~CC~When You Say Nothing at all~22(IO) - Page 114

The end of an era will be marked by the beginning of what is likely to be a starkly different one. As a pall of gloom descended across Manchester United fan-clubs all over the world today following the announcement of Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, there was a reason to cheer as his successor is the hugely successful BCCI President and de-facto owner of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, N Srinivasan. Some reports suggested that David Moyes might take over but that is not true.

Srinivasan will add management of a soccer franchise to his impressive resume – the cement baron already has his finger in chess, badminton, golf, kho-kho, carrom apart from the genteel game of the Empire – as he takes over from the peerless Sir Alex.

An emotional Ferguson said, "As I made up my mind to finally leave this baby of mine, I couldn't think of anyone other than Srini, who'd be able to manage as well as inspire the club as much as, or perhaps, better than I did, all these years. Srini mama's track record is there for everyone to see – under him, India won the world cup and the Chennai Super Kings are the finest team in the IPL. With such feats behind him, Srini mama can only bring glory to ManU."

The joy of common fans of the Chennai Super Kings and Manchester United knew no bounds, with many feeling it is impossible for Manchester United not to win the EPL hereafter. A delighted Srinivasan is supposed to have said, "Yes paa, this is one of the greatest things to have happened in my life. Many people have already started renaming ManU as MamaU. Anyway, this should be good fun. I hope to meet other managers also soon and I'm looking forward to some really entertaining matches. I had a nice dinner with Rooney thambi and Persey thambi at Saravana Bhavan yesterday."

Sources said that Srinivasan has already spent some time with the whole unit and added that there was a high probability of Robin Van Persie landing a plum job at India Cements. MSD has been directed to improve his dribbling and goalkeeping skills also.