The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 21 Farewell to Father

"Ferguson lost his father in the middle of his first season as Aberdeen manager, and he fell into lasting pain and remembrance. He has always been very grateful to his father and has great respect for him. It was his father's guidance and encouragement that led Ferguson to embark on the path of professional football. His father, who loves football, is the source of strength and spiritual support for Ferguson's struggle in his career."

--Inscription

The impact of a meeting was enormous. Ferguson unified the team's thinking, began to unite the players and inspire their sense of honor.

Ferguson's enthusiasm for work is the most enthusiastic in the entire Aberdeen club. He is always in full swing and wants to work overtime every day. Not only is he enthusiastic and fully motivates the club staff, but he can also encourage the players to actively participate in training and work a hundred times harder to improve their abilities.

When it comes to making big promises, Ferguson is also very good at it.

Because of the emphasis on offense, Ferguson decided to increase the running-in of offensive routines in training to cultivate tacit cooperation. Offensive positioning and routines are often considered to rely on the attacker's talent and on-the-spot performance, but Ferguson requires meticulousness and strict standards, repeatedly honing several effective offensive routines in front of the goal.

For Ferguson, it is better to build a disciplined attacking corps than to rely on luck and trust the attackers to play casually.

Ferguson also places great emphasis on coordination, assisting defense and filling in the gaps in the back line. The team tacit understanding here can also greatly increase the strength of the team.

Ferguson strictly managed the daily life of the players, making sure that Aberdeen players followed strict discipline. He firmly believed that combat effectiveness came from strict management.

Ferguson's actions helped Aberdeen quickly recover from three consecutive defeats.

Ferguson's challenge was not just three consecutive defeats, he was also troubled by disputes with St. Mirren.

Ferguson had to attend hearings in November and December, meet with lawyers, prepare materials for court, etc. After the game, Ferguson had to deal with the dispute alone and could not return with the team.

Sometimes, due to court arrangements, Ferguson had to ask for leave from the team.

Aberdeen Football Club chairman Donald is a very talented person. He has goodwill towards Ferguson and suggested that Ferguson try to reconcile with St. Mirren Football Club. "In football competition, we should not argue about winning or losing in litigation."

Ferguson followed the advice and asked Mr. Donald to mediate.

He eventually gave up his claim against St Mirren and accepted the court's ruling. St Mirren also agreed to extend the debt owed by Ferguson and pay Ferguson's salary in installments.

At this stage, Ferguson suffered another blow.

His father was diagnosed with lung cancer on Christmas Eve, and he had to take leave to visit his father in the hospital. The hospital, the stadium and home formed the three points that Ferguson ran around all day during that period.

During that period, Ferguson was also exhausted and tormented.

He always remembers the match between Aberdeen and Hibernian, which was full of sparks and Aberdeen won 1-0. It was the last game that Ferguson's father attended to give him support and encouragement.

Ferguson often felt guilty because he was so busy encouraging his players and accepting interviews that he forgot to talk more with his father.

Ferguson still remembers Aberdeen's match against his old club St. Mirren in February 1979. Aberdeen played very hard and suppressed the opponent from the beginning. Aberdeen took a 2-2 lead in the first half with goals from Archibald and Scanlan. However, this seemingly solid advantage could not be maintained. St. Mirren scored a goal in the first 0 minutes of the second half and equalized the score before the end of the game.

Just as Ferguson was furiously cursing his opponents and the referee, news came from the hospital that Ferguson's father had passed away.

Ferguson said: "At that moment I couldn't believe it and didn't want to accept it. I knew I had completely collapsed. My team was playing and the players were fighting hard, but we didn't get a fair penalty from the referee and we couldn't get a good result. While I was fighting, my father died."

Ferguson was devastated, but he still remained tough in front of the media.

"I can't admit defeat and I can't expose my pain and weakness directly. I know how to repay my father and what kind of achievements can make my father happy in heaven." Ferguson put everything in the deepest part of his heart.

Ferguson's father's funeral was held four days later, which was also the day of the team's match against Partick. Ferguson, who was extremely sad, finally chose to rush back to the game site to command the battle after attending the funeral ceremony.

Ferguson's move first touched all the players of Aberdeen. They didn't say much, but everything was said without words. When Ferguson appeared on the field, tens of thousands of Aberdeen fans at Pittodrie Stadium were unexpectedly moved. They were silent at first, and then all the fans gave a deafening shout.

With waves of applause and cheers rising one after another, in the boiling stadium, Aberdeen players dedicated a 2-1 victory to their coach.

Ferguson's first final also came that season.

It was three months after Ferguson said goodbye to his father, and Aberdeen were playing Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final.

Aberdeen sent out all its main players in this game, but Ferguson's radical tactical play did not work. Rangers was more experienced and more patient. They defuse Aberdeen's fierce attack very skillfully and scored two goals through counterattacks. Although Aberdeen's fierce attack scored one goal, the opponent finally won 2-1.

Ferguson's former teammate and Rangers manager John Gregg won the championship trophy, while Ferguson's team could only regrettably finish second again.

Everything is just like in a professional player's career, the championship is right within reach, but you just can't have it.

