'Cheerio' Sir Alex Ferguson: End of an era, start of a new one

When a 45 year old Alex Chapman Ferguson took over from Ron Atkinson back in November 1986, he was widely considered as a talented young coach, who was trusted with the job of bringing the glory days back to United. The feisty disciplinarian from Govan had it in him to do it. After all, he did manage to break the dominance of the Old Firm in his time in charge of Aberdeen and was also the architect behind Aberdeen’s shocking win against a strong Real Madrid side in a Super Cup final.

But he still hadn’t proved his worth in the big stage. There is a sea of difference between succeeding in Scotland and succeeding in England. The English game has always had an air of physicality about it. That is why it stood out from other leagues and hence made the job in hand more difficult.

Sir Alex Ferguson was a champion, but it would be a great mistake to think that he was able to buy his way through after he joined United. His career at the club didn’t start like a fairy tale. It took him three matches to register his first win. He saw the intent in his players and was quick to exclaim that there’s nothing wrong with the team (as United hadn’t won the league in over 20 years), he said all they need is someone to show them the way.

Little did United know that they had scalped the right man for the job. As time went on, the team did improve but not substantially. And he definitely didn’t have any trophy to back it up till 1989. In 1990, when United were pitched against a mighty Nottingham Forest side led by the legendary Brian Clough in a 3rd Round FA Cup match, it was widely believed that United would lose the match to favourites Nottingham Forest and Ferguson would be sacked. United eventually won the match 1-0 and Ferguson stayed as United’s manager. This win is widely considered as the one, which saved his United career. He later went on to win the first league title in 1991-92.

Ferguson continued building his side and brought in the likes of Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel and promoted the young Ryan Giggs into the Playing XI. These players went on to form the core of a trophy grinding machine called ‘Manchester United‘. It all started with the first double which they won by lifting the league title and the League Cup. Fergie’s time had just started.

He promoted his ‘Class of 92′, widely known as “Fergie’s Fledgings”, into the first team, which included the likes of Paul Scholes, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, David Beckham, Nicky Butt. Sir Alex Ferguson had a knack of proving his doubters wrong. When he fielded these youngsters, his critics were fast to react and they exclaimed that he would never win anything with these kids. But on a May night in 1999 at Camp Nou, Barcelona, the world saw the genius weave his magic, when United came back from dead to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in injury time. a feat, which he again achieved in 2008 by beating Chelsea 6-5 in penalties after the game stayed tied at 1-1 after extra time.

Sir Alex Ferguson, in his 26 years in charge of Manchester United, has won everything anyone could possibly win in football. His greatest achievement at United has been his ability to create teams, time and again at times from scratch to overcome challenges arising from rival teams assisted by United’s superior scouting and Ferguson’s ability to spot talents. He exclaimed in 1996,

“My greatest challenge is not what’s happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f****** perch. And you can print that”.

And he rightly backed it up when United won their 19th league title in ’10. In his time at United, Ferguson saw off Liverpool’s tradition, Leeds’ rivalry, Blackburn’s money, Arsenal‘s onvincibles, Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea overhaul, and later Mancini’s overspending Manchester City.

Ferguson was a strict disciplinarian and a shrewd tactician and had a steely determination. He was a firm believer in the ideology that the club is bigger than any individual, and he always made sure that no player crossed the line; those who dared never got away. United under Ferguson has always had the knack of punching above their weight. Arguably, United has never had the best individuals in their team with the likes of Chelsea and Man City at the moment boasting of better individuals, but individual brilliance rarely wins you games. It’s the team effort that counts. After all, they call it a team game for a reason.

He instilled such confidence and positive attitude in his side that they were feared by any opposing team, especially in the last quarter of the match, not to mention the never ending injury time for the opponents, more if United were behind. It’s this winning mentality and spirit in the team that made players believe that it’s not over till it’s over.

The number of points that they have accumulated from these uncountable number of comebacks and injury time winners is just startling, leading to the title “Comeback Kings”. A title they always live up to. Any team, no matter what the magnitude is, always know for a fact that if they are to beat United, they will have to give their all. Nobody ever has it easy. In his time at United he has won 13 league titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 Champions League titles and many more.

The answer to the question as to who is the best manager ever has long been debated. And the answer depends on a number of factors. Trophies are quantifiable and nobody comes close to Sir Alex Ferguson’s total of 49 trophies. In fact, a total of 21 trophies separate the legendary Ukrainian Valeriy Lobanovskyi who comes next in the list with Lobanovskyi winning most of it in the less competitive Ukrainian league.

Then comes different football cultures. The likes of Jose Mourinho, Giovanni Trapattoni, Ernst Happel have won across different football leagues. While many would disagree with Ferguson’s European performance citing Bill Shankly’s record three Champion’s League titles. Contribution to evolution of tactics, science or football as a whole is another major factor.

Helenio Herrera and Catenacio, Rinus Michels and Total Football, Guus Hiddink and organisation, Tele Santana and aesthetics, Brian Clough and alchemy. Talk about legacy and consistency, and none matches Ferguson’s enormous legacy nor his consistency. Longevity and the challenges that come with it like frequent team building, loyalty is another factor where Ferguson edges out the rest. Fergie retiring in the highest level is another factor that trumps him over the rest. Ranking the best managers will always be subjective to a certain level, but when you collect the pieces of the jigsaw, it is observed that Sir Alex Ferguson does accumulates the most number of pieces or at least the biggest pieces.

Finally, Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, though to many it seemed that the day would never come. There were even stories shared by the Old Trafford faithfuls in good humour that Fergie will have to be carried out of Old Trafford in his deathbed. People would debate the timing of his departure but like all his press conferences and like all his mind games, he got this one right as well.

As he explained, the core team consists of players aged between 22-23 who are capable enough to continue for the next decade as they are yet to peak. And leaving an organisation at such a time is the best way to move forward. He has done his job, left a legacy and now it’s for his successor and the team to carry on from here and emulate his success.

26 years back in 1986, a 45 year old Alex Chapman Ferguson was signed to take United where it belonged - the top. 26 years later, as Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, what he has achieved in the course of his career cannot be put into words, numbers or figures . He was nothing but a ‘winner’. An absolute Monster in his words. ‘Cheerio’ Sir Alex Ferguson ! You will always be remembered.