Midas, in Greek mythology, was a King of Phrygia in Asia Minor. For his hospitality to the satyr Silenus, Dionysus, god of wine, offered to grant Midas anything he wished. The king requested that everything he touched be turned to gold.
In his 36 years as a football coach, virtually everything Alex Ferguson touches turned to gold. At the beginning, it had not been easy for the Scot, but bout of successes came in leap and bounds. Fergy has been notching success long before he joined Manchester United some 24 years, 1 month and 25 days ago on his 69th birthday (December 31st 2010). On December 19th 2010, Ferguson became United’s longest serving manager in history, overtaking Sir Matt Busby’s record of 24 years, 1 month and 12 days in charge of the club.
The pathos of football management is that most great careers end badly. Bill Shankly faded into a regretful ghost, Jock Stein died on the job, Sir Bobby Robson's great Newcastle repatriation finished with the sack from Freddy Shepherd and Brian Clough hit the bottle.
Even Matt Busby presided over disintegration as his last act. Prolonged exposure to the strains of satisfying players, spectators and directors while also fighting to subdue mighty rivals empties most men out in the end. But if you look at Ferguson now, after those successful years, you see a 69-year-old who has reversed the old law of diminution to grow stronger with every trial.
The miracle of his survival is that each test has tightened his grip on power. There is a formidable litany of challenges faced and overcome. Some were external: Liverpool, back in the 1980s, then Arsène Wenger's Arsenal and Roman Abramovich's wealth. These days United are the second richest club in Manchester but Ferguson welcomes City's provocations because they reaffirm his own team's most cherished values: experience, unity and the faith in youth that connects him to Busby.
Ferguson’s successes as the manager of Manchester United could easily fool one into assuming all his career has been with United and as a manager. The Scot has been a prolific striker, and has managed three other clubs before coming to Old Trafford. He supported Rangers as a young man, but got his baptism of fire at Queen’s Park, for whom he scored on his debut, aged 16. He went on to score 20 goals in 31 games for Queen’s Park. He also played for St Johnstone and Dunfermline before joining Rangers for £65,000 in 1966 (a then record transfer fee between two Scottish clubs). His incredible goal tally in the 1965/65 season-he was top scorer with 31 league goals and 45 in all competitions-prompted Rangers to sign him. In 1969 he left Rangers to join Falkirk as a player/coach, and in 1974 he finished his playing career at Ayr United having scored a total of 170 goals in 317 appearances for the six clubs.
Ferguson cut his managerial teeth with East Stirlingshire aged 32 in 1974 with an initial wage of £40 a week. In his first managerial season, he immediately gained reputation as disciplinarian. Club forward Bobby McCulley once remarked that Fergy had “never been afraid of anyone, but he was frightening from the start”. He later managed St Mirren between 1974 and 1978 with whom he won the first division title in 1976. St Mirren was the only club to sack him and they will be made to rue that after his remarkable success his next club, Aberdeen.
Aberdeen, prior to securing the services of Ferguson, had won the league only once in 1955 under Dave Halliday. With Aberdeen, Ferguson broke the 15 years dominance of the Old Firm clubs, Rangers and Celtic, on the league by winning the titles in 1979/80, 1983/84 and 1984/85. Since leaving Aberdeen to join Manchester United, no team outside those Glasgow clubs has come close to winning the Scottish Premier League title.
He led the club to even a greater success in 1983 by winning the European Cup Winners Cup by beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the final, becoming only the 3rd Scottish team to win a European trophy. After the European triumph, Fergy felt he had “done something worthwhile with his life”. He was awarded OBE in the 1984 honours list.
Owing to the untimely death of Jock Stein in 1986, Alex Ferguson agreed to handle the Scottish national team on part time basis, and after the world cup he rejected lucrative offers from Rangers, Tottenham, Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers. During the summer of 1986, there had been speculation that he would take over from Ron Atkinson at Manchester United, who had slumped to 4th in the English top flight after a 10-match winning start had made the title glory seem inevitable.
Atkinson was sacked in November 1986 and Fergy took over. He moved the club to finish in 11th place, having been 21st (2nd from bottom) when he took over. His first game in charge was a 2-0 defeat at underdogs Oxford United on November 8; his first win was a 1-0 home victory against QPR on November 22. By the time he recorded what would be the team’s only away win of the league campaign at title challengers and fierce rivals, Liverpool on Boxing Day, it was clear that United were on the road to recovery.
At the beginning of the 1987/88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson, Brian McClair and Jim Leighton. These players made great contribution to the club, who finished in 2nd place, 9 points behind Liverpool. United lost only 5 games that seasons, but had drawn 12.
In the 198/90 season, Ferguson signed Neil Webb, Mike Phelan, Paul Ince, Gary Pallister and Danny Wallace. But United had an early woeful run of 6 defeats and 2 draws in 8 games (including a 5-1 drubbing by bitter rivals Manchester City). This had prompted the fans to hoist a banner at Old Trafford declaring “three years of excuses and it’s still crap. Ta ra Fergy”. Various journalists and fans called for Ferguson to be sacked. Ferguson later described December 1989 as the “darkest period (he had0 ever suffered in the game”, as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.
