On Saturday Manchester United were crowned English champions for a record 19th time, surpassing the 18th title won by Liverpool all those years ago. In the early 90’s, in the infancy of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure at Old Trafford, the record stood at 18-7 in Liverpool’s favour, and even the most optimistic of United fans would’ve been hard pressed to believe that in merely two decades, with the same man still at the helm, we’d have not only clawed back the deficit, but surpassed it and added two European Cups for good measure. As he promised, Sir Alex Ferguson has “knocked Liverpool off their fucking perch”.
Perhaps the way we have won this most recent title is fitting; written off by pundits and fans alike at the beginning of the season, Ferguson has defied the odds again to inspire a team of individuals to play above the collective sum of its parts. I call it fitting in the sense that this has been happening for years. In 1993, after years in the footballing wilderness watching Liverpool dominate both domestically and abroad, on the back of league wins from Arsenal and Leeds, Sir Alex managed to turn the “drinking club” he had inherited into Premier League champions, 27 years after our previous triumph in ’67.
At the beginning of the 95/96 season Alan Hansen famously declared “you don’t win anything with kids”, after the national newspapers came out with headlines such as “Sold Trafford” when three of our biggest stars, Hughes, Kanchelskis and Ince, were sold in a summer clear out leaving us with an inexperienced, but talented side. We went on to win the double.
After Arsenal had gone unbeaten for a whole season in 03/04 and then the Abramovic funded Chelsea had blown away the competition under the management of Mourinho the following two seasons, the critics came out with their knives sharper than ever, and it wasn’t just the tabloids. Rob Smyth of the Guardian suggested Ferguson was “shredding his legacy at every turn”. After three years without a trophy, and transfer spending limited under new owners who had saddled the club with debt, Rob Smyth wasn’t the only one who thought the “baggy mess of has-beens and never will bes” wouldn’t succeed. We went on to win the league in 06/07 playing attractive, attacking football spearheaded by Ronaldo and Rooney. The following year we trumped this by winning a domestic and European double. In ’09 we completed a consecutive hat-trick of domestic triumphs and equalled the record set by Liverpool.
Even after these considerable successes, and even after Sir Alex had proven everyone wrong by rebuilding his team time and again to achieve success, we were written off. Tevez was let go, Cristiano Ronaldo was sold and we invested in an Ecuadorian winger from Wigan, an unfit ex-Liverpool striker, a homeless Portuguese guy, a Mexican teenager and a Fulham substitute who was playing non-league football two years ago. Chelsea winning the league last year only reinforced people’s belief that we were finished.
A typically slow start to this season was made to seem even more apocalyptic when our shining light, the player we had relied on so much last season, handed in a transfer request in October claiming we couldn’t match his ambition. To lose one of our few remaining world class players would have not only harmed the quality of our team, but would have sent out a signal to the footballing world that we were a team in decline. It was, and it is, yet another feather in Ferguson’s cap that he managed to convince Rooney to rethink his decision and resign. Now Rooney knows he made a mistake, and now the critics have also been proven wrong yet again. Berbatov and Nani shared the weight of goals and assists during the first half of the season while Valencia was recovering from injuring and Rooney was struggling for form. Since January Rooney has taken over the mantle of leading the attack, Chicharito has exceeded expectations in his debut season, the ever-green Giggs has defied the aging process with vintage performances in big matches, our captain and rock at the back, Vidic, has defied the opposition, Valencia has hit the ground running after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, and even squad players like Park have proved they have the ability and attitude to change big games for us when it matters.
If we manage to overcome Barcelona on May 28th it may go down as Sir Alex’s greatest achievement. Not for the first time this season we’ll be underdogs, but if anyone can do it, it’s Fergie’s red and white army, the most competitive team in the world who you write off at your peril.
At the beginning of the 95/96 season Alan Hansen famously declared “you don’t win anything with kids”, after the national newspapers came out with headlines such as “Sold Trafford” when three of our biggest stars, Hughes, Kanchelskis and Ince, were sold in a summer clear out leaving us with an inexperienced, but talented side. We went on to win the double.
After Arsenal had gone unbeaten for a whole season in 03/04 and then the Abramovic funded Chelsea had blown away the competition under the management of Mourinho the following two seasons, the critics came out with their knives sharper than ever, and it wasn’t just the tabloids. Rob Smyth of the Guardian suggested Ferguson was “shredding his legacy at every turn”. After three years without a trophy, and transfer spending limited under new owners who had saddled the club with debt, Rob Smyth wasn’t the only one who thought the “baggy mess of has-beens and never will bes” wouldn’t succeed. We went on to win the league in 06/07 playing attractive, attacking football spearheaded by Ronaldo and Rooney. The following year we trumped this by winning a domestic and European double. In ’09 we completed a consecutive hat-trick of domestic triumphs and equalled the record set by Liverpool.
Even after these considerable successes, and even after Sir Alex had proven everyone wrong by rebuilding his team time and again to achieve success, we were written off. Tevez was let go, Cristiano Ronaldo was sold and we invested in an Ecuadorian winger from Wigan, an unfit ex-Liverpool striker, a homeless Portuguese guy, a Mexican teenager and a Fulham substitute who was playing non-league football two years ago. Chelsea winning the league last year only reinforced people’s belief that we were finished.
A typically slow start to this season was made to seem even more apocalyptic when our shining light, the player we had relied on so much last season, handed in a transfer request in October claiming we couldn’t match his ambition. To lose one of our few remaining world class players would have not only harmed the quality of our team, but would have sent out a signal to the footballing world that we were a team in decline. It was, and it is, yet another feather in Ferguson’s cap that he managed to convince Rooney to rethink his decision and resign. Now Rooney knows he made a mistake, and now the critics have also been proven wrong yet again. Berbatov and Nani shared the weight of goals and assists during the first half of the season while Valencia was recovering from injuring and Rooney was struggling for form. Since January Rooney has taken over the mantle of leading the attack, Chicharito has exceeded expectations in his debut season, the ever-green Giggs has defied the aging process with vintage performances in big matches, our captain and rock at the back, Vidic, has defied the opposition, Valencia has hit the ground running after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, and even squad players like Park have proved they have the ability and attitude to change big games for us when it matters.
If we manage to overcome Barcelona on May 28th it may go down as Sir Alex’s greatest achievement. Not for the first time this season we’ll be underdogs, but if anyone can do it, it’s Fergie’s red and white army, the most competitive team in the world who you write off at your peril.
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