The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 224: Being beaten back by the rich

"In the summer transfer window of 1992, Ferguson almost got his favorite target, a striker with great ability and high expectations. Unfortunately, this rising star was eventually snatched away by another local rich team, who directly paid a huge sum of money to take him away."

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After the European Cup, the players enjoyed a rare vacation and returned to the club to prepare for the game.

Schmeichel was beaming with joy. He returned to the Red Devils Club with the glory of the European Cup champion and the personal honor of the best goalkeeper of the European Cup, and shared the joy of winning the championship with his teammates.

Ferguson specially arranged a sharing session for him, which made the upright Schumi very happy.

Schmeichel brought confidence and encouragement to the Red Devils. He explained in detail how Denmark prepared after a complete holiday, how they inspired the team's fighting spirit, united as one, and attacked the impossible goal step by step, and finally won the success. Schmeichel believed that the Danish team could create miracles, and the Red Devils could do the same. He called on all teammates to work together and strive to achieve this great goal.

Many years later, Erwin still remembered Peter Schmeichel's rare sharing. Erwin said: "Schumi is not a talkative person, but he told us how to beat the powerful Netherlands and how to counterattack the invincible Germany. His eyes were shining, as if emitting a strong light. We unconsciously drew confidence and strength from him."

Schmeichel called on all Red Devils players to fight for the championship, which greatly boosted the morale of the team.

Schmeichel played very well in his debut season with the Red Devils, making 42 appearances, almost all of them, and only conceding 33 goals in the league, helping the Red Devils win the League Cup, Super Cup and second place in the league. Schmeichel's performance was even better than Seaman (who played for Arsenal), who was known as the best goalkeeper in England at the time, and was much better than the goalkeeper of the Leeds United team that won the championship.

Ferguson recognized Schmeichel very much. "Peter completed an incredible European Cup mission and won all the praise. He has a strong character and is very brave. He has become the best goalkeeper in Europe. I believe he will make more contributions to the Red Devils."

Ferguson believes that Schmeichel's encouragement to his teammates is even more effective than the speeches of the coaching staff: "If the European championship can be won in such an incredible way, then what else in life can't be dreamed of or happen?"

Schmeichel said, "Are we Danish team strong? Are we not strong? Will we win the championship in the end? Are we Red Devils strong? Are we not strong? Do you also want to win the championship like me? We will definitely win the championship!"

"Think about it. Superstars like Van Basten, Klinsmann, Gullit, Papin, Bergkamp all failed in front of the goal I guarded. We also have a strong defense now. I think I can even play better. What do you have to worry about?" Schmeichel encouraged his teammates domineeringly, "Shearer? Barnes? Lee Chapman? To be honest, these are not that strong! These guys are not good enough in Europe. Are there any other strong strikers in the league?"

"The Red Devils must win! We are the champions!" Schmeichel's encouragement was simple and direct, touching people's hearts.

While Schmeichel and his teammates were actively preparing for the new season, Ferguson was working hard to find a target for signings. He was obsessed with finding a strong striker, and considering that Hughes and McClair were already quite old, Ferguson hoped to bring in a young super killer. He had already found his target early on, and that person was the newly emerged striker and England's rising star - Alan Shearer.

阿兰-希勒出身于南安普顿的青训系统，1988年获得了运动生涯中的第一份职业合同。在1988-89赛季他也得到了出场机会。1989年4月9日，希勒在南安普顿4比2战胜阿森纳的英甲联赛中得到首秀机会，令人震惊的是他竟然在强大的对手面前上演了帽子戏法，帮助球队取得了这场爆冷的大胜。时年才17岁零240天的希勒成为了英格兰顶级联赛史上上演帽子戏法最年轻的球员，立即成为了英格兰媒体眼中的天才。

Then Shearer continued to get opportunities and gradually became a rising star of Southampton. From the 1988-89 season to the 1991-92 season, Shearer played 4 times in 113 seasons and scored 20 goals. Not only that, Shearer won the opportunity of the national team with his outstanding performance. He started in the friendly match where England defeated France 1992-2 on February 19, 2, and scored England's first goal in the 0rd minute. In June of that year, Shearer also represented England in the European Cup held in Sweden. Although the team performed poorly, the media did not make things difficult for Shearer, who only played once. After the European Cup, the English media paid close attention to Shearer's transfer, believing that "Shearer has excellent headers, superb shooting skills, strong body, sharp awareness, and accurate positioning. He will definitely go to play for a giant and achieve better success."

Ferguson sent out scouts in 1991 to observe and analyze Shearer's games, and decided to bring in this new killer star early on. Before the European Cup in the summer of 1992, Ferguson had already negotiated with Southampton and made a very competitive offer. Southampton accepted the Red Devils' offer and allowed the player to contact the Red Devils. Ferguson thought that the subsequent salary conditions would be easy to negotiate, but he did not expect that after the European Cup, Alan Shearer directly rejected the Red Devils' invitation.

Shearer soon found his next club, Blackburn Rovers, which was coached by Kenny Dalglish at the time. Ferguson was extremely angry. The media hyped that Shearer's reason for giving up the Red Devils was that Dalglish's appeal surpassed his, which was too humiliating.

