I wrote this article back in May 2008, shortly after United won the Champions League because people were touting Ferguson as the best manager of all time. Just thought it would be good timing to post it up here with our little scrap coming up at the weekend. I do hope you enjoy.
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There's this common myth knocking about, which has been for some years now, that Alex Ferguson (he's not getting a Sir off me!) is the greatest football manager ever! Fair do's, the fella has won a fair bit, including the Premiership 10 times and the European Cup twice! He is decorated, I do know this!
We have had a few managers who we think that would challenge this title that people in the media so often love to lay upon Ferguson.
First up, we can compare directly to our previous managers! The men who command tears to grown men's eyes with the very thoughts of our yesteryear's! The Greats, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley!
First of all we've the great man from Glenbuck! Here we have a man who took over a struggling Second Division side with mediocre training facilities and a stadium that was pretty much a shambles. Shankly was brought in in 1959. This was a time when football was football, and that was it. You trained all week by playing regular games and then try and do the same on a matchday! What Shankly did was bring in 5 a side matches to increase passing skill, incorporate dietary elements so that our footballers were healthier and more readily equipped for the game. There was also the notion of a target wall, with 8 blocks painted on! Shankly demanded that his players be able to hit any box when commanded to!
Players would meet at Anfield, and be bussed together to Melwood for training! Afterwards they'd be shipped back to Anfield to shower and eat a meal together, ensuring Shankly knew how his players were warming down and eating after sessions, whilst instilling a camaraderie between the squad! With Shankly building in the background, we eventually returned to the First Division in the 1961/1962 season! The 60's proved to be a good time for Liverpool! In 1963/1964, we claimed our 6th league title! Snatched from the Champions Everton! A sign of things to come I do believe!
In '65, we all know of the Inter semi final! An unknown side from England had shocked the Italian giants away from home! It was basically our announcement that we had arrived on the scene and we were taking no sh*t! The working class ethic instilled by Shankly for the working class people of our great city was a joy to watch. Football that was skillful, thorough and efficient. Shankly had built up a club from nothing. From the training ground up, Shankly had created a Superpower. Yet this was only the start! The 70's saw Heighway, Keegan and Clemence arrive, along with our first European silverware in 1973, in the form of the UEFA Cup! while securing our 8th league title in the same year!
The difference between Shankly and Ferguson is simple! Ferguson took over a United side that was established in the top flight. They were basically Chelsea before Abramovich came in, just coasting finishing mid table regularly. Yet Ferguson took them a step backwards when he arrived, finishing 11th, 2nd (9 points behind us!), 11th and then 13th! Surely if that happens these days, finishing 2nd and then 11th, there would be a severe inquest into what's going on!
Shankly started, in modern day comparison, in the Championship, bottom half. And then brought this team up within two years and then guided us to winning leagues! Just think of what Sam Allardyce did, but then Bolton going on to win the league and the UEFA Cup!
In July 1974, Shankly faced the Liverpool board to announce his retirement! The city mourned and even local factories threatened strikes unless Shankly was reinstated! Yet Shankly had left behind Joe Fagan, Roy Evans and my next subject. Bob Paisley.
The sad thing, in Paisley's first seasons, Shankly was ever present and didn't really allow him to settle into the job! The players felt that Shankly was still the boss and Paisley was simply an understudy. This theory was to be tested!
Paisley finished 2nd in his first season. This was a disappointment to him and he built on what he had achieved! For the 9 years that Paisley was at the helm, we won at least one trophy in 8 of those years! And of course, he led us to our first 3 European Cups!
Now the very fact is that Sir Bob won 19 trophies as Liverpool manager! Ferguson overtook this record, which he no doubt raised a glass of whisky, scotch or whatever else he could find in celebration of breaking a Liverpool record!
But Ferguson has been at United for 22 years this season, and is now embarking on his 23rd season in charge! That's some feat, yet if Paisley had continued his remarkable managerial career for the same amount of time then who knows how many trophies he would have won? Law of averages, if we double his years to 18 then we double his titles to 38? There could have been more!
The very fact that Ferguson has won the European Cup twice (1999 and 2008) means he has took 9 years to win two when Paisley had won three! There's a record he isn't going to break! Don't even start me on the knighthood argument!
But I'll end on the fact that we currently have a manager with a better record than Alex Ferguson in his first few years, who has already won us our 5th European Cup, took us to only our second losing European Cup Final and our 7th FA Cup. He has set up a team which is the highest scoring in the league and has the three time winner or the Golden Gloves (in his 3rd season) between the sticks.
« Last Edit: Mar 11, 2009 07:31:20 pm by ayrton77, Reason: Whos Ferguon? ;) »
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