25 Years United : Sir Alex Ferguson

[rondwisan]

25 Years at United
Ferguson the greatest? That depends
ESPNSoccernet, Richard Jolly - November 2, 2011



Consider the achievements of a certain footballing superpower. There are 12 English league titles, six behind Liverpool and only one adrift of Arsenal; two European Cups, as many as Juventus and Benfica and more than every French club combined; five FA Cups, almost as many as Liverpool and Chelsea, and four League Cups, equalling the total of Arsenal and Manchester City if they pooled their victories.



This, it might be concluded, is a particularly distinguished and decorated club. Except, of course, but this is not a club but the personal haul of Sir Alex Ferguson. Insert him in the roll of honour and, without even including his feats in Scotland, he would figure higher than many a historic force, including the pre-Ferguson Manchester United. Whereas others have had a century and more to accumulate their honours, his have come in 25 years. His greatness both cemented and coated in silverware.


But the celebrations of Ferguson's quarter-century at Old Trafford invite a question: where does he stand in the pantheon of managerial legends? Comparisons across countries and generations are inherently inexact, because of the changing context. Right and wrong answers are thus impossible, possibly to the frustration of a man such as Ferguson who likes to win any argument.

Nevertheless, it is to his credit that, both at United and Aberdeen, he ended lengthy waits to win the league. Success was engineered rather than inherited, which is infinitely harder. It is another feather in Ferguson's cap that he has proved far-sighted: management is a profession where short-term pursuit of glory can outweigh all other concerns, but he has patiently built clubs. His record of youth development ranks extremely highly.

More than most, he has identified talent and allowed potential to be fulfilled. Many of his finest signings were either recruited at a particularly early age, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, or plucked from smaller clubs, as Roy Keane, Denis Irwin, Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were. He has moulded their characters, in turn accounting for United's famous inability to accept defeat.

The Scot has been a bold decision-maker, whether selling established talents to advance 'Fergie's Fledglings' and winning the Double, or in his recruitment and handling of Eric Cantona. One who believes in absolute power for managers has shown a surprisingly deft touch in his dealings with complex personalities when he wants to.



Unlike many a manager, Ferguson has never become a man out of time. He has been both ageless and up to date, winning in very different eras and in hugely different circumstances. He has triumphed with youth and experience, by spending heavily and by making a profit, by ending a drought and by turning trophies into an annual event. He has done so with the 4-4-2 (with split strikers, he often says) that has become his trademark, and by being flexible enough to adapt to 4-3-3, as a manager whose side selected itself and as the arch-exponent of squad rotation. He has generally won as a purveyor of attacking, entertaining football.


Ferguson has admitted he has not got his hands on the European Cup as much as he should have

And yet, by the very highest standards, Ferguson might not class as either a visionary or a revolutionary. Others have had a greater influence on the style of football played: Herbert Chapman, Rinus Michels, Valeri Lobanovsky, Bela Guttmann, Arrigo Sacchi, Johan Cruyff, perhaps even Arsene Wenger. They have looked further into the future of the game, rather than just one club.

Others, such as Jose Mourinho, Fabio Capello, Giovanni Trapattoni, Ernst Happel and Helenio Herrera, have tested themselves in more environments, requiring linguistic and cultural skills Ferguson has never had to display. They have regularly faced challenges the 69-year-old has not experienced for decades, inheriting star players or meddling presidents. They have often had to buy big, an area where Ferguson's record - see Dimitar Berbatov and Juan Sebastian Veron - is mixed.

That Ferguson has achieved excellence is beyond dispute. Perfection is impossible, but the treble winners of 1999 deserve to feature on the shortlist for the best side of modern times. They wouldn't top it, however: not with competition from Sacchi's AC Milan and Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who play a brand of football Ferguson can only aspire to emulate and appears powerless to halt.

Indeed, winning 'only' two European Cups counts against him. While Bob Paisley is alone in faring better, Ferguson himself has admitted United should have won more in his tenure. His dominance has been domestic, rather than continental. If 1999 was possibly the most remarkable conclusion to a European Cup final, it was not the most improbable triumph: Jock Stein's Celtic have a geographical claim but Brian Clough's achievement in taking a provincial club from the lower half of Division 2, in Nottingham Forest, to conquer Europe in back-to-back seasons stands apart.

