The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 128: An unexpected defeat

"This was a rare defeat in Ferguson's career as a Red Devils player. He was caught off guard by his city rivals and fell into a crisis of doubt. The voices calling for his dismissal suddenly became very loud."

--Inscription

The time came to September 1989, 9, when the Red Devils challenged their city rivals Manchester City away. This was the 23th round of the league, a highly anticipated city derby.

In English football, the derby in the same city is bound to be a focus battle. Although the Red Devils and Manchester City were not so glorious at the time, and their lineups were not at their peak, the confrontation between the two teams would still become a hot topic in Manchester and even in England. The grievances between the two clubs have a long history, and the conflicts and confrontations are very fierce. The earliest hatred came from the fact that Newton Heath, the predecessor of the Red Devils, moved into the city. Manchester City felt very dissatisfied that their interests were divided and occupied, and when the Red Devils were officially named, they interfered. In the early days of the English League One, Manchester City’s scandal broke out, and the Red Devils took advantage of the fire to dig out many of their opponents’ main players, eventually won the championship, and laughed at their opponents’ embarrassing relegation... Later, the two teams continued to fight fiercely. The story of the Red Devils was magnificent, and Manchester City gradually stuck to the local area. The strength and honor gradually diverged, but the contradictions between the two teams have always been extremely sharp, and the hatred has never been resolved.

Before the game, the wind was almost all in favor of Ferguson's team. The Red Devils had a strong lineup and Manchester City was relatively weak, so Ferguson was naturally favored. The media also believed that the strength of the two sides was very different, and it was nothing more than a few goals for the Red Devils to win Manchester City. This season, Manchester City was promoted from the Second Division to the English League One, and their goal was just to avoid relegation; while the Red Devils were a veteran strong team, claiming to challenge for the championship before the season. Manchester City had just been eliminated from the League Cup by Brentford a few days ago, and they had only won one of the previous six league games, which showed their strength.

At the beginning of the game, there was chaos on the field. Fans of both teams clashed in the stands. Manchester City fans, relying on their large home field, rushed into the mixed zone to taunt and scold the Red Devils fans, triggering a large-scale fight. The commotion of the fans on the field became more and more intense. A large number of fans climbed over the railings, passed through the normally closed passages, and rushed directly into the field.

The match was immediately suspended, and the players of both teams did not know what had happened. The on-site security measures were quickly upgraded, and the police and stadium security quickly dispatched to control the situation in time. After a disturbance, the game was able to continue after 10 minutes. The Red Devils took the initiative and actively launched several offensives, but did not create any good scoring opportunities. In the 5th minute, the Red Devils broke into the penalty area from the left, causing panic among the opponents. Unfortunately, the inverted triangle cross in the penalty area was intercepted by the Manchester City defender, and Mark Hughes missed an opportunity.

After Manchester City withstood the opponent's opening attack, the team's confidence increased greatly. The excitement of the city derby gradually changed the team's spirit and spirit. The confrontation with the Red Devils in the midfield became more and more intense, and they actively attacked on the spot after stealing the ball in the midfield, quickly attacking the combination area between the middle of the midfield and the ribs of the Red Devils. Manchester City played at a rare high speed, which made the Red Devils players suffer immediately.

The Red Devils players were soon at a disadvantage under the opponent's fierce attack, especially the midfield, which had difficulty withstanding the opponent's attack and had to retreat. Manchester City played better and better, and their momentum completely overwhelmed the Red Devils. The attack became more and more fierce. At one point, more than 6 players pressed over the 35-meter area of ​​the Red Devils to attack with all their strength.

Ferguson's pre-match arrangements were completely disrupted by the opponent, and the suppression tactics were also counter-suppressed by the opponent's fierce attack. After entering Manchester City's rhythm, the Red Devils team was very passive, from the midfield to the backcourt, it felt like everything was in chaos. The Red Devils kept retreating and were gradually pressed to the front of the penalty area. The space and formation were forced to become narrower and narrower, and the Red Devils players became very panicked.

