The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 36: Dahan Suoqiu's First Battle

"Ferguson's first official game as the Red Devils coach was a complete failure. He didn't even have a chance to show his ability. The value of this failure was that Ferguson experienced the chaos of the team firsthand, which gave him a stronger sense of crisis."

--Inscription

Ferguson's first task after taking office was to lead the team in the English League One three days later.

The English media were all watching the show, and no one thought that Ferguson could turn the tide and achieve his goal of winning the first game. "Changing the coach is like changing the knife" and "Changing the coach equals winning" were not the logic that critics believed.

The BBC said, "The problem with the Red Devils is not the discord between the coach and the players in the dressing room. What can Ferguson do as the coach? The key is whether he can reverse the low morale within the team. Without morale, the fighting power of the Red Devils is very worrying."

The Manchester Evening News said: "Ferguson has no experience in the English League One. He is not even familiar with his players and does not know which ones can play."

Ferguson later admitted, "This was the most unprepared battle I have ever fought in my life, and it was also the toughest battle I was least confident of. From my experience as a Manchester United player, this is a game worth remembering forever."

Ferguson really had no way to prepare. He was in charge of the team temporarily, parachuted in, in an unfamiliar league environment, an unfamiliar club, everything was too unfamiliar. Whether it was the Manchester United club or the opponent Oxford United; whether it was the overall environment of the league or the small environment of the stadium, Ferguson was not familiar with them all.

Ferguson had only two days to prepare, which was not enough. He officially took office on Thursday, November 11, flew back to Aberdeen on Friday to deal with personal matters, met with the players on Saturday, and played against Oxford United on Sunday.

In two days, Ferguson didn't even know all the players, and had no idea about the Red Devils' original formation and playing style, let alone studying the opponents.

Ferguson said, "This is a beginning. I hope to see new performances from everyone, performances with all their strength. I don't know if I can beat my opponents. This is a huge challenge for me, but I hope you can show me your strength, enthusiasm and everything."

Ferguson deliberately expressed optimism. "We now have a bad points, but now the start will be a new one, starting from the worst possible starting point. I sympathize with Atkinson, but this is over. I hope you can play with your true strength, not just deal with it casually. You are the main force of the English giants and you should have an extraordinary level. I hope you can win, and even if you lose, I hope you can fight to the end. This is what I emphasized in Aberdeen, and I hope to see this."

Peter Bardas, a Red Devils player at the time, later said, "I will never forget Ferguson's speech. The first time he gave us a speech in the locker room, he went straight to the point, 'You are playing for a great club. This is the guarantee of your happy life and the only hope. You need to be worthy of the salary given by this club and the expectations of the fans. This club deserves the championship and all the glory, but do you deserve it?' I think he made a lot of sense. Why do we play football? Honor, income, this is life. I think he hit the key point and it will have an impact on many players."

Ferguson found that the injuries were so serious that he despaired. "I couldn't even line up a complete starting lineup of 11 players. More than half of the players were injured. I didn't know what their physical condition was."

In order to increase his chances of winning, he could only study the opponent's data all night long. But what also made him desperate was that the club didn't care about these opponents, had very little video data, and almost no analysis of the characteristics of the opponent's players.

Ferguson could only use his personal connections to collect some information and data. But he soon discovered that it was almost a common problem in English football to ignore weak teams, and he searched for it but didn't get anything useful.

Game day is here.

Ferguson led the team to the match with trepidation. He found that he had underestimated the difficulty of coaching the Red Devils. On the day of the match, Ferguson was shocked by the club's arrangement. The players did not set off together, but arrived at the stadium on their own. Ferguson was shocked by more than one thing. After the game started, he found that the team bus driver was sitting carelessly in the coach's seat.

This fat guy actually sat in the first seat in the front row with a very natural look on his face. That was supposed to be the head coach's seat.

Ferguson was so stunned he didn't even lose his temper and chase the guy away.

The players arrived only when the game was almost over. They were required to arrive two hours early, but some were still late. The bus driver sat directly on the command seat and interfered with the on-the-spot command. Irrelevant personnel could even enter the locker room at will and chat with the players or coaches at any time... Ferguson was about to suffocate before the game was over.

Ferguson said: "Our bus driver is actually a Manchester City fan. He is even proud of it and keeps saying that he just doesn't like our team. This driver knows our inside information, our starting lineup, our tactical response... I don't know what else he doesn't know."

In the away game against Oxford United, these bloody plots happened one after another, leaving Ferguson completely unable to complain.

Ferguson was extremely embarrassed when arranging the starting lineup because he didn't even recognize all the names of the players. He couldn't even name some of the substitutes. Some players were injured but the club did not update them in time, which made him make a joke when writing down the starting lineup.

Ferguson did not find the problem until he led the team to Oxford United's home ground to prepare for the game. In the end, he could only write the starting lineup on a piece of letterhead provided by Oxford United. This was also what puzzled Ferguson, why his club could not provide the head coach with a dedicated letterhead and notebook.

