"Football, Bloody Hell" - Sir Alex Twenty Years

"Bloody Hell!"
By EmptyRed
November 10 2006

In his latest column, EmptyRed looks back at the twenty years Sir Alex Ferguson has spent in the Old Trafford hot seat. The Scotsman has won an amazing array of honours and ManUtdWeb hands the floor to our messageboard regular to pay tribute to a legend of the game.

8th November 1986 - remember that date well.

That was Fergie's first game in charge and we were soundly beat 2-0 at the Old Manor ground. How the times have changed for us at Old Trafford. For 20 years we dreamed of reaching the hallowed ground and regaining the league title. For year on year since the mid 1970's we had to watch the Merseyside juggernaut steamroller through the domestic league and claim European glory on a repetitive basis.

We had many false dawns and we saw many false messiahs. However the times where a changing! Firstly Ferguson ruthlessly broke up, the drinking culture that had supposedly gripped Old Trafford. Out went fans favourites such as Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath. Fergie went back to basics and re-invested in youth. That investment supposedly saved his job, when he was just one defeat away from the sack; United faced an in form Nottingham Forrest side in the FA Cup. Mark Robbins got the goal and Fergie kept his job. It took sir Alex three and half years to win a trophy at Old Trafford; but once he found a winning formula, we have never looked back.

Fergie has got his hands on 17 major titles - incorporating two Doubles and a Treble - plus six Manager of the Year awards, five Charity Shields, an Intercontinental Cup and a Super Cup. Arsenal have 13 major trophies since 1986 - seven under Wenger, while Liverpool have 11, Chelsea seven and Manchester City none. Sir Alex Ferguson has overseen 1,109 games as Manchester United manager and he has tasted victory in 57% of them, losing just 19%. He has won more games than Arsene Wenger - the second longest serving manager in the Premiership - has presided over.

As well as bringing success to the club, Ferguson has ensured it has been done in style. Goals have come at an average of 1.79 a game, up from a lowly 1.24 in his first season to a dizzying 2.19 to date this term. However, despite all this there was a time when many had feared that Fergie had lost it; myself included. We dropped our attacking style and played a defensive orientated 5-man midfield that took away our natural advantages. During this time we finished third twice and 18 and 19 points behind the Champions. Last year saw us limp out of Europe at the group stages bottom of  the group and we were 13 points behind Chelsea, by that time. Then Fergie had an epiphany. He revert back to type, 4-4-2. With a left back and a left winger as our central midfield pairing we went on a great run, winning the League Cup and finishing second behind Chelsea, by only 8 points.

This season we have started well, we are playing great football and how will doubt whether before he retires one day, we may hear again the Scot's famous cry: "Football, bloody hell," as he regains another Premiership crown or Champions League trophy. 20 years on and he is still going strong. I will certainly be raising a glass to our Red Devil Knight. But I will finish with a quote directly from the big man: "It's been an incredible spell and the way we have done it has been good. It has been the right way - the United way."