Monday 7 November 2011

Another one for the Great Scot

Now I revisit a subject that I've covered before here . The one and only Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of the greatest football club in the world Manchester United! This past weekend he celebrated the major milestone of 25 years in charge, no mean feat in these days of managerial jobs being like a revolving door.  
The only Manager who has survived at one club since the inception of the FA Premier League and of course the one who has won the most titles at 12 so far and this year finally broke the Liverpool record of league titles with their 19th. The next challenge I guess would be beating Liverpool's European titles.

Some may ask what's the big deal? First it's rare in this age of modern football with impatient boards and mega-rich owners for a manager to keep his job for long. Also he's an old school manager who has authority over his team even if they earn hundreds of thousands of pounds per week and he has shown he can let them go no matter how talented they are or think they are. However on thing that has stood out over his reign is how he keeps reinventing the team when new challenges come up. In the nineties he saw off Blackburn with their galaxy of stars and after that Arsenal with their french army assembled by Arsene Wenger. Even when Abramovich arrived with his billions at Chelsea their run didn't last too long and Fergie was back in 2007-2009 to grab a hat-trick of titles. Now what remains to be seen is if he can deal with the 'noisy neighbours' Manchester City who are running riot in the league this season. Granted now with other rich clubs their power in the transfer market has been diminished and they can't always afford the top players as in years gone by. We'll see what the new bunch of youngsters can do.

To illustrate his longevity on the job I remember as a child in the late 80s watching the 'Road to Wembley' coverage of the FA cup which used to  air on KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) - then VOK (Voice of Kenya). One night Manchester United were playing Sheffield United and I was rooting for United and when they lost I cried! Amazing that even then Ferguson was still the manager!

So here's to the Great Scot and long may he continue to deliver more great football and titles!

1 comment:

  1. Great post even though I'm a member of the great French Army lol.

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