The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 151 The ban is lifted

UEFA lifted the ban on English teams participating in European competitions, which gave Ferguson and the Red Devils a valuable opportunity to challenge for the European Cup Winners' Cup.

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The World Cup passed quickly, and Ferguson ended his short vacation and soon set foot on Manchester soil.

A lot of things are waiting for him to deal with.

The first important thing is to quickly digest and absorb the new changes and new contents in tactics and playing styles of the World Cup. In addition, Ferguson must go all out to complete the recruitment of target players, cooperate with the club's listing, arrange careful summer window training, and prepare for the start of the season.

At the club, everything must serve the listing and give way to the listing. This is the most important task, and even the most overwhelming task. Ferguson found that some players had to stop training to participate in the club's external publicity activities, and the summer preparation training plan was seriously disrupted. Ferguson is a rare coach who is not opposed to the commercialization of football, but he is very disgusted with this kind of interference with the team's training and games. However, considering the issue of transfer funds, Ferguson endured it.

Ferguson not only has to deal with interference, but also with those doubting voices. There are still many comments in the media that attack him. Many media still question Ferguson's ability, thinking that he has been with the Red Devils for a long time and spent enough money, but only has an erratic lineup and the team's performance is not good. The Red Devils should change the coach now.

Although the media kept nagging and annoyed Ferguson, many fans chose to trust and wait. At the critical moment of listing, the Red Devils club could not fire him. The board was even willing to continue recruiting players to allow Ferguson to strengthen the team.

For the Red Devils board, they received a big gift package for the listing this summer. UEFA issued the latest policy, lifting the ban on English league clubs and allowing qualified teams to participate in the three major European cups.

UEFA's ban was originally issued because of the Heysel Stadium disaster. After the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, UEFA determined that Liverpool had an unshirkable responsibility and was also dissatisfied with the management of English clubs, so it began to ban all English clubs. UEFA announced that English teams would not be allowed to participate in all UEFA-organized competitions for five years, including the Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Cup and Super Cup, and Liverpool would be banned for seven years.

In 1990, the ban expired and UEFA allowed other English clubs except Liverpool to participate in European club competitions. As the FA Cup champions, the Red Devils got a ticket to participate in the European Cup Winners' Cup.

For Ferguson, this will be a new opportunity, especially in the Cup Winners' Cup competition where he excels.

The opportunity to play in the European Cup Winners' Cup excites all the Red Devils because they have never won this trophy before and the trophy itself is very important. Considering the miracle of Ferguson leading Aberdeen to win the championship before, some Red Devils fans even changed their attitude towards him. Ferguson is good at cup competitions and has experience in winning the European Cup Winners' Cup. This time he will obviously have a good chance of leading the Red Devils to win the championship. This idea will make the fans more and more excited.

Many curious reporters even flew to Aberdeen to dig deeper into Ferguson's magical experience of winning the championship. In Aberdeen's Hall of Fame, they saw the European Cup Winners' Cup trophy shining brightly, with the words "won by Mr. Alex Ferguson" written on it.

BBC reporter interviewed Ferguson specifically on the topic of the European Cup Winners' Cup, "Mr. Alex, what do you think of the Red Devils' prospects in participating in the European Cup Winners' Cup? Can you lead the team to win this championship trophy that has never been seen in the history of the Red Devils?"

Ferguson said: "The Cup Winners' Cup is one of the three major European cups. Winning the cup will be a great honor. My players and I are making all kinds of preparations and hope to play in our style and achieve good results in the Cup Winners' Cup."

The reporter asked: "What is a good result? What are your expected goals?"

Ferguson laughed. "Of course we have to fight for the championship trophy. We have a history of outstanding performance in the Cup Winners' Cup. Now of course we have to challenge for the championship. I think the Red Devils fans are looking forward to us winning the championship. This is a great motivation. We hope to play with a good mental outlook, contribute wonderful games to the fans, and hope to satisfy the fans."

In an interview, Dunn, head of the Red Devils Fans Association, said: "We have never set any goals that must be achieved for the team, such as the Cup Winners' Cup. That is not the idea of ​​a mature fan. We hope that Mr. Alex will bring us a brand new Red Devils and bring progress to the team. As long as all this is done, success will come naturally.

In view of the European war, Ferguson quickly gathered his thoughts, adjusted his team-building ideas, and focused his work on summer signings.

Ferguson's efforts to recruit players suffered setbacks. On the one hand, the club's board of directors really could not come up with more funds. On the other hand, he was not welcomed by the stars and not many players were willing to join him voluntarily.

Ferguson believed that the most urgent position for the Red Devils at that time was the goalkeeper. Leighton was old and his condition was declining rapidly. He had broken up with Ferguson, so a new goalkeeper would be necessary. In addition, Ferguson hoped to introduce a left back and a right back, or even better, a striker. Ferguson was worried about Anderson, Donaghy and Lee Martin, hoping to find stronger candidates. In addition, Ferguson also wanted to sign another midfielder. Wallace had injury risks and was not as strong as before; the worst was Webber, who suffered a serious injury after playing only a few games last season and never returned to Ferguson's sight.

