The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 22 Breaking the Monopoly of the Overlord

"The first key moment for Ferguson to become a famous coach was Aberdeen's league championship."

--Inscription

After countless wisdom and sweat, Ferguson's Aberdeen team was completely transformed.

The Aberdeen team led by Ferguson has become a vigorous and youthful group, a confident and extremely sharp team.

Ferguson continued to focus on offense tactically, but made some changes in the formation. He reorganized the team's midfield. Strachan, a talented but unformed 22-year-old player, was placed on the right (a position he would firmly occupy for the next 18 years of his career), taking more responsibility for ball possession and offensive organization. Ferguson put the tough McLeish in the middle of the midfield as a supplement to the organizational player John McMaster. In the front line, Ferguson initially used Archibald and Harper as partners, which was also one of the strongest combinations at the time. But after Harper made 11 league appearances and scored 3 goals, he was troubled by injuries and had to leave the field for treatment. Ferguson began to use McGee, a newcomer poached from Newcastle.

Ferguson has always been optimistic about McGee. He firmly believes that this newcomer will bring a lot of different elements and a lot of new vitality.

It was also during this season that the newly joined striker McGee quickly adapted to the unfamiliar league and made great progress. Many years later, he recalled: "I used to improvise, and everyone allowed me to do so because I was good at controlling the ball and could make exciting performances, but as a center forward, I was not so good at some of the basic skills, and I could not use them freely. This made me afraid to get closer to the goal. Ferguson taught me that even if I didn't perform well personally, I could still contribute to the team. If I didn't play well before, I would be useless. Ferguson told me how to contribute to the team by protecting the ball, winning headers, and creating pressure on the opponent's defenders in the middle. If I do this, I can do everything I like to do and be more effective. This changed me from a player who could only occasionally shine and pass three defenders to score a goal, to a real team player."

McGee and Harper performed well together, and after Harper was injured, McGee and Archibald formed a striker partnership and performed even better. He could even activate Archibald and create more opportunities for his partner. In the most crucial game of the season, it was the 22-year-old McGee who scored twice against the Celtics and contributed 6 goals in the final stage of the league, making an outstanding contribution to the team.

In this way, the 1979-1980 season began with the eager anticipation of Aberdeen fans. Ferguson led this well-prepared Aberdeen team to sprint towards the championship goal.

It is not easy to win the championship, but even if Aberdeen improves, the difficulty of the league cannot be underestimated. Scottish football belongs to two old friends, Celtic and Rangers almost monopolize the ownership of the league championship.

Ferguson obviously didn't believe it. He just wanted to lead Aberdeen to break the dominance of the two overlords and have a taste of what it feels like to be the league champion.

In the first game of the new season, Partick gave Aberdeen a heavy blow. Aberdeen's offensive was like a tide, but it just couldn't break through the opponent's defense. McLeish, who had just become a starter, handballed in the penalty area at the last moment, and the opponent scored a penalty kick, which made Ferguson's team suffer a "black start".

Despite the loss, Ferguson was still full of confidence. He explained to the fans after the game, "We were obviously the better team, we had complete control of the situation on the field, and we created no less than 4 chances. Even though we lost this game, it was just a little bit of bad luck, it's not a big deal."

Ferguson was still confident about the future, but Aberdeen had a bad start to the season. They performed poorly in the next five games and suffered consecutive defeats. In the first six rounds of the league, Aberdeen lost a total of three games, especially in the sixth round against McNeill's Celtic. Ferguson's team was completely passive, and even Strachan's goal could not save the 5-6 defeat.

Aberdeen lost three of the first six games of the season, and the points gap was quickly widened.

Ferguson was very dissatisfied with the loss to Celtic. Aberdeen did not play badly in this game. They were evenly matched with their opponents on the field, and Ferguson's team was even the dominant side. But Aberdeen's players were too young as a whole. They were seriously disturbed by the hidden tricks of the opponents' veterans on the field, and were at a disadvantage in the confrontation because they were unfamiliar with the rules and lacked experience. Even though young bodies are not afraid of injuries, and are not afraid of head-on steals and confrontations, the Celtic players obviously used more actions outside the rules. After the game, Ferguson fiercely accused the opponent of rough actions and criticized the referee for not punishing fouls in a timely manner to make the game fair and just.

Ferguson was furious during the game, but after the game he put on a calm expression when he returned to the locker room, which made the trembling players feel incredible.

Ferguson said: "It's not shameful for us to lose to the Celtics like this. We still have enough time to respond to the challenge. Guys, you have done a good job. What we lack is a little luck and a little experience. We can now fight to the end without any fear, and even make our opponents feel afraid at some times. This is one of our huge improvements, and we are confident that we can beat them in the next game."

