Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest
Alex Ferguson - 25 Years On
-
04-11-2011 12:48am#1Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the greatest manager of the modern game and Sunday will see him celebrate a quarter of a century stretch at the helm of Manchester United. In that time at Old Trafford he has racked up an incredible 12 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups, two Champions Leagues and a Cup Winners' Cup with his teams averaging over 100 goals per season.
On Thursday, November 6, 1986 he was unveiled as Manchester United's new manager, replacing Ron Atkinson & is pictured below at the press conference flanked by Mike Edelsom & chairman Martin Edwards.
On the day of his appointment Ferguson said: 'United are the only club who could have tempted me to leave Aberdeen."
Ferguson unveiled as United manager in 1986.
But it wasn't an easy ride at the start - the United squad were renowned for having a big drinking culture & within a few months, he had let go of two of United's biggest stars, but worst offenders, Paul McGrath & Norman Whiteside.
Seasons passed without any success & it wasn't until 1990 that Ferguson won his first piece of silverware, beating Crystal Palace in an FA Cup Final replay that reportedly saved him from getting the sack.
Ferguson & Captain Marvel celebrate the FA Cup win.
In 1992, Ferguson signed Eric Cantona for a paltry £1.2 million. He turned out to be the talisman for United's first league title win since 1967 & was the engineer of Manchester United's renaissance as they continued to win the league title a further three times during his 5 year spell at the club and included 2 domestic doubles.
Ferguson unveils the man that would be King
There have of course, been many notable events since then, but probably United's greatest achievement under Sir Alex was their infamous treble winning campaign in the 1998/99 season with a team that included the likes of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Peter Schmeichel.
The partnership of Andy Cole & Dwight Yorke proved unstoppable as they reclaimed the league title from Arsenal, easily beat Newcastle in the FA Cup final and then pulled off the most stunning of last-gasp victories in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
1998–99 UEFA Champions League, Wednesday, 26 May 1999, Camp Nou, Barcelona.
It was a night to remember & two weeks later, he became a knight to remember (ba dum dish!).
So here's to Sir Alex.... a short, but fitting tribute to a man who from very humble beginnings in the tenements in Govan has risen to become one of the greatest football managers of all time.
On Sunday I'm sure that most football fans will doff a proverbial cap to his achievements as he hits the 25 year mark as a top class manager - a feat that will probably never be achieved by anyone ever again.
Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, 1986 to present day.33
Comments
-
No one will ever last as long at a top club again, not to mention with the unprecedented success he has achieved. He changed the landscape of English football forever, rebuilt a sleeping giant into the biggest club in the world, broke the Old Firm's dominance with Aberdeen and brought them European success. He never failed to move with the times and regenerated his teams again and again, with barely a break in his club's dominance. He spent brilliantly and developed youth in equal measure. He understood what the club stood for from day one and never forgot the United ethos. He's an old man now and he still has more drive than most men half his age. He said he'd knock that other lot off their perch. Then he went and did it.
He is Manchester United. I shudder to think where we'd be without him. Easily the greatest manager I've had the privilege to see and possibly the greatest in history.
0 -
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Looking forward to his next 25 years.
Here's a couple of choice quotes from the man himself
Plenty more here http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11061/7266983/Fergie-quote-unquote0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
Sir Alex Ferguson had been in the job as Manchester United manager for less than 48 hours before he subjected his first victim – team bus driver Derek Sutton – to the hairdryer.
End of the road: bus driver 'Sooty' makes first and last stop on manager's bench
As this picture shows, from Ferguson’s first game in charge against Oxford United on Nov 8, 1986, the Scot was accompanied by a small group of assistants, physios and substitutes in the dug-out at the Manor Ground.
But the man to his left, Sutton, was apparently met with a welcome of ‘Who the fuck are you?’ by Ferguson as he took a seat on the bench next to the newly-installed United manager.