What Ferguson is, however, is the ultimate empire builder. Since his flirtation with retirement in 2002, he has shown a marked reluctance to abandon his post. Even Stein, at Celtic, and Bill Shankly, at Liverpool, walked away from their beloved clubs. Even Sir Matt Busby initially decided 24 years in charge was enough.

The older Scot provides the perspective. His compatriot has won more, but Busby, who was bequeathed a bomb site of a ground and developed three great teams, confronted adversity in a way Ferguson has thankfully never had to. He, to many, will always be Manchester United's greatest manager.



The world's finest, for FIFA, when they named a coach of the century in 1999, was Michels, the architect of 'Total Football', a man with an extraordinary record for club and country and with an influence that is felt to this day, not least at the Nou Camp. Had the millennium ended a dozen years later, however, there might have been Mancunian calls for a recount.

Because Ferguson's astonishing renaissance as a pensioner sums him up. His longevity is extraordinary, his capacity to respond to setbacks almost endless, his will to win utterly unremitting. For all his other accomplishments, his intense competitiveness is his defining characteristic. It is why the eventual verdict may be that he was not football's greatest manager, but its greatest winner.


Rinus Michels: Innovator voted the greatest coach of the 20th century

[rondwisan]

Sir Alex Ferguson anniversary
Following Ferguson's fortunes
ESPNSoccernet, Will Tidey - November 1, 2011


When Alex Ferguson took over as Manchester United manager on November 6, 1986, he inherited a slumbering giant, slumped in the relegation zone and without a league title in 19 years.

For an eight-year-old at the dawn of an obsession, the heady days of Best, Charlton and Law I'd been sold on were nowhere to be seen. This was Liverpool's world, and not even the god they called Bryan Robson could do anything about it. Something had to give, and with the departure of Ron Atkinson came a no-nonsense Glaswegian, tasked with returning our club to former glories.



He came in a grey suit, face flushed, and with a reputation for taking no prisoners. Here was a man bred on the raw streets of Govan, who'd clawed his way up to play for Rangers, then broken the Old Firm monopoly with Aberdeen as a manager. The days of United's legendary 'social club', of lager-soaked afternoons and hungover training sessions, were as good as over.

Players went out, players came in, and with a runner-up finish in the 1987-88 season Ferguson had us believing we were in en route to the title. Big signings like Steve Bruce and Brian McClair strengthened his squad, and when Ferguson seduced our beloved Mark Hughes to return from Barcelona in 1988, it was beginning to look like United had a team capable of ending of the wait.


Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford in 1986

This is the one, we thought. But by the time The Stone Roses had released their eponymous debut album, in March 1989, United's challenge was over on all fronts. Seven defeats in the run-in saw Ferguson's team finish 11th in the league, and prompted calls for his head. It was the same old story for United fans, but at least Michael Thomas was on hand to break Liverpool hearts at Anfield as Arsenal stole the title.

Whether Ferguson's next season was really 'make or break' will be debated long after he's gone, but there's no doubt United's FA Cup success in 1990 came as a huge relief to everybody concerned. Unlikely heroes in Mark Robins and Lee Martin made it possible, while Ferguson revealed his ruthless streak by dropping good friend Jim Leighton for the final replay against Crystal Palace. Leighton never spoke to him again, but Ferguson slept soundly with his first major trophy.

A Hughes double beat Barcelona to win the Cup Winners' Cup in 1991, but still we waited for the all-important title. It should have come in 1992, when the stars aligned to give us Ryan Giggs and Peter Schmeichel, but somehow Ferguson's team conspired to gift Leeds the glory. Little did our bitter rivals know they were about to give us something far more valuable in return.

Ferguson had the raw materials, but what he lacked was inspiration. It came in the form of Eric Cantona, a swaggering ode to footballing expression who instilled a new belief in everybody around him. I saw him first at Stamford Bridge, in late December 1992, where he volleyed his first United goal and commanded the turf like a bullfighter.

