One of the best managers to have ever lived, if not the best manager, goes by the name of Sir Alex Ferguson. Every Manchester United fan would agree that no manager has ever been as talented and headstrong as Ferguson but that makes sense, Man United fans are known for their loyalty. The interesting thing about Sir Alex Ferguson and the position he held is that actually any football fan in the world would most likely agree that he was the best manager to have ever lived. Pep Guardiola comes in a close second but no one was as loyal and stayed with a team as long as Sir Alex Ferguson, which is why this is dedicated to him.
This article aims to shed light on the career that Sir Alex Ferguson had, the skill he has at choosing class players and the impact that he had on his team.
Moving Up the Ranks
Just like being a professional footballer, managers also have to do the work of moving up the ranks until they're managing teams in the Premier League, such as Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson started out as just Alex Ferguson, a talented manager born in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ferguson has always been involved in football, being a player himself when he was in his late teens and early twenties. After finding a bit of success in football, being the top scorer in Scotland in the 1965 season, he was coming to the end of his professional soccer career but loved the sport so much that he simply could not let go. This is where he decided that becoming a manager would be a grand idea.
He began his coaching career with a team called East Stirlingshire and after proving himself there, he moved on to Aberdeen, where he trained his team so well that they won three Scottish league championships. Back then, people knew that any team that Ferguson managed was a team that needed to be bet on, which is where a list of emerging gambling platforms cropped up and gave rise to the world of sports betting as we know it today.
Ferguson's success got the attention of many big teams who asked themselves how a once famous Scottish player was able to switch to becoming such an excellent manager. You see, many players have tried to make this switch and have ultimately failed, bringing their ego and their desire to still be the focus of attention at the forefront. A mistake that Ferguson never made. He instinctively knew that to be an excellent manager, he needed to find great players, train them well behind the scenes but then let them fly, a difficult combination but one he performed excellently.
In 1986, the big move came, whereby Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United. Back in the mid-80s, Manchester United was already a team to be rivaled with but no one can deny that Ferguson made that team what it is today, which was based on choosing players well – which will be further outlined below.
The Importance of Youth
Ferguson is famous for saying that strong and young players are what make a team move. Just think about the players he has chosen and trained over the years, giving them their first shot in the premier league. David Beckham was signed to Man United as a teenager, just 16 years old because Ferguson believed in him so greatly. Christiano Ronaldo was also found by Ferguson, who back then already saw what this exceptional player was worth. Or even Christiano Ronaldo's side man but also an excellent player in his own right, Wayne Rooney, was also hired at a young age.
Signing players when they are young makes a lot of sense, they're fit and eager. But the downside of it is that you need to train every last piece of them, they're new to the game with access to a whole bunch of new things and this can be hard to manage. This is why many managers today prefer finding players who already have a bit of a reputation and who have gone through their youthful years with another team and just come to them to perform. This was not the tactic of Ferguson who in 1992 managed the most successful "youthful Manchester United team" making the most funds and sales that Man United had ever seen. Ferguson built his entire platform and name on being able to find excellent players who would continue to play well for him. Many players thanked Ferguson for their early opportunities by staying with the team for a long time. Beckham stayed with Ferguson for over 10 years, Ronaldo stayed for 8 years and Rooney for 13 years. Any player who stays with a team for that long must also mean that they enjoy the training and management they receive, which is something Ferguson can be very proud of.
The Ferguson Helping Hand
Ferguson's impact on players that worked for him was immense. Any player that has every played under the great Ferguson speaks about the excellent training and guidance they received from him. By Alex Ferguson was awarded the Sir title, everyone in the UK could tell that what this man had done not only for the team but for the game of football was exceptional. Hats off to the career of Sir Alex Ferguson. |
