Sir Alex Ferguson spent 26 years at Manchester United, saw the beginning and end of the careers of hundreds of players, had banter and friendly moments with opposing coaches, changed and improved the game, while, in the meantime, he himself adapted to the novelties of football.
How did the Scot manage to stay at the top and achieve such success first with Aberdeen and then with Manchester United? Fergie tells almost all her secrets in her books.
Loss – a sign of change
Fans remember the victories and the trophies, but they forget the defeats such as the 1:6 defeat by city rivals Manchester City and the lost finals. Ferguson’s approach was the exact opposite – he learned the most valuable lessons from heavy defeats. If you lost, then you made a mistake. Any good coach’s job is to fix it and change his approach as quickly as possible.
“When we lost to Everton the FA Cup final in 1995, I said enough! It’s time for a change.” And indeed a change came. Then we introduced the so-called Class of 92, which consisted of young talents (Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt and the Neville brothers). We had no more time, in which to wait for them,” Ferguson wrote in his autobiography.
In all of his 25-plus years we have seen few such major changes at United. In 1995 Ferguson sold his stars: Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis and gave the youngsters a chance. At the start of the new century Arsenal won two titles in three years, then came a new change at United with the names of Carrick, Rooney and Ronaldo.
In 2012 the “Red Devils” lost the title by goal difference and in that summer Robin van Persie was bought from Arsenal.
Refreshing the lineup it`s a must even after a perfect season
In 2008 United did a double with the Premier League and Champions League title but in the summer the club bought for 34 million pounds the Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov. Solskjaer arrived at “Old Trafford” in 1996, after the team had done another double – with Premier League title and FA Cup. Andy Cole also joined a champions squad.
Meanwhile, young talents were also given a chance and Ferguson wasn’t shy about pointing the door at some veterans.
“Buying new players helps us not to stagnate. Even in our best years, we couldn’t afford to stand still. My daily responsibility was to think about how the team could become even better.” says the Scotsman.
But there were also figures that were indispensable. At age of 35 Ryan Giggs lost much of his speed and could not run down the wing the same way he did in that FA Cup semi-final goal against Arsenal in 1999. However the Welshman had not lost his elegant touch, his perfect reading the game and the famous pass, for which he was moved further into the field.
Ferdinand also underwent a similar change. Due to back problems Rio could not match the speed of the top strikers so Fergie brought him back a few meters closer to the goal line. However, this hardly affected his qualities and in 2012/13 the 34-year-old defender was included in the team of the season.
If you have to choose between buying a new player or giving a young player a chance – choose the young one
Born in 1992: Brown, O’Shea, Welbeck, Cleverley, the Da Silva brothers and dozens more – Ferguson always gave talent a chance and this approach has several advantages:
** The club saves money
** The coaching staff does not have to start from scratch with the “new” player and everything about his past is clear – so there can be no surprises in this aspect
** The talent coming out of United’s academy fully understands the club’s values
“We knew how to find players to promote to the first team,” says Fergie.
The central defenders are the backbone of the team. No money should be spared for them
When Solskjaer splashed out £80m on Harry Maguire to strengthen the defensive core, Ferguson backed his decision and admitted he had done exactly the same for 26 years at United.
The Scot built his team in such a way that he could always fully rely on his central pair of defenders. We only have to recall Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. They brought stability, and every attack started precisely from the defense.
And the prices he paid for them were worthy of centre-forwards. In 1987 Ferguson paid as much for Bruce as for Brian McLair – the Scot who had scored 35 goals the previous season for Celtic (one million). For two years, Pallister cost as much as Hughes – about 2.5 million. Ferguson did not hesitate to spend on defenders at all.
“We paid a lot of money for defenders, but if you divide it by the time they played for us, it turns out that we got them almost for free,” explains the former coach in his book. Steve Bruce played 417 games in nine seasons at United, Gary Pallister – 437 games also in nine years, Rio Ferdinand – 455 in 12 seasons. Even a then-record £30 million doesn’t seem like much when it comes to absolute fidelity over a dozen years.