Collar up, chest puffed, Cantona was equal parts athlete, artist and rock star. For just £1.2 million, he was all ours.

And so, as the Premier League era arrived to transform English football overnight, so United finally stole a march. Ferguson was on the verge, and when two late headers from Bruce earned his team a dramatic 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993, United's manager dropped to his knees in cathartic celebration. Soon after, the 26-year wait was over, and chants of "Championes, Championes" met United wherever they went.

The evolution of Ferguson's team next took in Roy Keane, a snarling warrior who commanded the highest standards from everyone around him. A leaner, meaner United won the Double in 1994, but suffered a spectacular comedown as Cantona leapt into infamy at Selhurst Park the following season.

As design would have it, Cantona's second coming coincided with the launch of a new generation. David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were the kids you couldn't win anything with, but nobody told Ferguson. United won the Double, and Cantona scored the only goal in no fewer than six 1-0 wins - including the cup final.

A season later, and with another title to his name, The King walked away from Old Trafford the most worshipped player in United's recent history, perhaps ever.



United felt his loss. Arsenal hunted Ferguson's team down on the way to the Double in 1998, and under Arsene Wenger were widely billed as a team ready to rule for decade. Wenger was the future, Ferguson the past, they said. And then came the year that will forever define him.


Eric Cantona and Alex Ferguson celebrate the club's 1996 Double

To live through the 1998-99 season as a United fan was to stroll through the gates of football heaven to be met by an open bar. The Keane-inspired win at Juventus; the Giggs winner against Arsenal; the incredible comeback in Barcelona. It was the stuff of implausible Hollywood endings played over and over, and it culminated in a climax so preposterously fantastical it's hard to believe it really happened. "Who put the ball in the German's net?"

From there, with his European dream realised and Sir Matt Busby finally emulated, Ferguson set about collecting more titles. Then he announced his retirement. Then he cancelled it on the advice of his wife.

The road to the glory of the 2007-08 season was brought about courtesy of the signings of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo several years earlier. One as precocious as the other, they were helped by a cast-iron defence to Moscow, where a Champions League triumph against Chelsea once again proved the Ferguson doubters wrong.

In the three years since, Ferguson has taken United to a record 19 titles, but his teams have twice been eclipsed by the brilliance of Barcelona in Europe. The man himself is humble enough to accept the gulf in class that separated Xavi, Messi and co from his 2009 and 2011 editions. As he approaches his 25th anniversary at Old Trafford, and his 70th birthday, Ferguson burns to redress the balance, and you wouldn't put it past him.

This is the manager who knocked Liverpool off their perch, tipped Kevin Keegan over the edge, out-gunned Wenger, and stood up to Roman's empire. The manager who signed Cantona, Keane, Rooney and Ronaldo, and played alchemist with a group of young players who went on to deliver unprecedented success to a manager who trusted them.

He's an obstinate, volatile dictator, and he'll be shooting them down until his very last breath. But at the same time he's a nurturing, romantic old fool with a wicked sense of humour, whose unfailing passion the game has made him an institution. Love him of loathe him, English football just wouldn't be the same without him. And if you truly despise him, tell me honestly you wouldn't welcome him as the manager of your club next season.

[irfi_1]

Jenius..musim ini Opa Fergie melakukan regenerasi utk membangun tim masa depan..salute

[Sir Alsep Ferguson]

cerita lain dari beberapa orang2 yang pernah bekerjasama dengan sir alex....

Sir Alex truly the greatest manager on earth
yes indeed

http://www.heraldscotland.com:80/sport/english-football/sir-alex-ferguson-anatomy-of-the-greatest-1.1132497

Sir Alex Ferguson: Anatomy of the greatest

Hugh MacDonald
Share

2 Nov 2011

ONE of the joys of football is that the measurement of greatness is so imprecise.

The cups can be counted, the goals tallied but the definitive statements still owe more to personal feeling rather than to any statistic. It is what adds the energy to any football argument.

