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Sir Alex Ferguson


The_Rev

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Love him or hate him you have to respect the guy. Today is the 26th anniversary of him taking the Manchester United job. To last that long in any job is remarkable, but in a job as volatile as football management? It's a ridiculous achievement. Speaking of which, at Manchester United he has won:

2 European cups

12 League titles

5 FA Cups

4 League Cups

1 European Cup Winners Cup

1 European Super Cup

1 World Club Championship

And some other minor stuff too like Charity/Community shields.

I guess it's worth listing what he did at Aberdeen too, as it is easy to forget just how successful he was at breaking up the Rangers/Celtic duopoly. In eight years at Aberdeen he won:

3 Scottish league titles

4 Scottish cups

1 European Cup Winners Cup

1 Scottish League Cup

Dunno when he will retire, but I am guessing he will be quite pleased with how things worked out when he finally does.

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I don't think his achievements or the time he has been in ManU will ever be passed by anyone, the game has changed so much in the last 26 years. Even though he is at least sometimes obnoxious and annoying bastard, I dont think there's anyone who can say that he's not one of the greatest managers of all time.

Manchester United might be in big trouble when he finally leaves, and who replaces him has helluva lot of pressure on his shoulders.

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One of the greatest, both manager and word removed. Is there any other manager through the history of football who comes close to that?

It's difficult to measure because some people put more weight on achievements with multiple clubs over a short period of time. Fergie has really only had two clubs, but then why would he leave Manchester United? Also has Fergie ever had a side as good as Sacchi's Milan team of the early 90s or Guardiola's Barcelona?

If you counting impact on the game and honours won then I think you also have to throw in names like Clough, Paisley, Shankly, Trappattoni, Cappello, Lippi, Hitzfeld and Mourinho in the mix with Fergie too.

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I think you have to look at the bigger picture concerning Fergie.

Yes he has won a massive amount of trophies, but there's a lot more to it than that.

Manchester United were massively underachieving when he took charge, and they have been arguably the biggest club in the world since, they were no AC Milan or Real Madrid back in '86. He has helped them grow into the biggest franchise in sport, not just football. He may seem like a bit of an asshole, but his no nonesense policy has gone a long way to maintaining MUFC's squeeky clean image around the globe. United have always been in the top 2 or 3 clubs in the country, there've been no catastrophic periods of time or prolonged periods of absense from the end of seasons honours list.

For me, he is by far the greatest manager of all time, he built Manchester United into what it is today.

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Yeah, but he was also incredibly fortunate that his period of success coincided with all the money coming into the English game. Had is happened five years earlier or all the money had gone to, say, France instead would we still think the same of Manchester United? They are a huge club because of the exposure this league gets and a lot of that is beyond Ferguson's control.

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True, a lot of the league's success is beyond Fergies control, but I'd also say that a lot of the leagues success is as a result of the global branding of big clubs, no more so than Manchester United, the club that Fergie built.

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a great manager but as a person very underrated. Apparently he will call any manager starting out and will offer them advice and also sent United fans to go to Anfield to show respect days after Hillsborough.

though can never forgive him for giving McLeish that reference

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Great manager, but he's had his fair share of luck. If that 17 minutes of injury time hadnt happened in 1993 he may not have been where he is today.

He also wrote the book on gamesmanship and intimidating refs, something which Manure will suffer from when he retires (unless they appoint Mourinho of course)

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I think the greatest thing he has done is evolve his style of management. In the 80s/90s I dont think he would have tolerated Ronaldo attitude and lesser extent Rooney but he has sat back and let them do it as they got away with it

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I think that is because the cost of replacing such players became increasingly expensive. And of course, he was at his least tolerant when he had that youth team coming through.

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