As an avid supporter of Manchester United and of course Sir Alex Ferguson, the question that every peer wants to know after just announcing his retirement at he end of this season - what was the key to his longevity and success?
I mean it's been written about and documented enough that I'm not going to go too deep into it but the thing that's impressed me most about the United head honcho is his adaptability. Just recently I was talking to my Geordie mates about this, and they all seemed to say the same thing when it came to Ferguson, his hunger, desire and man-mangement skills as the main factors for Fergie's fruitful reign at Utd.
However, as much as I will not deny these suggestions (as they are true) I don't fully believe that these are the main reasons that he is still at the helm at Old Trafford.
In years gone by, when Chelsea and Arsenal were threatening to overtake United as England's dominant force, I for one felt very uneasy at the thought of being knocked off our perch at the top having seen us doing so well towards the turn of last century. It was at this stage (circa 2001-2006) when uncertainties starting creeping in over Ferguson's future at OT, was he "past it", had he "lost it" were the quotes doing the rounds in the press at the time.
Being the man he is, SAF simply rubbished these claims and went about his business in his usual relaxed manner, slowly re-building the team in a non-brash fashion by not splashing cash like there's no tomorrow. Instead, he hand-picked specific types of players who would fit the bill playing attractive yet effective football. Cristiano Ronaldo (2003) Wayne Rooney (2004) Edwin van der Sar (2005) and in my opinion, the most important of years, 2006 where he secured the services of what is now the core and heart of the squad. Signings that year included Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick. Albeit, there were a few flop signings along the way DAVID BELLION, Djemba-Djemba, and Veron all strong candidates for the worst ever United signings. The point is though, that Fergie was onto something during these "crisis" times.
Football was changing, and he realised it. Gone are the days of the complete midfielder, the Steven Gerrard's, Roy Keane's, and Patrick Vieira's of this world. The once sturdy, and ever-reliable 4-4-2 is now the out-dated, older brother of the 4-2-3-1. SAF saw that Cristiano Ronaldo was not the type of winger to come back and help out poor old Gary Neville (who was ageing fast at this stage in terms of his footballing ability) but that didn't matter. Neville is quoted as saying:
"He [Ronaldo] changed my perception, we had a midfield four — Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs — I played with Beckham for seven years. They never had the freedom to decide their position on the pitch. Suddenly I didn't have someone in front of me who would come back and double up on the left-winger. In those early years he used to go wandering off. He was told to play on the right by Alex Ferguson and would end up on the left. That was unheard of. By the end of Ronaldo’s Manchester United career I was willing him not to chase back so he was free. He made me realise you didn't always need to be in your shape."
What happened here was that Gary Neville, like probably everybody else at that time, didn't realise what was going on in terms of the new wave of footballing tactics, and ultimately the way football is being played today at the highest level. Player development was not the standard of what it once was, and managers started toying with these new crop of young super-human teenagers in the free roaming positions that the new formations allowed them to play.
What we've seen at United in the past 5-6 years or so is not just a lucky coincidence of a group of unbelievably talented players playing well together, it's a well oiled football winning machine. No cracks, no faults and if you're not in it for United, YOU'RE OUT, as we've seen infamously so many times in the past it's hard to believe, but it works.
The volatile, non-forgiving nature of football management has lead to there being over 100 sackings in the past year in English football as the men at the top seek to get the right man in charge. Some of the more controversial sackings of late for example Nigel Adkins (Southampton) and Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspurs) have further gone to support my claim of the favoritism towards the new wave of football manger. Two good managers in their own right, many believed that these dismissals were unfair and the wrong move for their club. Their respective successors, Mauricio Pochettino and Andre Villas Boas are among these new crop of managers who have forward ways of thinking and like playing with the ball on the ground. Brendan Rogers is another who I hate to say I am a massive admirer of, and I do believe he'll lead Liverpool to good things.
A video I watched recently on the back of Newcastle's derby day defeat to Sunderland explains perfectly the rut some fans and managers are still in. Fans become too emotionally attached to their beloved stars and do not want to see them removed for the better of the club.
Now I'm probably coming across unbelievably biased towards Utd here, but Ferguson has shown that good man-mangement is key to repeated successes and one of the best at not getting too emotionally attached to players. I believe he has lead the way in that sense, getting rid of any troublemakers regardless of their talent.
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