Despite the calls for his sack, United’s board of directors gave him the assurance that they were not considering dismissing him. Fergy’s reprieve came in the season’s FA Cup. Following a run of 7 games without a win in the league, United were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Forest were flying high that season and were about to retain the league title, they expectation was United will lose the match and the press alleged (but perennially denied by then-Chairman Martin Edwards) that Ferguson would have been sacked had United lost and gone out of the Cup, as they were 15th in the league by this stage and had already been eliminated from the Football League Cup. But United went on to win the game 1-0 with the winner coming from greenhorn Mark Robbins. Robbins also scored the winner in the semi-final replay against Oldham Athletic. United went on to the trophy, beating Crystal Palace 1-0 in the final replay, giving Ferguson his first of 35 major trophy as United manager.
Even after 1990 FA Cup triumph, some still had doubts about Ferguson’s ability to succeed where all others since Matt Busby had failed-to win the league. They were runners-up in the League Cup and went on to win the European Cup winners Cup, beating Barcelona 2-1 in the final. The 1991/92 saw Fergy making three major signings-goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, full back Paul Parker and winger Andrei Kancheskis. But the league title defied him again with rivals Leeds United emerging victorious.
Ferguson felt that his failure to sign Mick Harford from Luton Town had cost United the league, and that he needed “an extra dimension” to the team if they were to win the league. He thus went on the hunt for a new striker. He first attempted to sign Alan Shearer from Southampton, but Shearer opted to join Blackburn.
After a sluggish start to the 1992/93 season, it began to look as if United were throwing away the title again. However, the purchase of Eric Cantona from Leeds United brightened United’s future and Ferguson’s position as manager. Cantona formed an impressive partnership with Mark Hughes and fired the club to the top of the league, ending United’s 26-year wait for the league title, and also making them the first ever Premier League champions. United had emerged champions with a 10-point margin over Aston Villa and Alex Ferguson won the first of his many Manager of the Year awards.
In the following season, 1993/94, United led the Premier League season virtually from start to finish. Ferguson was the first to the Premier League Manager of the Month award (he had so far won a record 24 of those awards), introduced for the start of the 1993/94 season, Cantona was top scorer with 25 goals despite sent off twice in the space of 5 days.
In the ensuing 17 seasons, Fergy led United to win the league title on 10 other occasions, on two occasions, United won it three consecutive times between 1999-2001 and 2007-2009. These victorious seasons saw the breakthrough of a number of young players: Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes (in 1994/95); Phil Neville and David Beckham (1995/96). They would be known as “Fergy’s Fledglings”, the decision to give them first team opportunities received heavy criticisms among sections of the media, notable among whom was former Liverpool defender and BBC’s Match Of The Day pundit, Alan Hansen, who famously proclaimed “Fergy, you can’t win anything with kids”. The youngsters went on to prove Hansen wrong by going on to be integral members of the team that won several laurels.
Ferguson’s greatest season as a football manager was the 1998/99 treble winning season. The season was characterised by highly dramatic matches. In the Champions League semi-final second leg, United conceded two early goals away to Juventus; however, inspired by Roy Keane, who would later miss the final through suspension, United came back to beat Juventus 3–2 and reach their first European Cup final since 1968. In the FA Cup semi-final, United faced close rivals Arsenal and appeared to be heading for defeat when Keane was sent off and Arsenal were awarded a last-minute penalty. Peter Schmeichel saved the penalty, and in extra time Ryan Giggs ran the length of the pitch to score perhaps the most memorable goal of his career to win the match. They then defeated Newcastle United 2–0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. The European triumph was the most incredible of all. With 90 minutes on the clock they were 1–0 down to Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp following a Mario Basler free kick, but in 3 minutes of injury time allowed by referee Pierluigi Collina, Teddy Sheringham, a substitute, equalised and extra time looked certain. But with just seconds left on the clock, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also a late substitution, scored the winning goal and history was made. In June 1999 Alex Ferguson becomes Sir Alex Ferguson, having received a knighthood in recognition of his services to the game.
On May 21st 2008, Fergy won his 2nd European Champions’ League trophy with, United beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. It was the first ever all-English UEFA Champions’ League final.
After the presentation ceremony of United’s 11th Premier League title, and 18th overall, in 2009, Ferguson conceded that he would stay on at United for as long as his health permitted him and that he would be glad to win the league title once more.
One recurring theme of Ferguson's management of Manchester United has been his view that no player is bigger than the club. He has consistently taken a "my way or the highway" approach in his dealings with players and the pressure of this management tactic has often been the cause of many notable players' departures. Over the years, players such as Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze have left the club after varying degrees of conflict with Ferguson. It is also suggested that one of the most inspirational players in the club's history, Roy Keane, was a victim of Ferguson's wrath following damning criticism of his team mates on the club's in-house television channel, MUTV. This disciplinary line that he takes with such highly paid, high-profile players has been cited as a reason for the ongoing success of Manchester United.
With 46 major trophies under his belt, Sir Alex Ferguson has became the most successful post-war football manager in British history and deserve all the tribute variously vented on him. His was a feat unlikely to be repeated this era.
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