Manchester City seized the opportunity and attacked hard, and soon made a breakthrough. They made a long pass to the right in the backcourt, and then easily crossed the ball from the bottom. The low cross was not fast, but Pallister's tackle to clear the ball failed to reach the ball, and David Field of Manchester City easily received the pass in the penalty area, and shot the ball into the upper corner of the goal with a sideways shot!

Manchester City leads 1-0.

Then the Red Devils paid the price for their low-level mistakes again. Manchester City made a cross from the left at a 45-degree angle, but the Red Devils defender made a mistake in a hurry and failed to clear the dangerous area in time. The Manchester City striker stole the ball, leaving the Red Devils defender behind, and then kicked a powerful shot. The Red Devils goalkeeper Leighton saved the shot and saved the first crisis. But after the ball was saved in the middle of the penalty area, the Manchester City player took a step faster to make a supplementary shot, and Leighton fell to the ground again to block the ball; but this time the ball still fell into the small penalty area. Manchester City player Treve Moore kicked the ball first on the small penalty area line and poked the ball into the goal, 2-0!

Not long after, Manchester City intercepted the Red Devils' pass in front of the penalty area line in the backcourt and launched a quick counterattack. Three Manchester City players passed the ball and ran to tear open the messy defense line of the Red Devils, who had no time to return to defense after the attack and defense transition. Manchester City quickly went down the wing and then made an accurate cross. Forward Ian Bishop flew into the penalty area and headed the ball into the goal, 3-0!

In the first half, Manchester City was 3-0 ahead of the Red Devils. Who would believe this?!

During the halftime break, Ferguson was furious. He turned on the hair dryer and scolded everyone. Seeing the Red Devils players hanging their heads and shrinking their heads, Ferguson was so angry that he was about to explode. In front of his exploding "Ferguson hair dryer", the Red Devils players were stunned and said nothing. Ins was not afraid of embarrassment at the time. He shouted hard that he wanted to catch up with the score in the second half, and even said that he wanted to overtake the opponent, but his words did not resonate.

In the second half, the Red Devils stepped up their attack, the situation improved, and their shots increased, but they still failed to score in a short time and close the gap. Although Mark Hughes received a cross from his teammate in the small penalty area corner, jumped sideways, and volleyed, scoring a wonderful goal, which helped the Red Devils to get back a point with difficulty. But Manchester City then took advantage of the Red Devils' eagerness to equalize the score, played steadily, and seized the counterattack opportunities one after another. They counterattacked in the frontcourt and directly intercepted the Red Devils' pass in the backcourt, catching the Red Devils off guard. After the Manchester City player intercepted the ball, he went directly into the penalty area. The Red Devils goalkeeper Leighton fell to the ground to block the opponent's first shot, but unfortunately the ball continued to be controlled by the opponent after it bounced out. Then the Manchester City player easily transferred the ball in front of the goal, and Odd Field easily picked up the leak in front of the goal and scored.

4 is better than 1!

Manchester City was in a strong position and soon they came back with a long diagonal pass from the midfield to the right wing, where there was no one defending the Red Devils. Manchester City's David White waited for the ball to fly and then cleverly unloaded it. When the ball bounced, he kicked it directly to the middle. Hinchcliffe was once again unguarded in the penalty area. He rushed up at high speed, met the ball and headed it, breaking through Leighton's defense.

Manchester City 5-1 Red Devils!

The celebrating Manchester City and the collapsed Red Devils!

In the last 20 minutes or so, Manchester City had many chances, but their shots became weak and they ultimately failed to expand the score.

Amid the singing and laughter of home fans, Manchester City defeated their city rivals by a large margin, achieving a great victory that will be remembered in history.

The crushing defeat stunned the reporters on the sidelines. No one could have expected that newly promoted Manchester City would be so powerful and become the winner in this bizarre and rare derby.

Ferguson, sitting on the sidelines, was silent and helpless. He didn't even want to lose his temper.