Ferguson was less than impressed by the presence of the bus driver on the bench and when he turned to his left at Oxford and it was made clear to Sutton that it would be the first and last time that he sat next to the new manager.
From left to right, the line-up in the dug-out is physio Jim McGregor, substitute Jesper Olsen, coach Eric Harrison, kit-man Norman Davies, Ferguson and Sutton.
The full article, written by Mark Ogden for The Telegraph can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/8868794/The-day-Manchester-United-manager-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-gave-the-bus-driver-the-hairdryer-treatment.html0 -
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
One of the minor yet poignant regrets for me is his conservatism re: over garments these days. You rarely see anything other than the AF training top or that - admittedly tasteful - black wool number.
It would be good to see a revival in such staples as this Malcolm Allison Spiv classic from his St Mirren days:
Or best of all, the legendary Adidas Trefoil Puffa Jacket in the Aberdeen days:
Possibly stained with tea after no doubt fucking a tea urn at Gordon Strachan or Jim Leighton for some minor insubordination.0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
On Denis Law “I remember some years ago I asked a young player if he had heard of Denis Law and he said he hadn’t. So I shot him.”
To Paul Ince at half-time against Barcelona in 1994 ”You’re a ****in’ bottler Incey! You cannae handle the stage, can you? You are a ****in’ bottler!”
On Peter Schmeichel ”He was towering over me and the other players were almost covering their eyes. I’m looking up and thinking ‘if he does hit me, I’m dead’”
On Ryan Giggs “I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind”
On Gary Neville ”If he was an inch taller he’d be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I’d check the milkman.”
On Filippo Inzaghi ”That lad must have been born offside.”
On Roy Keane after the semi-final against Juventus in 1999 “I don’t think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I already had of the Irishman, but he rose even further in my estimation at the Stadio Delle Alpi. The minute he was booked and out of the final he seemed to redouble his efforts to get the team there. It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player.”
Half time team talk at the 1999 European Cup Final ”At the end of this game, the European Cup will be only six feet away from you and you’ll not even able to touch it if we lose. And for many of you that will be the closest you will ever get. Don’t you dare come back in here without giving your all.”
On the 1999 Champions League triumph ”I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. Football. Bloody hell.”
On Liverpool ”My greatest challenge is not what’s happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their ****ing perch. And you can print that.”
After equalling Sir Matt Busby’s Premier League record “I’m privileged to have followed Sir Matt because all you have to do is to try and maintain the standards that he set so many years ago.”
Talking about the new ‘Fortress Carrington’ training complex ”It keeps those ****ers from the media out.”
To the media after kicking a boot into David Beckham’s face in 2003 ”It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn’t happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!”
During 2003 title race ”It’s getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it.”
On United’s home support ”We have people coming here to admire the scenery and enjoy their crisps.”
On Arsene Wenger “They say he’s an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I’ve got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!”
After been beaten by Arsenal for the second time in the 2006 season ”Only true champions come out and show their worth after defeat- and I expect us to do that”
On José Mourinho “He was certainly full of it, calling me Boss and Big Man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper.”
On former players becoming managers “It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager. For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager, never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager.”
On Newcastle supporters “They have those fans who are so emotional and fanatical, they expect to win the World Cup”
On Alan Wiley (referee) ”The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher’s dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn’t fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous.”
On Rafael Benítez, after that embarrassing ‘fact’ press conference ”I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he’ll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous.”
Reaction to being asked if Liverpool would win the title in 2007 ”You must be joking. Do I look as if I’m a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?”
On Ronaldo “I bet him he wouldn’t get 15 league goals and I’m going to have to change my bet with him. If he gets to 15 I can change it and I am allowed to do that because I’m the manager. I’m going to make it 150 now”
On Rooney “When we signed him [Rooney] at 18, everyone said ‘what will he be like at 21?’ Now he’s 21, people are saying ‘what will he be like at 25?’ It was always destined to be that way”0 -
Advertisement
Advertisement