The debates rage on without a certain answer but it does not stop the fan from asking the question.

The candidates for the best manager in the world are as wide as planet football itself. Is Sir Alex Ferguson the best ever?

“Yes,” replies Craig Brown, who played with Ferguson in the Scotland under-18 team and was part of his coaching staff at the 1986 World Cup. “To me there is no doubt. He scores highly across so many fields. When one goes to coaching seminars, the cvs of the speakers are put on the screen. If Alex is talking, the screen is full. He simply has won so much for so long,” says the Aberdeen manager

"Ferguson injects his DNA into a club. His personality and character runs throughout it"

The heavyweights in the game line up to place Ferguson ahead of the field. Incidentally, the man himself would nominate Jock Stein for the ultimate accolade.

But Brown says of Ferguson: “If you look at his record, if you listen to the man, if you listen to those who have worked with him, then it becomes obvious that you are dealing with an extraordinary manager.”

The 25 years at Manchester United have yielded 37 trophies but Brown points out Ferguson’s achievements at Aberdeen were perhaps even more praiseworthy. Under Ferguson, the Pittodrie club won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, both in 1983.

“He has a wide range of abilities that make him the best,” Brown says. “First, he is highly intelligent. Do not oppose him in a pub quiz. Second, he has an extraordinary memory. He can recall moments from games decades ago. If he sees something, it sticks in his mind. He also makes the big decisions quickly and moves on. Look at how he came to a decision on Carlos Tevez. Many people thought that was wrong at the time. I wonder how many hold the same view now?”

Ferguson’s decision-making has caused the abrupt end to the United careers of such as Paul McGrath, Norman Whiteside, Paul Ince, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Jaap Stam.

“He has remained true to this principle of being straightforward with players but, of course, he has had to change his style a bit over the years. His intelligence helps him there. He can adapt and he has an advantage in that no player could match him for words,” says Brown.

Ferguson is also a keen observer of the game. “I have spoken to players who have worked with him and say he is brilliant at spotting something during a game and changing it immediately,” says Brown.

Howard Wilkinson, who as Leeds United manager sold Eric Cantona to United, praises Ferguson’s man-management style that has yielded success for United. “You manage each person differently. When you think you have the chance of making it work, you continue. If you think a situation is beyond redemption, then, of course, you don’t,”he says.

The Yorkshireman may have been alluding to his dealings with Cantona. The Frenchman was sold to United, where Ferguson managed him deftly and Cantona repaid his new manager by leading a young team to the title that broke a 26-year-old championship drought.

Wilkinson said Ferguson could use a “different approach” with different people but emphasised that the Scot would always stay true to certain values. “If he thinks that the best way to solve a problem is to give someone the harsh truth, he will do so,” said Wilkinson.

This observation is backed by Dion Dublin, who played for United from 1992 to 1994. “Some people need the hairdryer treatment. I had it,” says the former striker. “I had a stinking first half, missed a load of chances and he was right there at half-time, told me what he thought. I went out and scored in the second half. I respect the man for knowing what kind of character I was to get the best out of me.”

He adds: “What he does is that he looks after people like Cantona, people like [Cristiano] Ronaldo; they are personalities that you cannot treat the same as you would treat me or you would treat Lee Sharpe. They are different characters. Some people need an arm around them, some people need the hairdryer. You have to know how to do that and Sir Alex is the best at it.”

Intriguingly, Dublin also relates in an ESPN documentary another tale that speaks to the manager’s eye for detail. The striker suffered a broken leg and ankle and was regularly visited by Ferguson, who one day handed him the keys to an automatic car, thus ensuring his player could drive despite the injuries to one leg. Dublin was amazed that a manager leading a team to a title would have time for such thoughts.

George Graham, once the Arsenal manager and a rival to Ferguson, maintains his fellow Scot’s claims to greatness have not yet been fully made.

“What he would like to do is win another Champions League,” he says. Ferguson, he insists, will be seeking to build another team to end the supremacy of Barcelona. “Alex would like to challenge them with a team that could take them on playing the beautiful football Barcelona play. Alex would love to beat them.”

