Fergie: His Legacy

The world of football - and bookmakers - has been thrown into the biggest news frenzy and shock it has seen in a long time. Close football followers - or rather followers of social and news media - might have seen the signs earlier today having noticed the lack of denials from Old Trafford as you normally would get each season since 2001.

Nevertheless, this is definitely the biggest and most explosive piece of news to hit British football for quite a long time and will definitely have seismic ramifications for some time yet - especially in regards to who will succeed him in the manager's role at Old Trafford.

Ferguson will not completely depart the picture at Man U - he will take a role as director and ambassador at the club meaning that whoever will be manager at Old Trafford from next season will still have to work under Fergie - which does cut down the number of potential candidates including Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger.

David Moyes 

Everton's David Moyes has been the perennial favourite for the role but could be a huge gamble by Manchester United given that he has not won any titles yet and hasn't shown that he can take on a side full of superstars - mind you, Fergie himself was a big gamble when he was first appointed in November 1986 by a Manchester United who were consistently losing at home to the likes of Derby County, Liverpool, and Nottingham Forest.

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has been another name mentioned in recent times but it would again be a huge gamble given his style of football differs to what Manchester United fans have grown accustomed to. However, he does have a good relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson despite having managed against him during his time at Porto, Chelsea, Internazionale and more recently, Real Madrid. In fact, Mourinho's visit to Manchester United earlier in the season with his under-fire Real Madrid side was hailed as a preview of the future.

Jurgen Klopp

However, another man worth a punt on is Jurgen Klopp who many say has impressed the Manchester United top brass with the way he has returned Borussia Dortmund to its current glory times and has worked well with Dortmund's highly successful academy.

The Guardian has jokingly mentioned Mark Robins at Huddersfield and heck, former Hull manager, Phil Brown. At this rate, Ricki Herbert is a favourite for the role at Manchester United.

So pulling aside any eye patches we have against United as Liverpool or non-United fans, what is Ferguson's legacy?

Firstly, his statistics do not lie - at United, 13 league titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 Champions League titles and 1 each of the Intercontinental Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

Add his 3 Scottish Premier League titles, 4 Scottish Cups, Scottish League Cup, Cup Winners Cup at Aberdeen and without a doubt, Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in British football history ahead of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and streets ahead of Brian Clough and Alf Ramsey.

Therefore, the title of greatest football manager ever in Britain is one Ferguson certainly warrants credit for even from the most biased of Liverpool and City fans.

Sure his antics over the years have made him an easy target for abuse and criticism especially with the referee and the BBC. But no one else in the game knows the game as well as Ferguson has and no one probably will ever manage in the style Ferguson has done. Ferguson was the last of a generation of managers who has now given way to the thinkers of the game, the Pep Guardiolas, Jose Mourinhos, Andre Villas-Boas and Rafa Benitez's of the game.

Ooh ah Cantona

Captain Keano

CR7

What cannot be denied is his ability to dismantle and rebuild a great team over such a long period of time. Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes were eventually replaced by Jaap Stam, Roy Keane and Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole who were eventually replaced by Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. Ferguson was never afraid to court controversy with getting rid of his best players - Roy Keane and David Beckham are testament to this and his once lynch pins were quietly forced out of Old Trafford when they got too big for the club in Fergie's opinion - but in the end, Fergie appeared to get each move right.

Ryan Giggs has been key to Fergie's success

The one player Fergie appeared to love dearly was Ryan Giggs - the one-time enigmatic winger, now holding midfielder in his late 30s is one of the few players to survive Fergie's hairdryer treatment and one wonders now about whether Giggs' time at Old Trafford is at an end sooner rather than later.

His ultimate legacy is that we will all somewhat miss seeing this enigmatic, animated Scotsman who knows the game better than anyone else, on the other side of the touchline, orchestrating his side to score a last gasp equaliser or winner against our side. His longevity in the game has meant that for many of us, Ferguson is the only manager that we've known at United and just as it will be when the Queen of England eventually passes on and hands over the throne to Prince Charles, there will be that void that we miss yet deny that we miss simply because we didn't know anyone else who was there.

A sight we've all grown up with but won't be seeing for much longer...

Here in my opinion is Ferguson's greatest ever team -

Peter Schmeichel (GK), Denis Irwin, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona

SUBS: Edwin van der Saar (GK), Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Robin van Persie

Tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United fans love him. Everyone else especially Liverpool fans usually loathe him. But everyone respects Sir Alex Ferguson and what he has achieved in the game. And most people wouldn't dispute that he is the greatest football manager ever known, and probably even the greatest manager of a sports team ever.




