The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Volume 1989: Survival from Desperate Situation (1990- season)

"This was the most critical and dangerous season for Ferguson as the coach of the Red Devils. He was strong and withstood all the pressure. He resolutely cleaned up many of the main players in the summer. The defeat to Manchester City at the beginning of the season hit him hard. He survived the most dangerous time in the difficult season and was almost fired in the middle of the season. Facing all the doubts and criticisms and the crisis of being fired, Ferguson finally achieved a Jedi counterattack with his results and scenes, and the FA Cup championship saved his long-precarious position as coach."

——Foreword

Chapter 118: The Resolute Summer

"The big purge has put Ferguson in a whirlpool of public opinion. There has been a cold and ruthless feeling at Old Trafford throughout the summer. Many former core players and fans' favorites of the Red Devils have been driven out. Ferguson has shown his iron fist and determination."

--Inscription

The results of the 88-89 season made Ferguson feel ashamed and felt a great crisis.

Some people in the Red Devils' board of directors have already questioned his ability, and the media, which is eager to create chaos, has begun to hype the topic that Ferguson is not suitable to coach the Red Devils.

When Ferguson reported to the board of directors, he took all the responsibility. He explained the main reasons for the decline in performance and admitted the serious consequences of his stubborn and high-intensity tactical exploration.

After Ferguson admitted all this, he gave the board an option: a complete reconstruction.

In order to convince the directors, Ferguson did a lot of work. He and the coaching staff listed the statistics of Manchester United players in various positions, and then compared them with the statistics of players in other teams in the English Premier League. This huge table of data shocked everyone as soon as it was taken out - it would be impossible to do it without great effort. In this table, Ferguson used very intuitive data to analyze the performance of existing players in detail.

Ferguson concluded that it was difficult to find enough good players in the current team. Apart from those who love the club, have a positive attitude and are affected by special injuries, there are too many unqualified players. In addition to the eye-catching statistics of many players, Ferguson also quantified the ups and downs of the players' statistics since they played for Manchester United.

Ferguson boldly raised a major issue, which was to demand a large-scale clean-up of the team.

Ferguson said, "Looking at the data alone, only Robson's data needs to be reconsidered due to his injuries and special contributions. The others can be directly concluded."

Ferguson's proposal aroused great response in the board of directors, with many opinions supporting and opposing it. The large-scale reconstruction plan was a huge risk, and the board of directors finally decided to support it.

The Great Purge was foreshadowed long ago, and Ferguson was not forcing the emperor to step down.

After the team lost to Nottingham Forest, Ferguson met with Edwards and had a showdown. He wanted to get rid of Strachan and replace him with Everton's Stephen.

This action was more like a fire reconnaissance by Ferguson to test the attitude of the Red Devils board. Strachan was soon sold to Leeds United by Ferguson. Ferguson explained the decision to sell the player to his sworn enemy simply, "I don't need to consider the threat of Leeds United. The most important thing is that they are willing to pay a high price of 30 pounds."

Ferguson's decision to sell Strachan was supported by the board, but his idea to buy Stephen was unsuccessful, as the salary Manchester United was willing to pay was far from what Stephen wanted. In the end, the Scottish Glasgow Rangers snatched the target that Ferguson wanted, and the Red Devils lost a strong reinforcement.

This failed signing was finally described by Ferguson as the key reason for the team's continued decline in performance last season. This gave him support when he sought more funds in the summer, especially when Ferguson asked to buy Ins, there were not many objections from the board.

Charlton said: "There are always different opinions in the board of directors. Edwards hopes to do big things with little money. Watkins believes that the Red Devils need to be revitalized and that the coach should be supported to buy strong reinforcements, even if some money is wasted for this. Richards and Williams will support Edwards, but they are also willing to take risks, while I firmly support Ferguson."

Ferguson demonstrated a high level of emotional intelligence, which impressed Edwards deeply. "Alex finally convinced us at the board meeting, not with his achievements, not with his plans and blueprints, not with his boiling passion and his big mouth, but with super scary data tables and precise logical analysis."

The top management of the board reached a consensus and Ferguson took immediate action.

The media on Fleet Street were still focusing on Ferguson's defeat, but Ferguson simply admitted that his pre-season slogan was nonsense, completely shutting up the reporters. As a result of Ferguson's "submission", more than half of the media began to analyze that Ferguson would be fired soon, and some even said that he might not last until the start of the new season.

The Guardian said: "Anderson, Bruce, McClair, Mark Hughes, Jim Leighton, Donaghy, Lee Sharp, Maiorana... Ferguson introduced a lot of players and spent astonishing transfer fees, but the results were so unsuccessful. He has no ability to coach a top club, he is just a big liar who can shout!"

Manchester Evening News said: "Look at the rising Arsenal, look at how Graham recruited players, look at Arsenal's distinctive style of play, look at the league championship trophy the Gunners won. Graham may usher in a new era. The difference between him and Ferguson is not just the difference of a league title, but an all-round gap. The Red Devils really didn't know the right person this time."

Reporters and critics were full of spit and exaggeration, but the Red Devils fans were not easily disturbed. After all, although the results last season were poor, the Red Devils' second place the season before was not fake. Why Ferguson's performance was so unstable is worth discussing, but he should not be replaced just like that.

