The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 332: The hero's exit

"Even in a fiercely competitive league like England, even with a strong presence like Ferguson, even facing a dominant team like Liverpool, Graham's coaching of Arsenal was successful enough. He can definitely be called a great leader. It's just that his final exit was a little unsatisfactory, leaving a big stain."

--Inscription

The biggest scandal of the season that just ended was Graham's bribery.

Graham spent nine years at Arsenal from 1986 to 1995. He played out a story of both glory and fall in this London club, a story of dominating the league and winning glory in Europe but being regarded as a traitor and enemy.

In these nine years, Graham led the team to rise rapidly, breaking Liverpool's dominance and winning the league championship, and also won multiple cup championships, becoming a well-known coach of that era. He completed the counterattack against Liverpool one step ahead of Ferguson, and once became the benchmark of the entire English league, the goal pursued by all English coaches including Ferguson.

Before Wenger, Graham was Ferguson's strongest opponent and one of the most successful coaches in English football.

Ferguson and Graham, both from Scotland, have the same tough personality and the same iron-blooded style of coach. The confrontation between Arsenal and the Red Devils has become more intense since Graham and Ferguson took over as coaches.

Graham coached the Gunners and made great achievements in the fiercely competitive English football world. He first won the League Cup and then beat Liverpool to win the league championship. The time when Graham was proud was a time when Ferguson and the Red Devils were extremely depressed. The team was suppressed, performed poorly, and was in a slump. The fans almost drove Ferguson away. If Ferguson had not been tenacious and grasped the lifeline, he might have been fired at the time and became a laughing stock of Graham.

The changes that Graham brought to Arsenal were earth-shaking. He was a legendary coach who truly transformed Arsenal. Before he took over, Arsenal had not won the league championship for 15 years. The team management's urgency for breakthroughs and championships evolved into expectations for Graham.

Graham took office and quickly trained a team with the style of an iron army. In his first season as coach, he led Arsenal to win the League Cup. This was the first League Cup championship in the history of the Gunners and also the first championship for Arsenal in 8 years. What was exciting was that Arsenal defeated Liverpool, the dominant team in English football at the time, in the final.

At the same time in English football, Dalglish was still playing for Liverpool, while Ferguson took over the Red Devils at the end of 1986 and finally led the team out of the quagmire. Arsenal's No. 4 vs. Red Devils' No. 11, League Cup champion vs. great progress to escape the danger of relegation, both coaches showed their strength. In the eyes of the English football media at that time, Graham was much better than Ferguson and other coaches.

In the 1987-88 season, the Red Devils emerged as a dark horse under Ferguson's leadership and won the second place in the league; Arsenal ranked sixth and reached the League Cup final for the second time, but unfortunately failed to defend the title. In comparison, both teams were unsuccessful this season, but Ferguson's results were better, but Graham's performance in the League Cup final was not bad. In the league, the Red Devils drew one and won one, and in the FA Cup, the Red Devils were eliminated by their opponents, and the two teams ended up in a tie. In the FA Cup, McClair missed a penalty kick, and Arsenal players humiliated them wantonly. The two teams almost had a fight, and the game turned into a brawl, and the seeds of hatred quickly mutated.

In the 1988-89 season, Graham emerged as a dark horse and led Arsenal to create a miracle in the history of English football. In the league, they had been lagging behind the leader Liverpool, trailing by 2 points before the last round of games (a win counted as 2 points at the time), with 4 fewer goals, and the last game had to be played at Liverpool's home ground. Faced with all kinds of disadvantages, Graham gave the most exciting pre-match speech, deployed tactics accurately, caught the opponent off guard at Liverpool's home ground, scored two goals in a row, and finally defeated the opponent with a miraculous score of 2-0. In this way, Arsenal and Liverpool had the same points and the same goal difference, and Arsenal finally won the league championship with a slight advantage in the number of goals.

Graham, who successfully counterattacked, is in great glory, while Ferguson's Red Devils fell from second to 11th.

Graham and his Arsenal stood at the pinnacle of English football. The whole Fleet Street was cheering for the Gunners and praising them. Arsenal fans even put them on a pedestal!

Even if I am not an Arsenal fan, I think this season was great for Graham and his team, and their success in winning the championship was incredible. They fought together and persevered throughout the long game. Even though they were led by Liverpool, they never gave up, and finally fought a hundred times harder for the chance, and seized the only chance with a miraculous performance.

The final battle was a game-changer. It was a miracle of English football, the glory and pride of Graham! Arsenal not only broke the myth of Liverpool's invincibility at home, but also destroyed Liverpool's dream of defending the league title.

The Gunners won the championship in one battle, and Graham also became a god in one battle.

Ferguson and the Red Devils were no match for each other. In the league, the Red Devils lost 1-2 to Arsenal away from home and tied 1-1 with their opponents at home, with a record at a disadvantage. Ferguson was also questioned and criticized for the sharp decline in performance, and his position as coach began to become precarious.