25 years is a long time and it was a long time ago when Manchester United were a club struggling to reclaim former glories. Since the last triumph in 1967, the Red Devils had been relegated to the Second Division and then seen their bitter rivals, Liverpool win honour after honour at home and abroad while they languished in mid-table. Old Trafford was still one of the great arenas of the sport but despite the many stars that had come to play for them, the great stadium hadn't seen a team able to consistently challenge for honours.

Ron Atkinson and his then-record signing, Bryan Robson, got them close in the early 80s with wins in the FA Cup. But with the club facing relegation in 1986, Atkinson was dismissed.


Up stepped Fergie.

Ferguson had guided Aberdeen to European Cup Winner's Cup in 1983 and managed Scotland at the 1986 World Cup after the sudden passing of legendary manager, Jock Stein. He had job offers from the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur but eventually took the Manchester United job following the dismissal of Ron Atkinson.

Fergie guided United to 11th and instilled discipline amongst the likes of Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson. Manchester United continued to improve under Ferguson with the likes of Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes and Paul Ince signed for large sums.

Yet, they were still off the pace of their Merseyside rivals and lacked the consistency to push for the title; they still flirted with regulation as the 1980s drew to a close.

In 1992, the Premier League replaced the English First Division as the top league in England but Manchester United still lacked one final part in their quest to end their long title drought.

In came Cantona.

The enigmatic Frenchman was signed from Leeds United. Combining with Mark Hughes, Manchester United climbed up the table and eventually ended the long title drought by 10 points ahead of Aston Villa.

It was like a light switch had been flicked on.

The 1990s belonged firmly to Manchester United. They established themselves as England's no. 1 club and eventually one of the strongest clubs in Europe. At the same time, their success made them the world's most famous and followed football club.

It didn't matter that the likes of Cantona, Bruce, Pallister & Robson would be phased out and replaced by the likes of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham and the Neville brothers - those kids Mark Lawrenson claimed couldn't win the title in their first season. It didn't matter that those "kids" would be replaced by the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson, etc. It also didn't matter that stars like Andy Cole, Yorke, Stam, Van Nistelrooy, Veron would also come and go.

United still kept winning consistently at home and even more so in Europe.

There were seasons when United weren't champions - 1994/95, 1997/98, 2001/02, 2009/10 when the likes of Blackburn, Arsenal and Chelsea interrupted United's championship runs. There was a barren period between 2003 and 2007 when Manchester United were definitely second best. The media speculated that Ferguson's time had come up then.

But to Ferguson's credit, he kept building teams with a mixture of established and upcoming stars, pulling them down when they weren't winning enough and then rebuilding them to achieve success for at least 2 seasons.

As a result, Manchester United are now statistically the most successful club in England with the most league titles, along with the most FA Cup titles. Europe is probably Ferguson's last frontier and conquering that great team called Barcelona led by one of the greatest players ever known, Lionel Messi, in a European Cup Final is now Ferguson's aim after firmly establishing themselves as champions of England.

Meanwhile, Old Trafford's North Stand was renamed the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand prior to Manchester United's league game at home to Sunderland. A fitting and thoroughly deserved tribute for Manchester United's greatest manager - even the late Sir Matt Busby would not dispute that fact. If there was one manager who deserved his name to be immortalised in some form, Ferguson would be the first name out of the blocks - a very rare accolade for a manager in any sport.

For non-Manchester United fans, the day Ferguson finally hangs up the boots will probably be a day to savour in some form; but I'd still imagine there would be plenty of tears shed for a truly glorious era and he would be dearly missed. Thankfully for United fans - and most football lovers - Ferguson seems set to carry on as long as his health allows him to.

Ferguson is a man who lives on seeing his "own" protege - football team or even horse of which he is keen on too - achieve success on the field. Success is his lifeline - he is so desperate for it that he oftens go overboard with referees and the media to achieve it. Even in his 70s, his hunger for success dwarfs that of his younger colleagues.

So here's to Sir Alex Ferguson. A true legend of the sport.      

Fergie's Greatest XI?
GK - Peter Schmeichel
DF - Denis Irwin, Steve Bruce, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville
MF - Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo
FW - Eric Cantona, Wayne Rooney