamilton Accies.

Anyone who knows Rankin will have no doubts about him doing things his way. But that won’t stop him trying to emulate the mixture of graft and guile that Ferguson and Smith had in abundance. Rankin doesn’t want to just coach his players for a game on a Saturday. He wants to mentor them, for life on AND off the pitch.

That’s something Sir Alex was particularly renowned for at Manchester United. And Rankin is still grateful that he got a taste of it himself as a youngster. The new Accies boss told Mailsport : “People might slaughter me for this because I was only 16 or 17 at the time.

“But I go back to Fergie at Manchester United. He used to shout along the corridor: ‘Rankin, is your mammy awrite for sugar’? That’s what he was brought up with in Govan. He used to tell me that, as a boy, he’d run round to his neighbour with a sugar bowl whenever she was short.

“It was about recognising the needs of certain families. And he took that into management. It’s crazy how you remember stuff like