When Sir Alex Ferguson retires at the end of the current season, the curtains will come down a memorable era for the entire football world. The outspoken Scot transformed United into one of the biggest clubs with millions of fans worldwide. Ajeyo Basu takes a look at his memorable journey
I can never forget that momentous day back in 1999 when Manchester United staged a stunning comeback to win the Champions Trophy Final against Bayern Munich and complete a historic treble in the process.
With the Red Devils trailing 1-2 and just three minutes left on the clock, it almost seemed like Bayern had the trophy in their hands.
But ManU did the unthinkable over the next couple of minutes, with two goals in stoppage time.
That is the image of Sir Alex Fergusson’s Manchester United that will always stay in my mind.
A team with indomitable fighting spirit, never giving up till the last second, no matter how seemingly the situation may be.
This is also one of the qualities which have endeared Manchester United to millions of fans across the globe.
Over the years, there have been teams which are more talented, with a superior football philosophy.
like FC Barcelona, who gave them a lesson in the art of football in the Champions league final of 2009. Or the ‘Galacticos’ of Real Madrid during the previous decade. Several other European clubs, including Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Inter Milan have had as good a squad — if not better — than United.
Even the Arsenal team of the late 90s and early 2000s, studded with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Viera, Emmanuel Petit, Martin Keone and David Seaman along with a young Thierry Henry with tons of speed to burn were extremely formidable opponents.
But led by the never say attitude of Sir Alex, the boys from Manchester surpassed them all on more than one occasion.
With Sir Alex Ferguson stepping down as manager of Manchester United at the end of the current English Premier league (EPl) season, a glorious chapter in the annals of world football will come to an end.
like the end of the world, for those who follow English football closely, the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson was always one of those things it’s probably best to imagine never actually happening at all.
The sight of a grumpy, scowling old man furiously chewing gum on the sidelines, spitting out instructions to his players and the occasional abuse to the referees and linesmen has become something of a permanent fixture in the world of football.
The announcement even forced Manchester United’s share price down by 4.5 per cent to less than $18 on the New York stock exchange initially but by the close it had bounced back to $18.44 — a 1.76 per cent fall overall.
English football’s longest serving manager will retire immediately after the Premier league fixture against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns Stadium on May 19. It will be the 2,154th match of Ferguson’s career — both as a player and as a coach.
Sir Alex’s career holds true to the age old adage that great players do not become great coaches.
As a player, he was little better than mediocre. He made his debut as a 16-year-old for Glasgow based Queen’s Park FC in the Scottish league. He played for the next 16 years, including a stint at Rangers FC before becoming manager at East Stirlingshire in June 1974 at the age of 32 - a comparatively young age for a manager.
When he took over as coach at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ on November 6, 1986 after a successful eight years at Scottish club Aberdeen, Manchester United was hardly the Goliath it is now.
The team had finished at a lowly 21st position (second from bottom) in the English league.
The fact that he managed to turn around the team and led them to a whopping 13 Premier league titles and two Champions Trophies over the next 26 years is testament to his football acumen and managerial skills.
There are more than one way of ranking football managers. First is the combined weight of total trophies won.
On this count Ferguson will compare favourably against the best with 13 English league titles, three Scottish titles, 16 domestic cups and four major European trophies.
He has both the Scottish first division title and the Fifa Club World Cup.
On his own he’s won more trophies than Arsenal, who first started trying to win them in 1886.
Other than trophies, the other standard measure of managerial achievement is the legacy that he leaves behind. Ferguson has left behind a lasting imprint at not one but two clubs.
First at Aberdeen, where his success in wresting the ascendancy away from the two giants of Scottish football — Celticand Rangers — is a brilliant footballing story in its own right. The team that beat Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners Cup crowned the first great Ferguson era.
After joining United, Ferguson has repeatedly demonstrated his own greatest strength, the ability to continue to learn and evolve even in moments of triumph.
Apart from all the trophies, he also had a knack of transforming good players into extraordinary ones. Be it the evergreen Ryan Giggs, who continues to compete at the highest level at the age of 39, David Beckham, Paul Scholes or Wayne Rooney.
And of course, who can forget Christiano Ronaldo who spent six years under Ferguson’s tutelage before a record transfer to European giants Real Madrid.
He will leave behind a legacy, a glittering era of unbridled success that will be a benchmark against which subsequent generations of managers will be judged.