In fact, Shearer and Southampton were purely for money. Blackburn, a newly promoted team to the Premier League, offered a transfer fee of 330 million pounds, which was far more than the 250 million offered by the Red Devils. Southampton did not even consider a second negotiation with the Red Devils and immediately agreed to the violent Blackburn.

Who are the Blackburn team that interfered in the negotiations between the Red Devils and Southampton?

Blackburn Rovers is located in Lancashire and was founded on November 1875, 11. In the 5s, they spent a long time in the lower leagues. After losing to Crystal Palace in the promotion play-offs in the 80-1988 season, they were eliminated in the play-off semi-finals the following year (89-1989). In the 90-1990 season, Blackburn Rovers changed owners and the team slipped to a disappointing 91th place in the English League Two. But then the club chairman Jack Walker used millions of pounds to buy new players and introduced the famous coach Kenny Dalglish to coach. Dalglish quickly showed his strength, recruited talents, and led the team to defeat Leicester City in the promotion play-offs and finally successfully upgraded.

Blackburn Rovers entered the English Premier League and became one of the founding members. After entering the Premier League, the owner of Blackburn Rovers hoped to continue to improve and challenge the Premier League champion, so he spent a lot of money. They not only snatched Shearer, but also spent a lot of money to buy strong players such as Greenme Letsows, Roy Weigeler and Tim Sherwood. They once offered generous salary conditions to superstar players such as Adams, Pearce and Gascoigne. It was really "rich and willful", but in the end he did not get these players.

Shearer later explained why he gave up the Red Devils. "The Red Devils did make an offer to me at the time, and I considered it. But they told me I had to give them a month to prepare the transfer funds. I thought if they really wanted to sign me, they should have prepared the funds instead of delaying. When I met with Dalglish and the Blackburn manager, they told me that there was no problem with the funds and the offer was much higher than that of the Red Devils. I think Blackburn is more sincere than the Red Devils, so I made my choice quickly."

Shearer's statement was refuted by the Red Devils' directors. But the real situation, how the transfer funds were paid, and even the salary conditions were all secrets between the clubs and could not be made public.

Shearer chose Dalglish, apparently thinking he was more famous. Shearer said in an interview: "Of course I hope to succeed under Dalglish's coaching. I think I will be very happy playing in Blackburn. I can become the boss very quickly and don't need to look at other people's eyes."

"To be honest, if I join the Red Devils, I will not only have to obey Ferguson unconditionally, but also listen to Robson and Schmeichel in the locker room. That is not the life I want."

Dalglish's love for Shearer is beyond words. When he learned that Ferguson wanted to buy Shearer from Southampton, he immediately suggested his boss to poach him. Dalglish said: "All the Premier League coaches drool over Shearer. I am very happy that he finally decided to join us."

Ferguson was very frustrated when his transfer market target failed. After the setback, Ferguson proposed to introduce Southampton's main striker Mathieu Le Tissier. But the striker killer who was loved by Saints fans rejected the Red Devils' offer without hesitation. Ferguson had to settle for the second best and look for a new target. After many setbacks, the league had already started, and Ferguson finally signed Dean Dublin, a striker from Cambridge United.

Dean Dublin was born in Leicester, England on April 1969, 4. His career is an inspirational story. Dublin grew up in the Norwich youth training camp, but was not able to get a chance in Norwich. Dublin then had to start from an amateur club and joined Cambridge United at the age of 22. Dublin used to play as a defender. The coach of Cambridge United keenly discovered that he had good physical flexibility, strong shooting power and excellent jumping ability, so he directly changed his position from central defender to forward. With this change, Cambridge United really got a sharp killer. Dublin scored more than 20 goals in each of the three seasons at Cambridge United, winning the attention of the top league.

In the 1990-91 season, Dablin not only helped Cambridge United get promoted to the Second Division, but also led the team to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. In the FA Cup, they challenged Arsenal away. Although the team eventually lost 8:1, Dablin scored a goal for Cambridge United and performed very well. In the 2/1991 season, Dablin helped Cambridge United achieve the best results in the team's history and almost succeeded in the First Division. Although the team failed to be promoted to the First Division in the end, the fifth place in the Second Division made Dablin a hero.

Before the end of the season, Dublin was favored by several First Division teams. In the summer, Ferguson received a call from Cambridge United coach John Baker, who took the initiative to recommend Dublin.

Ferguson quickly organized an inspection and directly invited Dublin to Old Trafford to meet him. Ferguson personally greeted Dublin and took him on a tour of the club. Ferguson asked Dublin attentively: "What does it feel like to stand in this great stadium? Do you want to play here every week? Do you want to enjoy the cheers and applause of the fans?"

Dublin immediately rejected Chelsea and Everton and was determined to play for Ferguson.

In addition, the Red Devils signed a contract with youth player Kevin Pilkington and also recruited rookies such as Terry Coke and Pat McGibbon.

The Red Devils didn't buy many players in the summer, but many left Carrington. Goalkeeper Jim Leighton didn't get a new contract and joined Dundee for £20, Paul Ratten was released, Derek Baraz went to Cardiff City, Maldonai went to Chelsea, Mark Robins, who won the FA Cup that year, went to Norwich City for £80, and Webber, who was at the end of his career, chose to transfer to Nottingham Forest for £80.