Former Scottish International Alex retired from football in 1974, known for his ability to find the net, and bust his gut, life and limb to do so.
Every defender that went up against him came up with as many bruises as successfully won challenges and were often delighted when they were put out of their miseries by the final whistle.
They saw a man who would do anything to win and couldn’t stand it when that didn’t happen. Alex’s determination and love for the game meant he couldn’t stop just because his body didn’t allow him to play as he used to, so he came into management.
After two solid stints at small fry clubs East Sterling and St Mirren, Alex took on the job at Aberdeen. 3 league titles in 5 years, 4 domestic cups and a European Cup Winners Cup later, Alex would get a call that would change his life.
June 1986, Alex Ferguson becomes manager of Manchester United. The rest as they say, is history. Three generations of United players have been moulded in his image. Fighting for every ball, playing to the last whistle or even beyond into ‘Fergie Time’, doing whatever it takes to win and coming out on top, regardless of who they were up against and what the circumstances.
The result has been 14 league titles despite the rise and fall of several challengers around them. Despite the entry of the Wenger rendition of Total Football and the billions of Roman and the trillions of the Sheikhs, United have stood tall, creating winning team after winning team. If he could bully defenders no longer, he used his ferocity to motivate players that were under-performing and garner responses from them in what is his now famous ‘hair dryer’ treatment.
But with the ferocity came a gentle side, with the manager attending birthdays of 14 year old united academy boys and guiding those kids into the team as if they were his own. He stood by his players and supported them through their many negative ordeals and they in turn played with their heart and souls, ready to jump into fire at his orders. Perhaps this is why players like Darren Fletcher and Johnny Evans continue to perform far better than more naturally talented players.
Where motivation wasn’t enough, Ferguson made up for it with his tactical acumen. United have been one of the most consistent teams in Europe over the last two decades winning two European Cups along the way and there’s hardly any top manager in the game that hasn’t been out thought by Fergie at least once.
It is often said that the success of an era is defined by the people who make it successful. If this is the case then arguably the greatest era of Premier League football is defined by Sir Alex Ferguson. The grit, determination and will to win of most English teams is epitomized by the approach of Sir Alex. Love him or hate him, the man deserves your respect.
There come moments in life when everything around you becomes insignificant because of them. Tonight there is a clash of great importance with Spurs, whilst the Mourinho wills and wonts continue to linger and the names of Falcao, Lewandowski and Schurrle reverberate around the rumour mills, but in this moment none of that matters. The greatest manager to ever grace the Premier League has called time on his career and in with him, the greatest era of English football has now ended.
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