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How Alex Ferguson was so successful.

There have been many articles on this by various referees and I thought I'd put this up here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2537016/David-Moyes-outburst-sign-hes-not-coping-pressure-hes-not-mean-influence-referees-like-Fergie-did.html

Ferguson was a bully and the FA were scared of him. I think he would have been much less successful in the last 6-7 years of his reign if referees didn't succumb to his attacks and the FA punished him like they do other managers.

Discuss.

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Original post by KD35
There have been many articles on this by various referees and I thought I'd put this up here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2537016/David-Moyes-outburst-sign-hes-not-coping-pressure-hes-not-mean-influence-referees-like-Fergie-did.html

Ferguson was a bully and the FA were scared of him. I think he would have been much less successful in the last 6-7 years of his reign if referees didn't succumb to his attacks and the FA punished him like they do other managers.

Discuss.


Yeh
Reply 2
ask roy keane :colone:
1) Had the golden generation
2) Had a lot of cash
3) Had time to do what he wanted
Reply 4
Was he a great manager? This article pretty much proves that referees wanted United to win.
Does it take a great manager to be successful when you have those players, referees on your side and the most amount of money?

He was a top manager, but not a top top manager.
Reply 5
It was the same chewing gum , he chewed .
Original post by KD35
Ferguson was a bully and the FA were scared of him. I think he would have been much less successful in the last 6-7 years of his reign if referees didn't succumb to his attacks and the FA punished him like they do other managers.

Discuss.


There is some truth to this. Not to take anything away from his qualities as a manager, he was one of the greatest and anyone who thinks otherwise is just bitter, but he did have a way of getting any advantage he could over other teams (nothing wrong with this either).

The mind games and attacks on referees are a couple of examples.
Original post by DorianGrayism
1) Had the golden generation
2) Had a lot of cash
3) Had time to do what he wanted


He totally wasted his position of dominance and the money available.
Reply 8
The fact he managed to win the league over City with that mediocre team says enough.

Also a lot of people like to overlook his success with Aberdeen...
Original post by Jordooooom
The fact he managed to win the league over City with that mediocre team says enough.

Also a lot of people like to overlook his success with Aberdeen...


That's because a lot of people don't know anything about football.
Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager of all time.
Reply 11
Original post by Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager of all time.


I think Ferguson would disagree with you; he commonly ranks Jock Stein as the greatest ever manager.

I also think Herbert Chapman, Hugo Meisl, Helenio Herrera, Bela Guttman and Arrigo Sacchi would have something to say about that statement.
Lol, thread full of bitter blues and scousers making ridiculous assertions.

Moving along...
Ferguson was successful because he made the most out of what he has.

At Aberdeen, he got them to win the Scottish League when Celtic and Rangers were dominating, while also winning the secondar Euuropean competition at the time (Cup Winners Cup)

Has come out on top in the Premier League with United despite numerous challenges (Arsenal in late 90-s-2004, Chelsea, Man City) with supposedly inferior teams. He's a very ambitious manager. When you play at Old Trafford, you know United are going to get at you, regardless of the opposition. Despite the apparent gap between the squads of United and Madrid, he nearly knocked out Real Madrid from the Champions League.

David Moyes is a good manager, but what Ferguson has that Moyes doesn't is a lack of fear and ambition. Ferguson would rather risk losing in order to win, whereas Moyes doesn't like being defeated. As a result, while Ferguson may lose more games, he'll end up picking more points by having the ambition to win matches. If you settle for a draw over 3 matches, you'll get 3 points. If you go for games that are tied without fear of losing, there's a 60% chance you win if you're Manchester United. SAF would always go for the win because as United, you know that in those knife edge games, they're going to get at least 4 points from 9. 4 points out of 9 is better than 3 and often in Fergie's case it would be 6/9, and that's what made him so successful.

If Moyes can develop that ambition and risk-taking (which it really isn't in reality), then he can become succesful. Until then, he's just a manager at a big club with a little club mentality.

(Chelsea fan)
Original post by billybo_h
I think Ferguson would disagree with you; he commonly ranks Jock Stein as the greatest ever manager.

I also think Herbert Chapman, Hugo Meisl, Helenio Herrera, Bela Guttman and Arrigo Sacchi would have something to say about that statement.


Genuinely hadn't heard of any of these but doing some Wiki researching I can see why you mentioned them.

I would also name Rinus Michels based on achievements and impact too.
Ferguson was the most successful manager in English football history. For me Matt Busby is the greatest manager and his body of work as a manager is more inspiring than Ferguson's but Alex certainly won the most trophies out of all of them.

When you look at Ferguson's biggest attributes, for me you have to ignore everything since Moscow 2008 because for the most part we've been papering over cracks that he allowed to turn into chasms ever since. I've always thought that his biggest strength was also his biggest weakness and that is his desire to run United as a dictatorship. His drive and determination to succeed manifests itself as iron fisted ruthlessness that allowed United to achieve everything but is also largely the reason that the club is in the midst of an apocalyptic meltdown since he left.

