Among the four statues installed outside the Old Trafford football stadium in Greater Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson is the proud subject of one. There are few football managers in the history of the game who have had success comparable to the Scotsman.
So much has his influence been on the modern game that a statue built in memory of his impact at Manchester United seems like small repayment to his contributions to football at all levels.
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There are many things that a number of football fans wouldn’t consider common knowledge about Sir Alex. The following 5 are some elements of his legacy which remain ignored by large sections of the Manchester United, but which may well help the average reader to put his managerial career in perspective:
#1 Role in the departure of some of Manchester United’s most important players
Sir Alex was an authoritarian in the United dressing room, and his word was equivalent to law for all players at the club – especially after he gained league success. A number of players – most notably David Beckham and Roy Keane – left Manchester United at very crucial junctures of their careers because of spats with him.
There are other players like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Diego Forlan and Jaap Stam, among others, who were shown the door by him. All three of them were world-class talents who would definitely have bolstered the club’s successes if they had found form and fitness with games under their belt, but Ferguson allowed them to leave the club and bolster rival teams in Europe.
While Ferguson’s record is something that cannot be argued with, there is no doubt that had he kept his notoriously short temper under control, United would have won more trophies under him.
#2 Role in Manchester United’s depleted squad strength after Ronaldo’s departure
It is widely known today that Real Madrid approached Manchester United in the summer of 2008 to purchase Cristiano Ronaldo.
Thus, when Ronaldo’s departure in May 2009 left United without a Ballon D’Or winner, their most important goal-getter as well as their most effective wide player, other managers would have spent big on signing a winger of comparable stature.
Arjen Robben left Real Madrid to join Bayern Munich in the same summer for a rather paltry sum of €25 million. Had Ferguson snapped up the Dutch winger, who had a proven pedigree in the Premier League from his days with Chelsea, United would have had significant cash left in the bank left from Ronaldo’s transfer fee. Instead, Ferguson signed Antonio Valencia, who has never shown world-class levels of consistency for the club.
United have struggled to find a winger of comparable quality ever since, and the blame should fall squarely on Ferguson’s shoulders.
#3 Struggles at the beginning of his tenure
Ferguson’s successes with United are all well-documented by various biographers, and even in his own autobiography published in 2012. What fans have forgotten about is the fact that he took nearly four years to win his first trophy with the club.
United finished 2nd in Ferguson’s first full season, 9 points behind victors Liverpool. In 1988-89, however, despite signing Mark Hughes back from Barcelona in his 3rd season, United could only manage an 11th-placed finish – the same as ‘86-87, his first season in charge.
His fourth season was not much of a consolation at the beginning, and the pressure mounted on Ferguson after United’s humiliating 5-1 loss to derby rivals Manchester City. Ferguson’s first title at the club came at the end of this season, and it was here that United began building their legacy as England’s most successful team of the 1990s and 2000s.
#4 Record at Aberdeen
The Manchester United faithful are a decent bunch when it comes to honouring the legacy of quite easily their greatest manager ever in Sir Alex. But what they don’t do so well is hiding the fact that Sir Alex did not just build his legacy at Old Trafford.
In fact, the reason he was appointed at United was his absolutely stellar managerial work with Aberdeen, a club in the Scottish Premier League which did not have quite the same aura about it as the Glasgow pair of Rangers and Celtic. Sir Alex managed Aberdeen for a period of 8 years, during the last period of which he was also interim national team manager for Scotland.
In his time at Aberdeen, Sir Alex took Aberdeen to heights which have barely been viewed since the time he left. Under him, the club won 3 of only 4 of its First Division league titles, while finishing second in the league thrice as well. They also won four Scottish Cups during the 80s, as well as a famous victory over Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup-Winners’ Cup final at Gothenburg in 1983.
Thus, Sir Alex is not just part of the legacy of one club: he contributed equally to a huge chunk of Aberdeen’s as well. True football fans would do well to remember him for the entire body of his work, and not just that at Manchester United!
#5 Role in the appointment of David Moyes
Much of the Manchester United legion is misinformed about the realities of David Moyes’ appointment at the club. An appreciable chunk of their fans is still of the belief that Sir Alex Ferguson had nothing to do with it, when clearly, he had an important role in Moyes’ selection as his heir (as would logically be the case, since Ferguson oversaw much of United’s day-to-day work as a manager).
The problem with it is that because of this, the Manchester United fanbase does not assign enough blame for Moyes’ rather catastrophic tenure in charge of the club. Ferguson evidently saw enough merit in Moyes’ appointment in order to pass over the likes of Jose Mourinho – a proven winner in England who would readily have taken charge then, instead of the summer of 2016 as it turned out!
