5 of the greatest challenges overcome by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United

#5 Quietening the noisy neighbours

Robin Van Persie helped Ferguson to overcome his last great challenge - Manchester City

By the later years of his reign, Ferguson had overcome a myriad of challenges from other clubs and managers. The likes of Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho had certainly tested his mettle, but all had eventually been overcome by hook or crook. In 2008, though, a new challenge began to emerge in the form of United’s “noisy neighbours” Manchester City.

City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi Group and began to spend insane amounts of money in order to become title challengers. It took four seasons, but by 2011/12 – bolstered by world-class players like Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero – it was clear that City were now the biggest challenge to United’s – and Ferguson’s – dominance over the Premier League. Indeed, after the tightest league title race ever, City finished the season as champions, beating United via goal difference as the sides finished on the same points.

It would’ve been easy for Ferguson to throw in the towel there – he’d had over 20 years of success at United and by the summer of 2012, it was simply impossible for the Red Devils to match City’s spending power. But instead – almost mirroring the way he led United to bounce back against Arsenal in the late 1990’s – Ferguson kept faith with his side and added one key player – Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, who Ferguson hoped would add the goals United had missed since losing Cristiano Ronaldo three years prior.

Despite leading a largely ageing squad – with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs all past their primes – Ferguson was able to overcome the challenge of City one last time, as he took United to a 20th league title before retiring at the end of the season, with Van Persie hitting 30 goals to show exactly why he was such an important signing.