The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 19 The Greatest Humiliation

Ferguson's brief glory at St. Mirren came to an abrupt end, and he also suffered the greatest humiliation of his life here.

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Ferguson achieved his first step of success at St. Mirren, leading the team to promotion to the Scottish Premier League.

He quickly won the respect of the players and also gained the love and widespread support of the fans.

Of course, Ferguson's hot temper began to show, causing a lot of trouble.

During the 1976 off-season, Ferguson took St. Mirren to the Caribbean for three weeks of overseas training. When they arrived in Guyana to start the warm-up match, a conflict suddenly broke out.

The match between Guyana and St. Mirren was not a friendly match at all. Guyana, who were actively preparing for the World Cup, were very fierce. Their tall central defenders kept attacking St. Mirren's young striker Robert Torrence, making it very difficult for the inexperienced Torrence. Ferguson protested to the referee on the sidelines, but received no response. Near halftime, Torrence was knocked down again. This time it was not a normal tackle foul, but a direct kick to the front bone of the calf.

This completely ignited Ferguson's powder keg.

"That's enough," Ferguson told assistant coach David Provine. "I'm going to play."

Ferguson had retired for two years at the time, and Proven knew he was definitely not going to play football, so he quickly pulled him back to dissuade him. But Ferguson got angry, "That bastard is too presumptuous!"

He said this and went on stage.

Ferguson really didn't go there to play football. He directly replaced Torrence and first tackled the central defender who had just committed the foul, leaving a bloody groove and knocking the opponent to the ground. Then, when he received the cross, he leaned against another defender of the opponent with his back, and when the time was right, he elbowed the opponent and knocked him to the ground on the spot.

The defender rolled over in pain and Ferguson successfully received a red card.

The opponents rushed forward, but Ferguson remained calm. The referee quickly came over to persuade the opponents to leave and ended the game hastily.

After the game, the local media was furious and condemned Ferguson's brutal foul.

After venting his anger, Ferguson realized that he had gone too far. He later apologized to the innocent defender who had been hit hard. When he returned to the team, Ferguson said, "Don't tell anyone that I was sent off!"

The players really kept their mouths shut because they knew if they couldn't keep their mouths shut, they would be in big trouble.

As Ferguson led the team to the top league, he was very strict in managing each player. This strictness was sometimes too much, and even Ferguson regretted it later. St. Mirren was in poor form during a game, and Ferguson even replaced Billy Stark in the 7th minute of the game and scolded him. Ferguson later said in an interview, "To be honest, I later felt that it was too much. During that period, I was always hot-headed and nitpicking about everything."

Ferguson's control over the players was even so strict that some players felt they were being followed and had to stay at home obediently.

St Mirren lost to Motherwell in the cup that season. After the game, Ferguson learned that Frank McGarvey had been drunk in the Waterloo bar before the game. He was furious and wanted to banish this rising star. McGarvey was terrified and kept admitting his mistakes and promised never to make the same mistake again. Ferguson's attitude finally softened.

Ferguson once learned that several players violated team rules and drank in the bar privately, and complained about the team's bonus distribution policy. He scolded everyone in the locker room. Ferguson became more and more angry, picked up a Coke bottle and threw it at several players. The bottle finally hit the ceiling, and the glass bottle fragments fell down. The frightened players did not dare to move.

Strict alcohol prohibitions and strict team discipline ensure Ferguson's control over the team's locker room and that the team's morale is always high.

Ferguson's team continued to be a dark horse in the 1976-77 FA Cup, beating the super powerhouse Dundee United 4-1 and advancing to the next round. In this battle, more than fans poured into St. Mirren's home stadium, breaking the attendance record. When Ferguson led his team to challenge Motherwell, there were even about fans following the team on the away game. The game against Motherwell was earth-shattering, the game was very hot, and the conflict almost never stopped.

The referee's whistle was biased in this game, which was infuriating. He allowed the home team players to commit fouls and pretended not to see that several St. Mirren players were injured. Ferguson was furious and scolded the referee on duty on the sidelines, while Motherwell coach Willy McLean made sarcastic remarks, and the two sides fought. Ferguson never lost in a fight, and he punched the opponent and beat him into a pig's head.

When the referee Ian Foote showed the red card, Ferguson responded with a national curse.

After the game, Ferguson waited in the exit tunnel and chased the referee team to scold them.

St. Mirren eventually lost the game, and Ferguson was immediately criticized, fined and banned by the Scottish Football Association.

Ferguson said: "Defeat is never my cup of tea, but if the game is fair, I will congratulate the other side. The game that day was a disgrace to Scottish football. You can't imagine the referee allowing atrocities on the football field. You can't happily hug the opponent's coach. It's impossible not to react at all."

Ferguson is so straightforward, he is fearless and sticks to his own style.

Ferguson's first big success as a manager was his promotion to the Scottish Premier League. His next goal was to develop St Mirren into an elite club.

In the summer of 1977, Aberdeen, a strong team in the Scottish Premier League, invited him to coach, but Ferguson chose to stay.

Ferguson thought he had a lot of room at St. Mirren and could build the team according to his own ideas and strive for more success, but he soon discovered that all this was not easy.

St Mirren have a new boss, Willie Todd, and that presents a new dilemma.