This was the first time since Ferguson took over as manager that the Red Devils suffered a crushing defeat to their city rivals. It was also the first time in history that the Red Devils lost to their city rivals by such a large margin. Ferguson couldn't understand it. From the formation, tactics to the process, everything was incredible. He knew that there was something wrong with the entire Red Devils team, and it was not something that could be explained by luck.

The Red Devils were defeated miserably, and the Red Devils fans who traveled with the team were humiliated at the opponent's home stadium. Many fans lost their patience and left the stadium directly. However, the Red Devils fans who persisted to the end were very tenacious and kept applauding and encouraging the players who fought hard to the end. The fans encouraged the players to let go of the psychological burden of this miserable defeat as soon as possible and recover as soon as possible.

Many Red Devils fans who could not accept the defeat reacted violently. They were angry at the poor performance of the entire Red Devils team, and even more furious at Ferguson's deployment and on-the-spot command. They wanted to skin this incompetent and cowardly guy alive. These angry fans shouted slogans such as "Ferguson get out" and "Ferguson is rubbish" on the sidelines of the court. Some fans also cursed Pallister, Anderson and other players who performed poorly.

Ferguson hurriedly dealt with the post-match press conference and returned to the club in a panic with the players. After learning the news of the disastrous defeat to the city's mortal enemy, the fans gathered at Old Trafford and surrounded the club gate, denouncing the group of cowards and defeated soldiers who lost the game. Some radical fans drank a lot of alcohol and could not suppress their anger. They kept scolding the players and even planned to teach this group of shameful guys a lesson, including Ferguson. More and more fans rushed to the scene. In the midst of the anger, they believed that the disastrous defeat was all Ferguson's fault. They shouted for Ferguson to step down and get out of Old Trafford immediately.

Ferguson hid in the base and finally escaped and returned home under police protection.

My wife Cathy asked: "What's the score today? How was the game?"

Ferguson took a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "5 to 1."

Before Cathy could say "Great!", her son Darren quickly added: "We lost, Manchester City scored five goals!"

Ferguson smiled bitterly at Cathy's astonished expression, unable to explain what had happened. Cathy had no way to comfort her husband, so she had to leave him alone in the living room.

Ferguson did not sleep all night. The night was extremely long, and the wind outside the window was extremely cold. Ferguson had no desire to sleep at all and spent the whole night reflecting. The chaotic game, the failure, the ridicule of the opponents, the sadness of the fans, everything... It was like a replay of a movie, vivid and clear.

Ferguson said much later: "I wanted to stick my head in an oven. I thought at least half of Manchester would be happy to turn on the gas for me, and the other half would cheer and celebrate."

The Red Devils' entire team performed poorly, and Pallister was the most obvious. Many of the goals he lost were related to him. When Pallister reported for training on Monday morning, four burly Red Devils fans intercepted him on the road. They were filled with righteous indignation and scolded this guy who had transferred at a high price, accusing him of not being able to defend at all, not living up to his reputation, and having only an empty shell. The extreme fans were aggressive and scolded Pallister for not being suitable to wear the Red Devils jersey, and that he was completely inferior to McGrath, and believed that Pallister was a disgrace to the club.

"They got more and more angry and really wanted to attack me. I could only endure it silently without a word to explain it. It was all very scary at the time," Parist recalled.

After learning about this, Ferguson consoled Pallister and instructed the club to strengthen security measures. In a special letter published by the club, Ferguson said, "People's speculation about my future is not directed at me personally, but because I am the head coach of the Red Devils. People in this position will always become the target of media criticism. We really can't do anything about it, so we can only smile and do our job well."

Ferguson said: "I know that I am doing this job with great sincerity. I love this club and hope to bring the club to the pinnacle of success through hard work and win everything it deserves. I have been working hard and working hard for the team's progress. I feel the fans' eager expectations and fiery love here. I know this deeply, and the team also knows this. This is why the club's top management decided to give me a new three-year contract because they fully recognize my achievements. This is not bragging, the facts will speak for themselves."

“It’s a tough job and I’m trying to do it the best I can.”