What he did was have the sense to take the philosophy laid down by Matt Busby fifty years earlier and re-apply it and adapt it for the early 90s. That's something that a lot of football managers don't get given the opportunity or have the balls to stand up and do, especially in the age since where instant success is expected in football and managers can be sacked at the drop of a hat. The reason Ferguson is unique is because managers now for the most part come in just to coach and manage the team on the field. Alex took a leaf out of Matt's book and took an interest in everything. The reserves, the academy, the management of the ground, the club's community work, the finances, the marketing ... Ferguson managed to suck every single aspect of the clubs normal operations inside of his sphere of influence and ruled it with complete merciless efficiency, making not just the team but the club the tightest and most productive operation it'd ever been.

Ferguson was the right man in the right place, at the right time, with the right ideas. United had been the sleeping giant of English football for too long and going nowhere, a few decent cup runs just weren't cutting it any more for such a big club with big ambition. We needed a league title and we were willing to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck at that point. Fergie's vision and ambition to follow the blueprint of youth and cut all the old boys, stamp out the boozing culture and bring in the best people he could to work with his talent was a long term project that paid off spectacularly. It was a perfect storm of all the right elements clicking together, one that with the way the football climate has changed in the past two decades, may not be pulled off ever again.
Original post by balotelli12
He totally wasted his position of dominance and the money available.


Lol. I want to know what you are smoking.
Reply 17
Original post by Wilfred Little
Genuinely hadn't heard of any of these but doing some Wiki researching I can see why you mentioned them.

I would also name Rinus Michels based on achievements and impact too.


Michels was fantastic too, forgot about him while writing that post. Also Valeriy Lobanovskyi and Gustav Sebes were incredibly important in their respective time periods.

Ferguson was fantastic as he, as has been said, did amazingly with what he had. Yet whilst he is a brilliant motivator and has the desire to win ingrained in people who he coaches, he was hardly a forward thinking coach in terms of football. That is probably why, when new styles of football appeared, it took him a few years to go back to winning.

A few examples include;
- losing the Scottish title to a forward thinking Dundee United who had a weaker squad.
- the loss to Real Madrid in 99/00 which caused him to change his entire way of tactical management.
- the influx of foreign managers (Wenger and Mourinho) who remoulded English football into their vision, creating success.

Yet Ferguson was always able to come out of such problems and go back to winning, which, I think, is incredible. He just isn't the greatest of all time.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by IanDangerously
Ferguson was the most successful manager in English football history. For me Matt Busby is the greatest manager and his body of work as a manager is more inspiring than Ferguson's but Alex certainly won the most trophies out of all of them.

When you look at Ferguson's biggest attributes, for me you have to ignore everything since Moscow 2008 because for the most part we've been papering over cracks that he allowed to turn into chasms ever since. I've always thought that his biggest strength was also his biggest weakness and that is his desire to run United as a dictatorship. His drive and determination to succeed manifests itself as iron fisted ruthlessness that allowed United to achieve everything but is also largely the reason that the club is in the midst of an apocalyptic meltdown since he left.

What he did was have the sense to take the philosophy laid down by Matt Busby fifty years earlier and re-apply it and adapt it for the early 90s. That's something that a lot of football managers don't get given the opportunity or have the balls to stand up and do, especially in the age since where instant success is expected in football and managers can be sacked at the drop of a hat. The reason Ferguson is unique is because managers now for the most part come in just to coach and manage the team on the field. Alex took a leaf out of Matt's book and took an interest in everything. The reserves, the academy, the management of the ground, the club's community work, the finances, the marketing ... Ferguson managed to suck every single aspect of the clubs normal operations inside of his sphere of influence and ruled it with complete merciless efficiency, making not just the team but the club the tightest and most productive operation it'd ever been.

Ferguson was the right man in the right place, at the right time, with the right ideas. United had been the sleeping giant of English football for too long and going nowhere, a few decent cup runs just weren't cutting it any more for such a big club with big ambition. We needed a league title and we were willing to throw everything at the wall and see what stuck at that point. Fergie's vision and ambition to follow the blueprint of youth and cut all the old boys, stamp out the boozing culture and bring in the best people he could to work with his talent was a long term project that paid off spectacularly. It was a perfect storm of all the right elements clicking together, one that with the way the football climate has changed in the past two decades, may not be pulled off ever again.


Have to disagree with the bit in bold. He was a great man manager and the best at making the team work well. Ferguson may have had a weaker team a few seasons after 2008 but that shows how good he was that Fergie was still able to make such a team competitive.

A lot of managers could have been successful with a strong United, Very few could do it with a weak United.
Reply 19
His biggest achievement has bee staying out of the spotlight for United's current failings.

Moyes inherited a weak, depleted, unworthy-of-top-four squad and is getting the blame. Ferguson saw that United were going to be in their worst state for years and jumped ship. Shrewd. Fair play.

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