Alex Ferguson


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The most successful British domestic manager there’s ever been and he will never be surpassed in terms of trophies here. I do think his European record is slightly below par though.

And I think the achievements of Brian Clough with Derby and Forest certainly give him a shout
 
I did too. Although Sir Alex 's Aberdeen side were also decent without winning a EC which is pretty much the main standard in that era.



What Clough did with very limited finances and a group of mainly not household name players at Forest was an unbelievable achievement, what he did with Derby by picking up the likes of Dave Mackay, etc. to win the league was also an achievement
Don’t forget Cloughs Derby were cheated out of an EC Semi by the corruption kings of Juve.
 
Amazing how time dulls the memory. Amazing amount of disrespect to Alex Ferguson on this thread. 26 years of domestic dominance, building 3 or 4 teams including once made up primarily of academy products. Came close a number of times with the European Cup as well as winning it twice. Outlasted every other manager in an ever changing game. Won things right up until his last season
Eh?
Man Utd are the biggest club in England, they were when he took over and still are. He made them punch their weight but that is all. They’re one of the two or three richest clubs in the world so should be winning the CL every now and then unless the manager is failing which they did twice. Again they punched their weight. That’s all they did under Fergie, punch their weight.
Admittedly that may be more difficult than it should be as safcs long term failure to do so shows. But clough managed clubs punching above their weight twice.
 
Weren't that clever either before he got there..once Busby left they struggled

It’s like history repeating itself. I grew up in the days Liverpool dominated and Man U won the odd cup.

It was unthinkable then that Liverpool would be 27 years (or whatever it is?) without winning the league. Iirc the gap between Man U winning it was a similar time and they could be looking at a similar scenario.
 
IMO Clough was the greatest due to the teams he worked with and the success he drove them to!

No doubt Fergie was the most successful in my lifetime along with Bob Paisley
 
Fergie's achievements with Aberdeen incredible and did hit lucky with the kids at United however managed to rebuild again and again. As has been said earlier Man Utd were already the biggest club in England however he did make them the dominant club also.
Clough however managed to cobble together a team of average players and turn them into double European Cup winners. An achievement which is unlikely ever to be matched.
 
The most successful British domestic manager there’s ever been and he will never be surpassed in terms of trophies here. I do think his European record is slightly below par though.

And I think the achievements of Brian Clough with Derby and Forest certainly give him a shout
It’s not really - a Cup Winners Cup with Aberdeen, two European Cups and another couple of finals. I think he also won the UEFA Cup with Man utd, but have to check to be sure.

Edit - actually it was another Cup Winners Cup, where they beat Barcelona. He also won a couple of European Super Cups, so I would say his record is actually better than the overrated Mourinho’s and Guardiolas of this world.
 
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Read his books, and read books of players who played for him. No one comes close in the modern era to what he done. He created 3 teams in his tenure and developed some some of the best players this country has produced.

Now the great mourinho is in his shoes. It just shows how good Sir Alex was.

Which of his books would you recommend?
 
I suppose it's generally about what certain managers did with a certain standard of player? In which case it's Cloughie [at Derby & Forest] for me because he couldn't afford what Fergie, etc could attract with MU & Liverpool.
 
All the books and articles I've read on Fergie suggest he was the very epitome of a bully - using intimidation, threats and power to get what he wanted. Maybe you and I have different definitions of what constitutes a bully.

Keane said that mind. He used what he could to get what he wanted- and ultimately it worked.
 
Quite liked how when Man City won the title after Man United had beat us and the fans doing the Poznan him saying he would remember it.
I think he seemed to forget that we had took 4 points off City and they has lost 6. :rolleyes:
 
Quite liked how when Man City won the title after Man United had beat us and the fans doing the Poznan him saying he would remember it.
I think he seemed to forget that we had took 4 points off City and they has lost 6. :rolleyes:
This is the sort of thing a good journalist would bring up at a presser but they were all shit scared of him! He got a very easy ride by officials and the press who didn't want to upset him, how many years did Man Utd go at OT without conceding a penalty ffs? Great manager yes definitely but he had a free reign in a lot of areas, even the FA let him get away with more than any manager before or since.
 
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