That desire has not diminished in 25 years. Graham places it high on the list of positive Fergie traits but he adds: “People always say you know what makes a successful manager but there is no one thing. It is all little things, like timekeeping and players’ behaviour on and off the pitch. You know you are almost like a father to some of the players. You have to look after them on and off the pitch.”

Of Ferguson, he says: “He injects his DNA into a club. His personality and character runs throughout the club, not just on the pitch on a Saturday, but behind the scenes.”

The list of challengers for Ferguson as the best ever range from countrymen such as Stein, through fellow Brits such as Brian Clough, through Europeans such as Arrigo Sacchi and Giovanni Trapattoni.

However, Ferguson’s journey has been breathtaking in both its scope and trajectory. He is a former East Stirlingshire manager who led Aberdeen to victory in a European final against Real Madrid and has stood at the helm of the biggest club in the world for 25 years.

It is the greatest of all managerial tales about surely the greatest of them all.

[VaDLi]

Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates 25 years at Manchester United and, in tribute to the veteran Scot, Sportsmail has compiled his images over the years - from his start in 1986 to today.

Top row: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990; second row: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995; third row: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; fourth row: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005; bottom row: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, plus Fergie (bottom) on Wednesday against Galati.

opa is red

[marsitada]

25 years opa fergie still hungry to be a winner

[demhyt]

aku tak bisa membayangkan pada hari yg pasti terjadi, ketika dirimu meninggalkan united...

[marsel david]

mungkan ga ya bakal ada anniversary ke 30??
manager terbaik di dunia dan terbaik sepanjang masa...

[hendiplast]

Ferguson vows to develop another golden generation at Old Trafford



Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Manchester United ‘will’ once again develop a group of young players along the lines of the Giggs-Beckham-Scholes-Nevilles-Butt generation that so shaped the manager’s tenure at the club from the early 1990s.
Looking at a montage of those players and others at the United academy, Ferguson was asked if that was a one-off and replied: ‘No, it’s not. It’s going to happen again. You can’t think that Manchester United could have only one cycle of players as good as that. We will always keep chasing the dream.
‘We will get a bunch like that again. We have got to. When the academy system changes to what it should be then we are capable of doing it, getting five or six through at one time again. There’s progress being made on that front at the moment. It’s ridiculous that in 2011 you can only coach a boy within an hour-and-a-half of Old Trafford. Absolutely ridiculous. Barcelona have just signed a player from China, one from Japan.’

Ferguson has lobbied for the change in the academy system, which he viewed as restrictive. The Football League voted for change last month and the adoption of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).
It means clubs of the scale of United can expand their academy to include on-site education and accommodation. That, in turn, would allow United more coaching time with young players. It means they and others are not geographically limited over youngsters they can scout and attract.

Ferguson has dismissed any talk of his imminent retirement, saying in an interview in France: ‘I think another three or four years yet. It’s still a long way off.’
The Scot added that the club’s move from The Cliff training ground in Salford to the purpose-built site south of Manchester was the most important change in his 25 years at the club.
‘The great thing was the move from The Cliff to Carrington,’ said Ferguson. ‘That was the best thing that ever happened to the club.
‘It (The Cliff) was an old ground, too small, great history. We couldn’t have achieved what we have achieved now - the number of staff, academy, coaches. We have 110 people at Carrington - without the players - 110 staff here!
‘There was no way we could have accommodated that at The Cliff. The gymnasium, was half the size of this here. We had to move.’
Ferguson will face one of his former players today in Steve Bruce, manager of Sunderland. The 69-year-old Scot begins his second quarter of a century at Old Trafford five points behind neighbours City in the Premier League but said he and United are self-motivated: ‘The challenge is in this place, the challenge is already here.’