On another front, Aberdeen also lost to Hibernian in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Ferguson's Aberdeen team had a near-perfect start to the league, but three consecutive defeats midway through became a major setback.

At the end of the league his team could only finish fourth.

The media and fans were disappointed, and Aberdeen's performance was even worse than last season. However, Ferguson did not care. He had more confidence in the team and firmly believed that he could further improve the team's strength and lead the team to truly challenge the championship.

There were many criticisms in the Scottish media, but Ferguson ignored the outside world's doubts. He and the club's top management quickly decided to rebuild the team in the summer. Ferguson actively introduced players, boldly promoted youth training, formed an almost new team, and started pre-season training as soon as possible.

While his opponents were still relaxing on vacation, Ferguson was already preparing for a new round of championship preparations. In the summer of 1979, Ferguson sold midfielder Dom Sullivan to Celtic, gradually gave up striker Harper, introduced Dougie Bell from his old club St. Mirren, and further trained striker Mark McGee, who was poached from Newcastle United. Although McGee was less than 22 years old at the time, he had already shined. Ferguson attached great importance to youth training and signed a bunch of half-grown children in one go. Based on this, Ferguson actively promoted good seedlings in the youth training system and sent them to the court to hone their skills.

The first of the youngsters favored by Ferguson was 22-year-old striker Archibald, who was paired with Mark McGee in the front line. The second was midfielder Strachan, who would later become a Scottish superstar. Strachan joined from Dundee United in 1977. Ferguson thought the young man had amazing talent, so he trained him as a midfield commander. The third key player was 20-year-old defender Alex McLeish. The young player was a little nervous about being promoted to the first team, but he had excellent physical conditions and a brave character, and was very good at scrambling and intercepting.

Ferguson completed the rejuvenation transformation in this way, and the team was full of vitality.

Ferguson attached great importance to the pre-season preparations, constantly increased the amount of training, worked on details such as teamwork and wing attack, and carefully polished every tactic. In order to win the league championship, Ferguson encouraged the players to put in great efforts, sweating through their jerseys every day without stopping.

Ferguson knew the team's Achilles' heel and tried to break the players' fear of the traditional two giants. Ferguson said: "I know how strong our team is and how good these players are in Scotland, but they don't know it yet. I hope the players can realize their own strength and have enough confidence to break all shackles and break the illusion of those so-called hegemons."

Ferguson used the team's challenge against Rangers as a negative example and asked the players to repeatedly review the game video, review and discuss it many times to continuously boost their self-confidence.

"We never thought about the league title, we always felt it wasn't ours. If we went to Glasgow and scored, it would be seen as a great success," said midfielder Neil Cooper. "But Ferguson gave us the belief that we went to Glasgow to win and it was possible to beat the opposition."

Ferguson showed many details of that game. He said: "I think that game was very shameful. We drew 1-1 there, and you were dancing excitedly in the locker room, celebrating that we got 1 point. In fact, we should have won this game, and we should feel ashamed for losing the victory. We were completely dominant, and our opponents almost collapsed completely. I am very disappointed with this. We shouldn't have too much respect for these so-called giants, absolutely we should. We were afraid of them before we started playing, which is a shame. I think it's unreasonable for you to celebrate the draw after the game. We obviously had the opportunity to beat them, and we obviously could suppress them, but you seemed to be kneeling down to beg for their favor, kneeling down to lick their stinky feet, and let them show mercy and let you go."

Ferguson showed Aberdeen many opportunities, captured several scenes of dominance in confrontations, and encouraged the players, saying: "We are now playing the best football in Scotland. We are the most popular team in Scottish football. The process of the game is controlled by us. The scene is exciting and intense. We are full of fighting spirit and win one game after another, making the fans proud. Of course, we are full of confidence. No opponent will scare us. We will knock them down and make them powerless to resist!"

Ferguson said: "This is what I want to tell you, you have become strong and can sweep everything. You are now able to fight for the championship. I hope you will not give up and then regret it with tears."

Ferguson built up the players' confidence. They no longer doubted themselves or gave up resistance. They were full of ambition to defeat the overlord and replace it.

Ferguson's mobilization was very contagious. "Everyone is against you, your opponents, even your supporters, the pressure you feel, they are all against you. The only thing you can do is to take up arms and prove that you have the ability to defeat them."

"Go kill them!"

Graham Hunter, a famous writer and journalist, has been a fan of Aberdeen since childhood and later became a long-term friend of Ferguson. He is well aware of the changes in the team, especially the great changes after Ferguson took over.

As an insightful Aberdeen fan, Hunter believes that Ferguson's team combines talent, hunger for victory, aggressiveness, the ability to generate its own blood, and the self-motivation approach is very effective.

Graham Hunter said, "Ferguson is very good at setting up an enemy target and then letting his players fire at it. He kept making statements in the local media, directly targeting the two bosses of the league as enemies, saying, 'The two old guys are rampant hooligans, what we need to do is to punch them hard in the nose and let them run away' and 'The media in the west of Scotland always favors Rangers or Celtic, and we are always treated differently'. The effect of these statements is very obvious."

Hunter's own emotions were aroused, and he highly approved of this kind of emotional management by provoking others.