One disgruntled customer was so unhappy with Alex Ferguson’s autobiography that he was offered a full refund after pointing out a catalogue of factual errors.
The book itself has received mixed reviews, with some subject areas getting a great deal of attention (David Beckham surely nodding in agreement), while others are glossed over, but one man was not so much upset with the style, layout or subject matter, but the fact there were so many factual mistakes, a grand total of 45 in total.
Fergie’s second account of his life, entitled My Autobiography, became the UK’s fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began, shifting 115,547 copies in its first week on sale, but one customer decided to email publishers Hodder and Stoughton over his misgivings with many of the dates stated in the book.
According to The Mirror, Hodder and Stoughton CEO Jamie Hodder-Williams replied to the email from the member of public to offer a refund.
“We did in fact go through several stages of fact-checking with this book, with a reading from within Manchester United as well as from a specialist football fact-checker,” he said.
“Although a very large number of corrections were made we plainly did not pick up everything,” he is quoted as saying in his email.
“If you would like to send the book to me at our head office address, stating where you bought the book and at what price, we will refund your expenditure and postage.”
The inaccuracies include Fergie’s claim that United got 11 years of service out of former captain Roy Keane when in fact they had 12, extolling the magnificence of Rio Ferdinand’s performance against Man City in the semi-final of the Carling Cup at Old Trafford in 2009 when it was actually the following year, asserting that Ryan Giggs made his United debut aged 16 (he was 17) and the recollection of having his pacemaker fitted in April 2002 when it actually went in in March of 2004.
When asked for comments on Fergie’s blunders, word has it that ‘Arry Redknapp said that it is still a “top top book”, while Arsene Wenger said he didn’t see the mistakes, so he could not comment on them.
