Friday, 10 May 2013

There Can Be Only One "Red" Devil

The "Red" Devil has finished his last infernal work and stepped down, and the football world will never quite be the same again .....
 
Sir Alex Ferguson In His Pomp
Sir Alex Ferguson In His Pomp

The retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson is, for many Man United fans, the biggest event in their football lives. Whilst most realised it had to happen sometime or other, few actually expected to see it themselves. He was after all the 'eternal' Scot - a football immortal, and as we know about a 'Highlander', there can be only one.
 
In Britain the news has been greeted in the usual mixed manner, with residents of Liverpool sniping at his back, as its starts to disappear into the sunset, but even that is a form of praise, such was the damage he inflicted on the Scousers image of themselves and their place in the football pecking order.

Just in case anyone has forgotten, when Sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford in 1986 three of the bottom four places in the old First Division table were filled by Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea (how times are changed, they are now the top three clubs in the English Premiership).
 
Manchester United had 7 titles (last won in 1966/67 season, when they had been tied with Liverpool at 7 titles each), while Liverpool had 16 titles, and added a further two more to reach 18, before Ferguson's Manchester United finally won its first title under him, to reach 8 in total at the end of the 1992 / 93 season.

Liverpool Taunt 'Come Back When You've Won 18!'
Liverpool Taunt 'Come Back When You've Won 18!'

Such was their confidence in their innate superiority, that after he won his second title with Manchester United in the 1993 / 94 season, the Liverpool fans put up a banner reading "Comeback when you reach 18" ..... my how they laughed. Well Ferguson took one look and said that he was going to 'Knock Liverpool off their perch' ....

MUFC Reply - 'We Are Sat On Your Perch'
MUFC Reply - 'We Are Sat On Your Perch'

The 2008/ 09 season saw Manchester United under Ferguson reach title number 18 (with Liverpool finishing second - their highest league finish in 17 years - and still on 18 titles), and the season 2010 - 11, saw them pass Liverpool with title number 19.

Sir Alex Ferguson's Club Records
Sir Alex Ferguson's Club Records

Finally this season (2012 / 13) saw Manchester United win the title back again from Manchester City to reach a total of 20 titles ......... Retirement earned. Job well and truly done!
at

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous10 May 2013 at 22:21

    Au Revoir Sir Alex. "Oh flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again?"

    Probably never. No one can match a record like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous19 October 2013 at 14:07

    Looks like Man Utd are missing him already. His boots look too big for Moyes to fill, so far at least.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No PC20 October 2013 at 13:34

      Beginning to look that way mate. I am losing the faith.

      Delete
  3. No PC12 May 2014 at 20:40

    Well it turned out that "His boots look too big for Moyes to fill" was prophetic ... Moyes gone and ????? well we are not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. No PC21 September 2017 at 22:04

    The experiments are over, Moyes and van Gaal came and went, with just the Charity Shield and FA Cup between them in three seasons. Not enough, especially with poor styles of play as well. The board ignored the traditionalists who had stopped his appointment in 2013, and went for the serial winner José Mourinho ... the first season was a bit dour, but winning the EFL cup and Europa League guaranteed Champions League football .... oh and got a Charity Shield as well.

    The second season looks far better in terms of style of play, and results are coming as well. They should have gone for him straight away ... never replace Sir Alex but keep the success rolling in.

    ReplyDelete
  5. No PC16 December 2018 at 14:41

    Sadly it appears that Mourinho isn't the new messiah either ... United's decline looks to be long-term now.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.

Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.

Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.

Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.

Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.