Ferguson wanted to prepare two or more main players for each position, but the Red Devils obviously could not afford such a large roster. In view of the continuous purchases in the previous season, especially the signings in several positions were not good enough, Ferguson also knew that it would be difficult to dig out enough funds from the management.

You have to know that last season Ferguson's signings cost the club more than 800 million pounds, which is a huge amount of money that a mid-to-low-level club can use to change its roster twice. Even so, Ferguson's performance in the league was still terrible. The result told Ferguson that even if he emphasized the need to continue to strengthen the team, the management would not believe his "bluff" anymore.

Ferguson's search for a goalkeeper was fruitless. The goalkeepers who met his requirements in the English League One teams were unwilling to come, and those who were willing to join could not meet his requirements. In the end, Ferguson officially brought in Les Healy, who was on loan from Luton, and promoted the hero of the last FA Cup battle to the starting goalkeeper.

In addition to the goalkeeper, his negotiations for a good left-back were relatively smooth, and he quickly brought in Dennis Irwin, who performed well in the World Cup.

Dennis Irwin was born in November 1965. He was less than 11 years old in the summer of 1990, which was the golden age for a player. He came from the youth training of Leeds United and later transferred to Oldham Athletic, where he became famous under Joe Royle.

Irwin grew up quickly in Oldham Athletic and soon became the main left back. Irwin played against the Red Devils in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final and successfully attracted Ferguson's attention. Irwin performed very well throughout the game. He was calm and composed, had a good sense of position, was very good at covering and assisting defense, and his defensive rate was very high. His defensive actions were very effective and impressive. Against the Red Devils, Irwin easily dealt with Wallace's offensive pressure and even pressed the confrontation to the Red Devils' half, completely eliminating the Red Devils' threat on the right side. Not only that, Irwin also had very good assist defense, helping the defense line to withstand the firepower of many Red Devils' attacking players. Whether it was Mark Hughes, McClair, or Insferan, basically no one could take advantage of him. Although the team was eventually scored 3 goals by the Red Devils, it was not Irwin's responsibility. After the end of the season, Irwin was recruited into the Irish national team for the World Cup. Under the command of Jack Charlton, Irwin and his teammates showed extraordinary fighting power in the World Cup, helping the team reach the quarter-finals.

Whether it was the Red Devils playing Oldham Athletic or fighting against the big teams in the World Cup, Ferguson was impressed by Irwin. He keenly discovered that this left-back was very strong and had not even realized his potential. Whether it was physical confrontation, footwork, running speed and active coverage; whether it was steady defense or fierce attack, this young man was very good. Ferguson always believed that the Red Devils had hidden dangers on the wing, especially Anderson was close to retirement. The Red Devils could not always let newcomers or other players play this position, so they were eager to sign Irwin.

Oldham Athletic did not object much. They were very surprised by the price offered by Ferguson, which was 62.5 pounds, the highest income in the club's history.

After this price was reported, the media once again ridiculed Ferguson, thinking that he had once again been called a fool with too much money. They also sarcastically said that the Red Devils could only introduce some "insignificant" players, which did not help the team's overall competitiveness.

Ferguson was too lazy to argue with the media, let alone explain what players should be introduced or what level Irving was... He always firmly believed that the price clearly did not reflect Irving's value.

Ferguson said in the boardroom: "We now have a good opportunity to sign a future English league's best left back for less than 70 pounds. From the technical data analysis of our coaching staff, Dennis Irwin will directly integrate into our lineup, not only can stabilize our left side, but also will bring us a bonus effect."

After Irwin, the Red Devils did not buy any important foreign players, and Ferguson's idea of ​​further strengthening the midfield ultimately failed.

Ferguson decided to continue to tap the potential within the team. On the one hand, he had to wait for Robson and Webber to recover, and on the other hand, he had to use the youth training. In addition to promoting players such as Lee Martin and Robins, he began to give more starting opportunities to young player Lee Sharp, who had already made his debut last season.

Lee Sharpe's rise to power was accompanied by the decline of the former left-wing star Maiorana. Maiorana had a stunning start with the Red Devils. This Italian winger who played street football had skills and ideas. Ferguson thought he had found a treasure at first and even gave him the opportunity to start in many games. But Maiorana had too many problems, and his technical tricks were easily seen through by opponents, and he soon lost his power on the field. Maiorana soon disappeared from the first-team starting list. His last game for the Red Devils was the League Cup against Tottenham Hotspur in October 1989, where he performed very poorly. Ferguson gave up on Maiorana and no longer paid attention to his pleas.

Ferguson constantly revised the pace of the team's reconstruction. He knew it was not easy to build a team with a strong overall structure. Robson was getting older, Bruce and Pallister still needed to be honed, and Wallace and Webber's midfield was full of hidden dangers. The team was not optimistic before the new season.

Ferguson does not advocate any star to fight alone, and does not believe that players can turn the tide by themselves. The most basic principle he believes in is integrity, emphasizing tactical execution. He hopes that the team will be full of confidence and fighting spirit, inspire tenacity in the game, play out the characteristics of the Red Devils, and add vitality to the integrity of the Red Devils.