At the beginning of the 1989-1990 season, the Red Devils won a 4-1 victory over Arsenal at home, but they lost 1-0 away from home and started an 11-game losing streak, which was a mixture of sadness and joy. In the end, Arsenal failed to defend the title and ranked fourth in the standings. Ferguson and the Red Devils were in trouble, ranking only 13th in the league, setting the worst record for coaching the Red Devils. In the middle of the season, Ferguson was on the verge of being fired. He lost consecutive games, the main players were seriously injured, and the scene was so embarrassing that some old Red Devils fans could not help but ask him to get out.

Fortunately, Ferguson insisted on not resigning, and his team won the FA Cup at the most difficult time, grasping the last straw. Ferguson's team played all the way to the FA Cup final, and tied with Crystal Palace in the final and had to play a rematch, and finally defeated the opponent to win the championship.

In the 1990-91 season, Graham made a comeback and once again challenged for the league title. Although Arsenal was deducted points for fighting in the 1-0 victory over Manchester United and Adams was sentenced to 8 weeks in prison, they were still unstoppable. They swept all the way, defeated the dominant Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and other giants, and finally easily won the league championship trophy!

Graham's team also created an extraordinary record. They showed true dominance and only lost one game in all 42 league games. The names of the five veterans in Arsenal's defense became famous.

Ferguson's Red Devils rose to sixth place in the league and won the European Cup Winners' Cup. As the two most watched coaches, Ferguson and Graham had a lot of interactions this season, and the two teams even staged a group fight when they faced each other. It was a rare large-scale group fight in England. Almost all the players on the field of both sides participated in the fight. It was really a fight of fists and feet. The fight was bloody and many people were injured. The game ended hastily. Arsenal defeated the Red Devils 1-0, but Arsenal was deducted 2 league points by the English Football Association, while the Red Devils were deducted 1 point. Both teams were fined heavily. After being taught a lesson in the league, the Red Devils beat their opponents 6-2 away in the League Cup. Such a big score became a huge humiliation for the Gunners. The Red Devils teenager Lee Sharpe was like a god in the game. He won three games in a row and completely destroyed the Gunners' proud defense.

Although the Red Devils did not suffer too much in the match, Arsenal still enjoyed great success this season. Graham led the team to two league titles, further strengthening his status as a famous coach in English football.

In the 1991-92 season, Arsenal finished fourth in the league, Manchester United second, and Leeds United won the league title. At this time, Dalglish took a short break from coaching, Ferguson won the League Cup and the European Super Cup, and Leeds United coach Wilkinson suddenly rose to prominence, but was still slightly inferior to Graham. Dalglish was probably the only one who could really surpass Graham in terms of performance that year.

In the 1992-93 season, the first year of the Premier League, the English football landscape changed dramatically. Ferguson led the Red Devils through hardships and finally soared to the sky and won the league championship. Graham's Arsenal was also not much behind. Although they only ranked 10th in the league, they won the FA Cup and League Cup. In addition to these two teams, Liverpool, Leeds United and Tottenham were far inferior. In the 1993-94 season, Arsenal, led by Graham, went to the European continent and finally succeeded in winning the European Champions League. This is the only European Cup championship in Arsenal's history, which was created by Graham leading Arsenal. Even though Wenger was more respected and loved later, his Arsenal failed to create such an achievement. But in the league, Arsenal had lost the confidence and strength to compete for the championship, and it was difficult to stop the rise of the Red Devils. In the 1994-95 season, Blackburn Rovers emerged as a dark horse, and Dalglish led the team to win the league championship. Arsenal is only ranked 12th in the league. Graham has no intention of commanding this season and has spent more of his time and energy away from the pitch.

In the summer of 1995, Graham was exposed for accepting bribes from agents and using improper means to buy players when he was coaching Arsenal. Graham was fired by Arsenal. He was furious after being fired from Arsenal and directly transferred to Tottenham, the Gunners' arch-rival. Graham did not succeed in Tottenham and eventually had to leave English football sadly.

Graham's lonely retirement brought an end to his glorious yet dark journey.

Graham is certainly a famous English coach. He adapted to the English football environment earlier than Ferguson, was better at building a strong team, and used more resolute English football tactics to fight. He led his team to win two league titles, two League Cup titles, one FA Cup title, and one European Cup Winners' Cup title. He is the most meritorious coach in the history of the Arsenal team, and these achievements cannot be tarnished in any way.

Graham transformed Arsenal in just one season, and by the time he left in 1995, both he and Ferguson had won two league titles and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Ferguson won two FA Cups, Graham one; Graham won two League Cups, Ferguson one; judging by the trophy stats alone, Graham did not lose to Ferguson during the same period.

Graham changed the English Football League and brought back the flames of war in European football. His coaching ability also shocked the European football coaching circle. Graham used the tactics of English football to great effect, with strong defense, fierce confrontation, fast offense, and high-handed play, and once played to the extreme level of this style.

As the Premier League became more and more technical and fast-paced, the conservative Graham was unable to innovate himself, failed to actively seek breakthroughs, and blindly adhered to the English football style. He was soon eliminated in the fiercely competitive game.

After nine years of glory at Arsenal, Graham was unable to continue his magic at other clubs. After a series of struggles, he could only bow out sadly.

To sum up, he is still far behind Ferguson.