Sir Alex Ferguson: The man behind Manchester United’s red tide of success
He has managed one of the greatest football clubs of the world with aplomb and panache for nearly a quarter of a century. He has won more major trophies for his team than any other contemporary manager. He has never been one to
take any kind of criticism lying down, and is never too far from controversy, a fact which apparently endears him even more to the football following masses. Revered by friends and foes alike, the man is none other than Sir Alex Ferguson, who completed 24
years at the helm of Manchester United earlier this month. Let us take a look at the life and times of the great Scotsman.
Born Alexander Chapman Ferguson, on the 31st of December, 1941, in Glasgow, Scotland, he was probably destined to attain greatness in the game of football. He supported Rangers passionately as a kid. He was never deemed
to be a great football player, but his record is one of a decent player rather than that of a mediocre one. His senior playing career spanned 17 years from 1957 to 1974, a time during which he scored 170 goals in 317 appearances for a variety of clubs, of
which Rangers, Falkirk and Queen’s Park are the notable ones. He was at his most prolific for Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic, for which he scored 66 goals in only 89 appearances. In the 1965-66 seasons he scored an amazing 45 goals in 51 games for the
club out of which 31 were scored in the Scottish League’s First Division (now the Scottish Premier League), a tally which earned him the honour of being joint top scorer in the league, but still failed to win him a trophy.
After saying farewell to a less than glittering career in 1974, he began his managerial career, which was eventually going to earn him his place among football’s greats. He managed small clubs like East Stirlingshire and St. Mirren
at the start, but his big break came when he was appointed the manager of Aberdeen in 1978. He won the club the Scottish Premier League trophy in the 1981-82 season, a feat they had not managed since 1955. In the following season, he earned the European success,
by winning them the European Cup Winners’ Cup, making Aberdeen only the third Scottish side ever to have won a European trophy. That feat must have signalled it for football pundits that this young manager was destined for bigger and better things.
Even though he did turn down offers from Wolves, Arsenal and Tottenham, that would give him a chance to move to the bigger stage of the English League, he eventually moved to Manchester United in 1986, and they rest as it is said
is history. The move began a long and fruitful relationship, for both Sir Alex and the great club, which is ongoing even after such a long time. The impact he had with his strict disciplinarian ways on the club’s players was evident instantly: he had dragged
United to the 11th place by the end of the season; they had been at 21st when he had taken over. The next season was even better as he got some new players and started building up a winning combination; United finished second.
Sir Alex’s first league success as United manager came in 1992, when his signing Eric Cantona, forming a formidable partnership with Mark Hughes, was instrumental in getting the club their first league title in 26 years. He won
the League and Cup double for United in the 1994-95 season, repeated the feat in 1995-96, even though he had been heavily criticized for relying on youngsters like Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and Neville among others when his rival teams were making big money
signings. In 1998-99, the club scaled even greater unprecedented heights under his leadership as they won the treble consisting of the League, the FA Cup and the Champions League. In total he has won 11 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 UEFA
Champions Leagues for United in his time as their manager, while having rebuilt the team virtually from scratch many times in the process.
All said it is not only his success that endears him to football fans worldwide. It is his charisma, his flair, his seemingly endless hunger and drive for success, his childlike and pure passion for the game, and last but not the
least his constant gum chewing and his famous purple nose that make him one of the greatest characters in football. May his reign continue for long.
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