But I go on forever…
In football, great players are abundant. I bet you can easily reel off two dozen names without even pausing to think. But managers? There aren’t enough of them who would be accepted by everyone without doubt or question.
Sir Alex Ferguson, now into his 21st year at the helm of Manchester United, belongs to that rare breed. In fact, he is the last of the old type of managers, which makes him the rarest of the rare. And it is only such a special person who can rule over Mancunia for so long.
Here’s a photo (courtesy: The Times) that shows the fiery Scot during his first match.
Man U lost to Oxford United 2-0. Today one has to search through the lower leagues in England to find where Oxford lies. (Incidentally, Man U have lost the first match of SAF’s 21st year - against Southend!) And the Red Devils are the richest club in England. No trophy had eluded them, and the best of them all — the Champions League — was won in the most amazing of circumstances.
Ferguson’s greatness lies not just in his ability to eke out great performances from players he’s paid a lot of money to bring in. It is from the confidence — even arrogance — that makes taking him on an intimidating experience. His triumph is the triumph of good football. Ferguson’s teams have always relied on attack and aggression. And that is something we cannot say about many other top managers.
Some of the best players have played for the club during his reign — Gary Pallister, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Some of them still do — Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville. And there’s a young crop of worldbeating talent (read: Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo) leading the ranks these days. And the amazing Scot goes on and on and on, motivating his players to glory, and weeding out erring talents! Incredible!
Salutations, Sir Alex!
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Filed under: Football
I wouldnt rate SAF among the creme-de-la-creme in Europe
A Marcelo Lippi’s achievement in club football is unmatchable. It included 3 CL finals and 1 CL win and additionally transformed the Bianconeri’s into a European power-house. SAF in contrast has 1 CL victory and abt 2 CL s/f. Additionally, Lippi also won the FIFA WC, it is no secret that the attacking formation of the Azzuri’s with upto 6 attacking players in the field really was refreshing and gave a new look to Italian football. Players like Fabio Grosso (he was playing in Serie-C1 abt 4 years back), Vincenzo Iaquinta (a player who was given a cap when ironically his club, Udinese, were in the relegation zone), Simone Perrotta(another unsung hero in this WC who plays remarkably well for Roma) were given call-ups only thanx to Lippi. In fact, it is actually fascinating to see how Lippi built this side from scratch and with a very attacking mentality. However, the same cannot be said of the Juve or the Inter team he managed in the 90’s/2000’s. It was more of the Catenaccio (the italian word for door-lock) rather than attack.
Another Italian manager whom I rate above SAF is Fabio Capello. He made the Milan team of the 90’s into the invinsibles who also went on to win the 1994 CL against Barca. He also won the scudetto with Roma which was incidentally their first after a period of abt 2+ decades (I guess the last time was when Falcao was playing for Roma). Even the Juve team of the past season was very strong (Canna, Thuram, Zamb, Viera as a DM) defensively but they lacked the creativity upfront. Currently, he is turning the Madrid team into a more choesive unit with emphasis on team-work. He also managed the 1997 Madrid team which incidentally catapulted Raul gonzalez into world-fame.
No doubt that SAF transformed ManU into a EPL power-house but for me he is a rank below these two italian managers and also probably Jose Mourinho.
Well, the question whether or not Ferguson is the best of this era cannot be answered convincingly. If the criterion is the number of European trophies won, then with just one, Ferguson looks like just another successful manager.
His success lies not just in helping the team win trophies, but also in his ruthless man-management skills. I cannot see how many others could have managed both Cantona and Keane, arguably the two toughest, most rebellious characters of the 90s.