Ferguson's handwritten list remained at the Oxford United Football Club and was not auctioned until after Ferguson retired.

Ferguson's final handwritten list was as follows: goalkeeper Turner, four defenders Duxbury, Albiston, Moran and McGrath, the midfield four was Hogg, Black-more, Moses, Stapleton, and the forwards were Barnes and Davenport.

There were no names familiar to the fans in the starting lineup. Captain Robson, striker Whiteside and midfield commander Strachan were all absent from the roster due to injuries. Ferguson could only select players according to the "list of healthy players" compiled by the club staff, and barely achieved the task of filling all the gaps.

After the game started, the Red Devils quickly fell into a passive position, and the midfield was suppressed everywhere, and they could only take the beating without being able to fight back. The opponent's momentum was getting stronger and stronger, and the Red Devils players lost their fighting spirit. The players' individual skills and cooperation routines were completely unable to play, and their confrontation ability was also at a disadvantage, and various mistakes occurred frequently.

Oxford United was not a strong team, but everyone would bully the weak and fear the strong. Playing at home, they were in high spirits and made the Red Devils feel embarrassed. Oxford United created many chances to score and soon scored a penalty. They scored the second goal at the end of the game and finally defeated the Red Devils 2-0.

The Red Devils lost miserably in this game. The commentator watching the game on the sidelines pointed out sharply, "Ferguson almost disappeared. The Red Devils players performed very badly. They played even worse than in the previous game."

Red Devils player Peter Davenport said after the game, "Ferguson has only been here for two days and hasn't recognized all our players. He is coaching an unfamiliar team, and it is undoubtedly crazy to ask him to win!"

Davenport explained: "Ferguson was very cautious when arranging the starting lineup. He looked like a cat. As soon as the appearance list was announced, captain Brian Robson opened his eyes wide and asked bluntly, 'Nigel? Who is Nigel?' Ferguson stammered and pointed at me, 'He, I mean him!' God, I'm not Nigel! He confused me with another guy. That Davenport obviously couldn't be the main player. Robson was helpless and could only introduce the Red Devils' players urgently, allowing Ferguson to arrange the appearance list at the last minute."

Ferguson had no way to control the team, nor did he have time to formulate tactics for the team, let alone adjust the positions and playing styles of the players. As a result, Ferguson could only let the players play on their own.

What he didn't expect was that the Red Devils fell into a passive position at the beginning of the game, and then were beaten almost throughout the game.

The Red Devils lost as expected. When the game ended, the players walked off the field expressionlessly and went straight back to the locker room, leaving Ferguson disheveled in the wind.

Whiteside did not play, but also came to the stadium to watch the game. He said: "I feel very complicated. I didn't play in the game, but I felt that I lost the game. Ferguson was out of tune with the whole stadium. He even looked a little helpless. The media knew the reason, but still put the blame on him."

After the game, The Guardian said Ferguson messed up his debut, "Ferguson was unprepared and haphazardly put together 11 starting players. He was also at a loss as to what to do with the passiveness of the game... He didn't know how to win."

Oxford United's Leversed later recalled, "I remember Ferguson was very embarrassed after the game. They lost the game and everything didn't go as he expected. He later remembered to shake hands with our coach, but turned back halfway. It was our coach who caught up and took the initiative to shake his hand. He looked very disappointed. I saw that his expression was uglier than crying."

Tuttosport described it this way: "Fans won't understand Ferguson. Of course he wants to win, but he can't win if he's not even familiar with the players. The home fans booed him, and the Red Devils fans fell into an awkward silence. They need victory, but Ferguson can't give it to them now."

Manchester Evening News said, "Red Devils didn't 'change managers like changing knives', it's a sad day for Ferguson. Red Devils and Manchester City are both in the relegation zone, what a poor Manchester duo."

Ferguson admitted years later that he was devastated. "This was my first game with the Red Devils. We lost 0-2. The scene and the score were terrible. I said to myself: 'Oh, God Almighty, you really let me choose the right job!' I wanted to go back to Aberdeen that night and leave it all behind."

"I don't know why. Our players were much better than them, much better. We knew in training and in the game that Oxford United's players were no match for us, but the game turned into them holding us down and rubbing us.

"My players insisted that the opponent was very strong, but was I the only one who knew that they were a newly promoted team that jumped two levels? I later watched the video of this game many times, and it was incredible that Oxford United kept suppressing us."

Judging only from individual ability, the Red Devils can easily beat their opponents no matter which position, but the Red Devils players have no fighting spirit and play like a group of scattered sand.

After losing the game, the Red Devils ranked second from the bottom in the standings, and the pressure of relegation has undoubtedly increased.

The English League One gave Ferguson a punch in the face, reminding him that it is not so easy here. The Red Devils are sluggish, the team is in crisis, and the external environment is bad. This is what Ferguson really feels.

Ferguson himself was thinking deeply, he knew that the Red Devils' problems were not that simple.