After losing to Celtic, Ferguson reorganized the team's morale. In the next five games, Archibald, Harper and Strachan took turns to perform well, and Aberdeen achieved an unbeaten record of 5 wins and 3 draws, and began to catch up with the top team.

But two consecutive defeats followed, and Aberdeen fell behind again. By the end of the halfway point of the season in January 1980, Aberdeen had lost a full third of its 1 games, and everyone doubted whether the team was really strong enough to compete for the championship.

Only Ferguson had faith in it, and he was the only one who kept encouraging the players in the locker room, asking them not to give up and to maintain their confidence.

The turning point came suddenly.

Ferguson's team played against Glasgow Rangers on January 1979, 1. Aberdeen was like a reborn team in this game. The whole team played not only with passion, but also with blood. With excellent form, Aberdeen played very fast in the game, with a fast pace and breathtaking transition between offense and defense. Not only that, Aberdeen's defense was also quite good, and the team played very tough throughout the transition between offense and defense. Glasgow Rangers actually played very well in this game, but they were still suppressed by Aberdeen. After the game, with goals from Archibald, Strachan and defender Derek Hamilton, Ferguson's team narrowly defeated the opponent 12-3 and won their first victory after the New Year.

After this game, Aberdeen maintained a good state. The two main title rivals, Celtic and Rangers, unexpectedly fell into a slump at the same time. As one side gained, the other lost, and Aberdeen actively grabbed points and frantically chased the top spot in the standings.

In the second half of the season, Aberdeen was tied by Celtic at home, and the home team, who had created many chances throughout the game, unfortunately let the victory slip away. In the 21st round, Aberdeen lost 1-2 to Kilmarnock at home, which was a big upset. But even so, Ferguson's team did not fall far behind the top of the table.

After the seventh defeat of the season, Ferguson's team never lost again. They kept going forward, their form kept improving, and later even turned into a sprint, sweeping all directions. Starting from the 7-3 draw with Partick on March 1, Aberdeen won 1 games and drew 1 in the last 15 games. They were so aggressive in grabbing points that no other team in the entire Scottish Premier League could match them.

It is precisely because of such an outstanding record and such a hot state that Ferguson's team finally saw the last dawn. Aberdeen started low and ended high throughout the season, and its state has been rising all the way. Not only has the offense maintained fierce firepower, but the defense has also been getting better and better. After a whole season of tempering, Aberdeen has become a team with a novel style of play, full of vigor, full of fighting spirit, strong desire for victory, and good discipline and solid defense. In the game that most tests the team's strength and resilience, that is, in the eight games against the "old gang", Aberdeen only lost to Celtic at home once at the beginning of the season, and the Rangers, led by Ferguson's former teammate Greg, became Aberdeen's defeated opponent three times. It can be said that under Ferguson's diligent governance, Aberdeen has successfully overcome the inferiority complex unique to Scottish football, dared to compete with the overlords, and confidently defeated them.

In the 36th and final round of the Scottish Premier League, Aberdeen played against Partick. Previously, Aberdeen and Celtic had the same points, but Celtic had to play against St. Mirren in advance to participate in the Scottish Cup final, and finally tied 0-0. In this way, as long as Aberdeen defeated Partick, they could surpass their opponent and win the league championship.

In this final battle, Ferguson's Aberdeen team played actively and well controlled the situation, and finally forced the opponent's defender Dave McKinnon to make an own goal, and Aberdeen won the game. At the end of the game, the whole stadium was jubilant, and Ferguson was extremely excited. He waved his hands and greeted all the fans. Then he ran excitedly on the field, jumped, and pounced on the old goalkeeper Bobby Clark. All the people on the Aberdeen team hugged each other excitedly to celebrate this crucial victory - this moment has become a classic memory of the Aberdeen team.

In this way, Aberdeen finally beat the other teams with 48 points and won the Scottish Premier League championship for the second time in history after 25 years!

In this way, Ferguson led his team to win the Scottish Premier League championship for the first time in his career. Years of long-cherished wish and struggle finally came true!

Aberdeen also reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and the final of the League Cup. Although they lost to Dundee United in the final, it was still their most successful season.

Ferguson made a sensation in the Scottish football world by winning the league title as a dark horse. Aberdeen fans could not imagine it at all, because they did not expect this league title at the beginning. This title made the whole city of Aberdeen crazy. When the whole team returned to Aberdeen for the championship parade, more than 10 fans took to the streets to parade and celebrate - you have to know that the population of this city is only a little over 13. This championship mobilized the whole city, and everyone came out to celebrate, like a grand festival.

Ferguson has won a very high reputation in Scotland. There is no need to say more, the league championship, cup championship, breaking the monopoly of the hegemons, all these show how strong the current Aberdeen team is and how outstanding Ferguson is.