Bobby Charlton recalled the scene back then and said: "I didn't know how to evaluate him at that time. Ferguson obviously messed up the 88-89 season. His coaching results were very poor, the team's performance was very bad, and the contradictions between him and several main players in the team were becoming increasingly obvious. These were all worrying things. At this time, he was still thinking about a major purge and wanted to drive out some of the fans' favorites. This courage is really extraordinary."

There are undercurrents in the Red Devils dressing room, and many people are waiting and watching. But Ferguson has already determined a large number of blacklists through the games of last season. Some Red Devils players have stepped on his bottom line. If they don't want to play for him, then leave the Red Devils!

McGrath was the first one that Ferguson purged. As a well-known alcoholic in the British football world and the strongest black central defender in the English Football League, McGrath was full of confidence and did not buy into the alcohol ban imposed by Ferguson at all. He ridiculed Ferguson's ban on alcohol in the Red Devils as a fantasy. McGrath even made fun of Ferguson for being a wine lover, who also drank alcohol when he was a player and opened a bar in Scotland to attract players and fans to drink. Why did he turn his face and ban alcohol now? McGrath did not agree with Ferguson's strict training requirements. He always had an unusual confidence in his level and simply dealt with the training. What made Ferguson most angry was that McGrath often destroyed the atmosphere of the Red Devils' daily training and led the entire team astray.

For a long time, McGrath was known as one of the best central defenders in England. He was an indispensable choice for the team and the most critical part of the defense. In the first two seasons when Ferguson just coached the Red Devils, he was indeed a target that Ferguson did not dare to hide, let alone kill him, so McGrath almost always clashed with Ferguson.

Ferguson's solution? He bought Bruce and Donaghy successively and promoted Lee Martin in the hope of replacing him at the central defender position.

By the end of the season, he finally made up his mind. McGrath missed a lot of games last season due to injury, which gave Ferguson more reasons to let him go.

McGrath was stunned when the decision was made. However, he was too arrogant to beg the coach to take back his decision. Instead, he proudly packed his bags and said goodbye to his friends.

When the news of the Red Devils' plan to sell McGrath came out, a number of English League One clubs were very interested. However, given the guy's injuries and reputation for alcoholism, no team was willing to pay a high price. The Red Devils board initially thought that they could sell him for more than 80 pounds, but no one was interested in the player. Finally, when Aston Villa was willing to offer 40 pounds, Ferguson readily agreed.

McGrath moved to Villa and left the Red Devils.

The media had been tracking McGrath, hoping that he would accept an interview to vent his dissatisfaction with Ferguson, preferably to reveal some secrets in the Red Devils dressing room, or to reveal some conflicts between him and Ferguson. McGrath refused all of them, as he was very disgusted with the media's meanness.

After joining Villa, McGrath experienced many twists and turns. He came to Villa with injuries and was not cheered by all the fans. Some fans were deeply worried that the performance of this once best central defender in England was so bad last season, and it was likely that alcohol had destroyed his health and Villa would become his retirement home.

McGrath said: "I left the Red Devils with a lot of contradictions. It was a relief, but also a great pity. I used to love this place and regarded everyone as a brother. I also worked hard here and won championships. But now it all seems like a dream, everything has become unreal. I don't know if I should resent Alex, but I don't want to do that."

After McGrath, Ferguson's target was Whiteside.

Last season, Whiteside was almost abandoned by Ferguson. He was no longer a starter and did not get many starting opportunities, so his performance was naturally very poor. Whiteside's injuries became more and more serious, and he was more and more accompanied by alcohol, so his competitive state naturally plummeted.

After the Red Devils announced the sale of Whiteside, many English League One teams were interested. After in-depth negotiations, the Red Devils finally agreed to Everton's offer of £60 and sent him to the Toffees.

Whiteside was in great pain when he left the Red Devils. He shed tears. Whiteside is a youth training gem of the Red Devils and has a deeper affection for the team. Whiteside said: "I welcomed this day with a feeling of helplessness and helplessness. It was like I was leaving my home and becoming a wandering orphan. I always thought I would play here for a long time and would play until I retired, but this dream was suddenly broken."

Whiteside said, "I have always loved the Red Devils and everything about this club. I started here, grew up here, and succeeded here. Everything I have was given by the Red Devils. I have been loved and respected by the Red Devils fans, and I have always been deeply grateful. Now I have to leave this club, and I really don’t know what to say..."

From Strachan to McGrath, and then to Whiteside, Ferguson quickly cleared out three key players. The media first looked for trouble, believing that these three stars were the main contributors to the Red Devils' FA Cup victory and the fans' favorites. It was unimaginable that Ferguson had not done anything to help them, but acted like this. The rumors in the media would not bother Ferguson, as there were more people on his blacklist. He continued to wield the machete and cleared out the positions continuously. By the end of the summer transfer window, it was difficult to find old players in the Red Devils' lineup. Almost all the players signed by Atkinson before 1985 were cleared out.

The BBC commentator was more objective. He said: "A thorough cleansing is a huge risk for Ferguson. He needs to gamble his lifelong reputation. He does not have enough authority, no record to support him, and not enough support from fans. He is tying his entire future to this opportunity."

Some Red Devils fans are very dissatisfied with Ferguson. After all, this guy who cleans out old players before any achievements are not very reliable. "This egotistical guy will definitely not bring good results to the Red Devils!"

However, many fan organizations believe that "it is understandable for the coach to build a team according to his own ideas and tactical needs, and the players that Ferguson cleared out did not perform well, so it is not unfair for these guys to leave."