Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson – The managerial divinity

Better-known as Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scottish manager built an empire at Manchester United with his tenure lasting over 26 and a half years. It is the longest by any at the club, surpassing Matt Busby’s record of 24 years. He is also the longest serving manager in the history of English Premier League. The Scot has won a stupendous 38 trophies with the Old Trafford club which include 13 Premier League titles, 2 UEFA Champions League trophies, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 10 Charity Shields and four other European trophies.

These are just stats to back up the epic saga of the managerial genius. What’s more intriguing is how the Scot came around to win all these silverwares during his time at the Old Trafford club. His first big thing at the club was taking Manchester United from 21^st position to 11^th in the league. This was during his first season as a manager at the club, i.e 1986-87. 3 seasons later, he was slated by the journalists and the Old Trafford crowd for having a bad run of early games. Although he mentions this as the darkest period ever suffered in the game, he did not give in.

Later in 1992, when the premiership started, he brought the league trophy to Old Trafford for the first time since 26 years. Man Utd had a bad run of early games and nobody expected them to win the league. It is that man, Sir Alex, who brought in Eric Cantona from Leeds United. The French striker turned around the season with his outstanding performances alongside Mark Hughes.

Rest of the premiership years is history. Unlike the modern day managers who nag the board for funds to buy players, Sir Alex built the club on the academy players and young talents, rather than buying a top player for a ridiculous amount of money.

Peter Schmeichel, Eric Cantona, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Steve Bruce, Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and the latest teen sensation Adnan Januzaj are amongst the top signings that Sir Alex made during his tenure at the Old Trafford club. As it can be seen, he has managed different generations of players and the quality of football played on the field never seemed to be compromised, which can be backed up by the silverwares he won with these players in the team. Of course he’s made a few bad signings as well, but let’s not go into that because the above mentioned names overwhelm those.

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Phil Neville or popularly known as “The class of ‘92” and “Fergie’s fledglings” were first amongst the players (kids) who went on to become top players under Sir Alex’s mentorship in the premier league era. When Sir Alex introduced these players in the first team, the first result was a loss and pundits slated him saying he can’t win anything with kids. Although the team was 10 points behind the leaders during Christmas, Fergie overturned the situation and managed to win the title with the so called ‘kids’, thus proving his doubters wrong.

1999 is a historic year in the former United manager’s career. Fergie won the unprecedented treble of League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. He was also awarded the Knighthood and Freedom of the City of Aberdeen for his services towards the glorious game.

Sir Alex is a type of manager who has total control over his players. He is the boss. It is about the club and not a player. Be it Eric Cantona’s infamous kung-fu kick, Roy Keane and his quirks, disappointments with Jaap Stam, Wayne Rooney advising the manager to bring in Ozil or Paul Pogba’s unjust wage demand, the Scot would never let these things take over him or the club. He’s shown the world that he’s more than just capable of putting the players in their position. This is one of the things that define the Scottish manager.

Apart from the unprecedented and historic treble, United won 3 domestic doubles in 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99 and an European double in 2008-09 under the Scot. The best fan moment of Sir Alex Ferguson’s career at Manchester United is winning the 19^th league title in the 2010-11 season which saw Liverpool being knocked out off their perch.

Even with the different generations of players over 20 years of premiership, Sir Alex never let Manchester United finish outside top 3 with losing the title to Chelsea with just a point shy and Manchester City on goal difference being the most disappointing runner-up finishes. Who could possibly do that? No one but Sir Alex. No wonder he’s looked upon by almost every football fan in the world and the whole of footballing world. Nobody can match what Sir Alex did at a club like Manchester United, from rags to riches seems pretty apt under the circumstances.

Manchester United is known for its attitude of never giving in, no matter what. Evidently, its the Scot who deserves lion’s share of the credit, although the club could brag of it during the Busby days. The first league title and the first champions league title that Sir Alex won illustrates it all. The same could be seen on numerous occasions where Man Utd, under the Scot has turned down a trailing deficit and has went on to win the match.

The same spirit is still seen amongst the players which can be backed up by the latest boxing day emphatic win at Hull City. It is these breath taking encounters that have resulted in the fans across the globe to address Manchester United as “Comeback Kings”. Talk about the Scot’s legacy!

All the glorious premiership years that Manchester United has savoured would not have been possible if not for this visionary. He is the club’s foundation, past and the present. The club, what it is today, owes to the Scot’s hardwork, sweat, passion, inspiration, vision, conviction and shrewdness.