HOW DO 19 SOUND?

When Alex Ferguson took over the management of Manchester United from Ron Atkinson in November 1986, he made a big statement of intent promising to ‘knock Liverpool off their perch’. United by then had won only 7 league trophies, as compared to Liverpool’s 16. Liverpool went on to win two additional titles in 1988 and 1990 to get their tally to 18.  And then they hit a stumbling block.

Alex Ferguson was renowned for breaking the Rangers-Celtic stranglehold on Scottish football as the manager of Aberdeen. Under his leadership, Aberdeen were crowned Scottish champions three times, they won the Scottish Cup four times (achieving the double in 1984) and the Scottish League Cup once.  They were also triumphant in Europe, winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983.

It was that fabulous record that persuaded Manchester United’s board to sign Ferguson, and in 1986, following a sojourn as Scotland caretaker manager at the World Cup, he was installed in the Old Trafford hot seat. Success was elusive in the early years of Ferguson’s managerial reign, but his resolute spirit and foresight in developing the club’s youth system ultimately yield reward.

The FA Cup win in 1990 saved Ferguson’s job, and spurred the Scot with the determination to overturn Liverpool’s record, a record they thought unassailable.  The Premier League era, which began from the 1992/93 season, gave United the springboard to dominate the English League.  Despite huge challenges posed by the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, United went on the claim the inaugural Premier League trophy, and retained it the following season.

Manchester United fans had high hopes of a first league title in 26 years when the 1992/93 season got underway.  Before the season begun, there was disappointment for the fans. England’s most successful striker, Alan Shearer, snubbed United, opting to join Newcastle from Southampton, while popular forward Mark Robins was sold to Norwich. The arrival of Dion Dublin proved scant consolation when the former Cambridge striker broke his leg just three games into his United career.  At the beginning of the inaugural Premier League season, there were few signs that this would be the campaign to end the wait for glory. However the signing of the charismatic, if somewhat temperamental, striker Eric Cantona from Leeds sparked a revival at Old Trafford. Ironically, the best 1.2 million pounds ever spent in the history of the transfer market was initially considered a risk. Cantona came to United on the back of a career in France that encompasses half a dozen acrimonious partings. Cantona scored five goals in six games to help United climb up the table. Cantona’s presence in the club brought a renewed vigor, confidence and flair that had not always been evident before the Frenchman’s arrival.

United went on to sweep five of the seven Premier League titles in the 1990s (including earning the double in 1994 and 1996, and the treble in 1999). Key players in that era include, apart from Cantona who retired in 1997, were Peter Schmeichel, Bryan Robson, Brian McClair, Ryan Giggs, Lee Sharpe, Mark Hughes, Andrei Kanchelskis, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, Ole Gunner Solskjaer, Jaap Stam, Teddy Sheringham, Karel Poborsky, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Roy Keane.

In the mid-1990s it was widely known that Ferguson felt that United had a number of young players who were ready to play in the first team. The youngsters, who would be known as "Fergie's Fledglings", included Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham,  Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who would all go on to be important members of the team. Blackburn had beaten United to the 1994/95 league title, and Everton managed a 1-0 victory against United in the FA Cup final, and so the 1995/96 season began without a major signing, at a time when the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United were making the headlines with big money signings.

When United lost the first league match of the 1995/96 season- 3–1 to Aston Villa, the media swooped upon Ferguson with undisguised glee. They wrote United off because Ferguson's squad contained so many young and inexperienced players.  Match of the Day pundit, Alan Hansen proclaimed that "you can't win anything with kids".

However, the young players performed well and United won their next five matches, exacting their revenge over Everton for the FA Cup defeat with a 3–2 win at Goodison Park and achieving a 2–1 away win over defending champions Blackburn Rovers who were now looking rather like relegation battlers than title contenders.

Cantona's return from suspension was a boost, but they found themselves 10 points behind Newcastle by Christmas 1995. A 2–0 home win over the Tynesiders in December narrowed the gap to seven points and a subsequent win over struggling QPR narrowed it to four points, but a 4–1 defeat for United at Tottenham on New Year's Day 1996 and a 0–0 home draw with Aston Villa saw the Magpies re-establish their wide lead and it looked certain that the league title was Newcastle's.

However a series of good results starting in mid January 1996 saw the gap close, and when United travelled to Newcastle and won 1–0 in March, the gap was down to a single point. United went top of the league soon after the win at Newcastle, who continued to drop points in crucial games.

Early April saw Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan's famous outburst on live television ("I'd love it if we beat them! Love it!"), and is generally regarded as the moment that Ferguson gained the upper hand against his opponent. United's Premier League title success was confirmed on the final day of the season, when they defeated a Middlesbrough side managed by former United captain Bryan Robson  in a game which ended in a 3–0 win despite strong displays by Boro confounding pre-match reports that Robson would give his old team an easy ride.

Other success stories of the 1996/97 season were two Norwegian signings, striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (the club's top scorer that season) and defender Ronny Johnsen, who were bargain buys as they were little known outside the Premier League on their arrival the previous summer but went on to be key factors in United's fourth Premier League title.

The turn of century saw United achieving a remarkable laurel in the Premier League, including a record three consecutive titles on two separate occasions (1999, 2000 and 2001 as well as 2007, 2008 and 2009). The acquisition of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Laurent Blanc (both in 2001), Rio Ferdinand (2002), Cristiano Ronaldo (2003), Wayne Rooney (2004), Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra (both in 2005) proved pivotal in the century.

In the 2002/03 season, United won their 8th Premier League title, just over two months before the end of the season they were eight points behind leaders Arsenal. But an improvement in form for United, and a decline for Arsenal, saw the Premier League trophy gradually slip out of the Londoners' grasp and push it back in the direction of Old Trafford. Ferguson described the season’s title triumph as his most satisfying ever, due to the nature of a remarkable comeback. The excellent run-in had produced 10 wins and a draw (including 4–0 home win over Liverpool and a 6–2 away demolition of Newcastle United) from the final 11 games, and no defeats since Boxing Day.

There followed three futile seasons, Arsenal won the title in 2003/04 and a Roman Abramovich-bankrolled Chelsea claimed the next two titles. But Alex Ferguson charged the players to make history; they obliged and went on to win another three consecutive titles.

In 2008 Liverpool fans mocked United with a banner at Anfield ‘Come Back When You Get 18’, reiterating their bragging right as the team with most league titles in the English top division. The 2008/09 season saw United winning an 18^th league title to equal Liverpool’s record haul. In the 2009/10 season, Chelsea denied United a record 19^th title, winning by just one point, after beating Liverpool at Anfield in a game many conspiracy theorists want to believe Liverpool made it soft for Chelsea, especially after Steven Gerrard made an uncharacteristic back-pass to allow Frank Lampard to pounce and score.

In the season that follows, clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea and new mega-rich Manchester City, spent heavily in the transfer market. But Alex Ferguson went for a little known Mexican striker, Javier Hernandez in a bargain worth 6 million pounds. Chicharito, as he liked to be called, proved mercurial in front of goal, scoring 20 goals in his inaugural season. Dimitar Berbatov finished as the season joint top scorer and Wayne Rooney reversed his earlier decision to leave the club. A solid backline led by Vidic catapulted United to the 2010/11 league title, finishing 9 points ahead of Chelsea. As United upended Liverpool’s record by winning a 19^th league title, it is befitting enough to boomerang Liverpool’s ridicule with an apt question: ‘How Do 19 Sound?’