Players must know their place. If not, they should go
Ferguson was strict (especially at the beginning of his career), but he always gave a second chance. At St. Mirren and Aberdeen he chased players for frequent drinking and missing training. If the player realized his mistake and repented, the coach accepted him back. If he continued to consider himself right, however, he was kicked out of the team permanently.
At United, Sir Alex most hated footballers who thought they were bigger than the manager and the club. The best example of this is David Beckham. The conflict between the two began in 2003 after a 2-0 loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup. Ferguson shouts at Beckham in the dressing room after the game, while the England winger is unwilling to own up to mistakes made in the game. Yes, that’s the story with the boot and the split eyebrow. Interestingly, the next day, Ferguson showed Beckham a video of his misses during the match, but the player again did not think he had anything to criticize.
“David thought he was bigger than the manager, there’s no doubt about that. You can’t have one player run the dressing room (though they tried very hard) because all the power at Manchester United is with the manager. David signed his own sentence with his behavior.” , Ferguson explains his decision to send Beckham to Real Madrid.
Two years later, history repeated itself with Roy Keane. The Irishman was considered the main player of the team and badmouthed some of his teammates – Darren Fletcher, Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar, in an interview with the club channel. Ferguson gave him the opportunity to apologise, but at a team meeting Keane stood by his words, resulting in his contract being terminated.
Psychology is the perfect weapon
The ability to win games in the final minutes became Ferguson’s trademark at United, giving rise to the term “Fergie Time”. When the match entered the last 15 minutes, the “red devils” began to rush towards the opponent’s goal in search of a goal, without worrying that the opponent could punish them on the counter. Far from standing idly by the touchline, Fergie was constantly shouting at the referees, opposing coaches and nervously tapping his watch, whether he wanted more added time or to end the match earlier.
Ferguson explains that this had a negative effect on the psyche of the opponents. The more victories United forged in the closing minutes, the more the next rivals feared the “devils”. The very act of putting on an extra striker startled the opposition.
“They felt surrounded, besieged. They knew we weren’t going to give up. We fought for every inch of the pitch, we invaded the penalty area, as if we were asking them the question every time: ‘Will you last?’ Very often they capitulated,” he recalled Fergie.
Fergie Time not only worked perfectly during the matches themselves, but also in the battle for the title throughout the season. Every year, Sir Alex prepared his team’s training in such a way that his players would reach their peak form after the New Year.
Thanks to his psycho games during the matches and in the press conferences, Ferguson defeated his opponents. In 1992/93 Aston Villa led for most of the season, while in January 1996 Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle were 12 points ahead of United. In both cases, however, the winner was Fergie.
The main rules when communicating with football players are honesty and support
“If someone on your team is bothering you, you should tell them straight away,” Fergie said.
As strict as he was he had to be credited with never turning on his players in public. He tried to explain all his decisions – like why he left Dimitar Berbatov on the bench in the 2011 Champions League final.
“I wasn’t trying to show strength – I was just showing them that I was in control. Footballers love coaches with a strong hand. Remember, most of them come from working-class families where that is valued,” added Sir Alex.
“Hair dryer” does not always help. A calm attitude can be just as effectiveThe English media created an image of Fergie, according to which the Scotsman is constantly getting shouting at his players. But the great coach did not always act in the same way and did not resort to screaming after heavy losses. Instead, he tried to inspire his players and encourage them to perform better.
A telling example of this are his words at the break in 2001, when United were losing 0:3 to Tottenham. Instead of pulling out the “hair dryer” (the media dubbed Ferguson’s technique, where he yells furiously at his players and creates a powerful blast of air in their faces like a hair dryer), Fergie simply said: “Let’s try to score a quick goal in the second half time and see what happens.” United scored five and won 5-3.