Ferguson added that he has ‘always had good energy’ and praised the drive of Sir Bobby Robson that took him beyond 70 as a manager.
‘Bobby was a remarkable person in his enthusiasm and love for the game,’ said Ferguson. ‘He had all his health problems for so long but it never stopped him.
‘He had two or three bouts of cancer in different periods. Most people would have been just happy to get over that and have a nice easy life for themselves. But Bobby, right to the very end, wanted to come back into management.’
Harry Redknapp has had a heart scare this week and managers are under extreme pressure.
‘Once Harry backs a couple of winners he’ll be back on song, don’t worry,’ laughed Ferguson.

Paul Scholes believes Ryan Giggs could be the man to take over from Ferguson. Scholes said: ‘People have talked about Mourinho. It can change very quickly — it’s about who is successful at the time. I doesn’t matter if they are British or foreign, you just want the best man for the job. I could see Ryan Giggs becoming manager.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/

[hendiplast]

My Manchester United XI from the Alex Ferguson era
The 11 players who graced Old Trafford who would make up my favourite team under Sir Alex Ferguson



Peter Schmeichel
He cost £560,000 in 1991 and therefore ranks among the great bargains. The Dane reinstalled a stability to Manchester United that let them prosper. For much of the time when United regained the title in 1993 he appeared invincible. There was a personality in proportion to his imposing physique that deterred forwards who were already aware of the shot-stopping excellence.

Gary Neville
He may not have been stirring in his advances on the flank, but the right-back could deliver a good cross from distance and thus took a little of the defenders' attention from David Beckham. The combativeness of Neville may have rankled with opposition fans, but it was a factor in United's control of that period.

Rio Ferdinand
There is an inevitable poignancy about a centre-back now succumbing to wear and tear, but for much of his time with the club he has been a mobile defender who could glide across the turf to halt attacks. In days gone by he might have been a sweeper and his all-round play assisted United in building from the back.

Jaap Stam
It was no accident that the advent of the centre-half coincided with a spree of trophies that included the Champions League. His outspoken nature was a cause of trouble and he was moved on to Lazio, but he made an impression that will not be forgotten.

Denis Irwin
As with Neville, the full-back was reliable as a defender and also knew how to take some opponents away from Ryan Giggs. In addition there was a composure in his delivery of free-kicks and the Irishman was trustworthy, too, from the penalty spot. That dependability counterbalanced the verve in United ranks.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Although David Beckham deserves great credit for achieving so much with a relatively narrow repertoire, the Portuguese was devastating and made his individualism count. The seasons from 2006-07 to 2008-09 saw him score a total of 66 league goals as United won three titles in a row. There was also the prize of the Champions League in 2008, where he scored in the final before missing a penalty in the shoot-out.

Roy Keane
He would typically be described as combative, but he was also a stabilising presence in midfield. His command and control were essential in United lineups where the flair and attacking intent would otherwise have caused a certain brittleness. There was range to his talent, too, as was demonstrated by half a dozen Champions League goals in the 1999-2000 campaign.

Paul Scholes
Few players have such a blend of imagination and determination. The competitiveness could go too far when he launched into dangerous and inept tackles, but, regrettable though it was, that was also a sign of his allegiance to the club. His superb timing made him an implausible if frequent scorer as a seemingly slight figure got into pockets of space despite the fact that defenders knew he was coming.

Ryan Giggs
An attacker who hopes for a long and glorious career has to be able to adapt. That task must be hard for a player who probably took his searing pace for granted as a young footballer. Giggs had the intelligence and readiness to add more variety to his play so that there were and still are hints of the playmaker about the Welshman.

Eric Cantona
It is difficult to think of Old Trafford as a place for featureless footballers, but Cantona, following the transfer from Leeds United for £1.2m, brought a particularly memorable showmanship to the club, as well as volatility that could lead to a red card and an attack on a fan at Crystal Palace. The element of surprise was more often found in the performances and, in his time, the winning of the league came to seem part of the natural order.


Ruud van Nistelrooy
There was nothing cunning or unexpected about the purchase of the Dutchman. The forward cost over £19m from PSV Eindhoven in the spring of 2001. His five seasons at United amounted to a prolonged vindication of that fee. A striker with the build of a target man and the mind of a poacher scored 150 goals.

Guardian