The new owner, Todd, thought he knew a lot about football, and he and Ferguson often quarreled. From the team's playing style to the player's contract to the first-team lineup, Ferguson and Todd were at loggerheads. The team's board of directors began to split - some supported Ferguson, while others stood on the opposite side.

This situation soon affected the locker room, the team experienced continuous internal friction, the morale was affected, and the team's integrity was almost destroyed. The entire team's combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, and gradually fell into a state of disunity. Ferguson was unable to curb the team's decline.

Ferguson was anxious, he wanted to strengthen his authority as a coach, he wanted to have the final say in training and game command, but Todd continued to exert his influence. The relationship between Ferguson and Todd broke down completely, he thought he could suppress the club chairman, but he finally realized that this was a naive idea.

St. Mirren gradually slipped to 10th place in the league table, only 6 points away from the relegation zone. At that time, Aberdeen once again extended an olive branch to him, but Ferguson did not take the initiative to ask to leave.

At the end of May, Todd called Ferguson to his office and listed 15 counts of breach of contract. Todd emphasized that he already knew that Ferguson wanted to leave and take at least one player with him.

Ferguson laughed at the ridiculous accusations, but he was caught off guard by Todd's immediate announcement of his dismissal.

Not only that, St. Mirren club also refused to pay Ferguson's salary for the year.

Ferguson was determined to break off relations with Todd and the entire club, and sued Todd for illegal dismissal. St. Mirren counter-sued Ferguson for violating professional ethics and demanded that Ferguson be banned from coaching other football teams.

The two sides had a fierce confrontation in court.

Under Todd's command, St. Mirren Club launched an action to accuse Ferguson. Some staff members were willing to appear in court to accuse Ferguson of illegally handling the club's funds and paying "black money" to players. They also accused Ferguson of buying players directly without the consent of the board of directors, which was a serious violation of regulations. Ferguson's secretary also fought back, accusing him of "wantonly intimidating and humiliating the secretary". The evidence was that he refused to talk to the secretary for 6 weeks and confiscated the key to his office that the secretary kept. The secretary testified that Ferguson made her extremely scared, and the club used Ferguson's "evil deeds" in the locker room, smashing glass and scolding players as examples to prove that Ferguson was very aggressive.

Todd said at the trial: "Ferguson has no professional coaching ethics, does not abide by the code of conduct, betrays and harms the interests of the club. Even if he has strong coaching ability, he is not suitable to be the head coach of St. Mirren."

Ferguson fought back angrily, but found that he was too naive before and fell into some seemingly plausible traps. Ferguson insisted that he had never handled any club funds, let alone paid black money to players, but it was too difficult for him to prove it himself. Ferguson emphasized that he was not responsible for the contract of the signings, nor did he sign any agreements with the players privately. All signings were the responsibility of the club. But he could not deny that the club would fully consult his opinions when signing players, and he had the right to veto. Ferguson emphasized that he did not intimidate others, and his tone of conversation with the secretary was very kind, which was child's play compared to the scolding of the players in the locker room.

Ferguson found himself in a difficult self-proof trap. He could not prove whether his attitude was kind enough, while his opponent asked his secretary to emphasize that he was very scared. As for the things in the locker room, Ferguson believed that strict management was no problem, but it would be very awkward to make it public in court.

No matter how angry Ferguson was, he was still a rookie in the coaching world at this age and was not strong enough to defeat his cunning opponent. Even if his mentor George Stein was willing to testify in court, and even if his friend Willie Cunningham, who recommended him to coach, wrote a letter to the judge, he could not wash away his injustice.

In the end, the court ruled that the 36-year-old Ferguson was "stingy and immature, his behavior was indeed inappropriate, and he was not suitable to continue to serve as the head coach of St. Mirren. The club's dismissal was reasonable and no compensation was required."

Ferguson was fired and suffered the worst blow in his coaching career.

Todd, who won the lawsuit, became the only team owner in history to fire Ferguson.

He later said, "It wasn't a big deal to me. I just did the right thing for the team. I had no choice but to fire him."

Ferguson couldn't let it go and he refused to forgive anyone at St Mirren.

It was not until 2008 that the 87-year-old former St. Mirren chairman Todd admitted his mistake and apologized to Ferguson. He explained that the board heard the reactions of some players and thought that Ferguson was going to Aberdeen and would take several players with him, which led to the "tragedy".

Todd said: "What Ferguson has achieved is astounding and the club deeply regrets sacking the famous manager."

Ferguson said, I don't know you well.

Only the reporters were overjoyed and began to dig deep into the dark side of history.

At that time, Ferguson was invited by Aberdeen, but he planned to part ways with St. Mirren in a friendly manner. But at that time, Ferguson discovered that someone in the St. Mirren team misappropriated the players' wages, causing a very serious wage arrears problem.

Ferguson was furious and had a heated argument with Todd. "Ferguson took the payroll with the names of the players to the team owner and asked why the signatures of the payees were there when the players had not received their wages. This was a serious act of forgery and fraud. Todd was speechless and angry. He was also very afraid that Ferguson would make the matter public, so he turned the tables, maliciously fired Ferguson, and refused to pay him."

Is this the truth?

Many years later, some St. Mirren players who were cultivated by Ferguson wrote articles, recalling the stories of Ferguson's coaching and expressing their belated guilt and high respect again.

Ferguson did not intend to forgive them, but he did not say anything more.

Time will eventually prove everything.