The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 38 Eye-Opening

"Even though Ferguson came from the Scottish football world, which was considered extremely barbaric by the English media, he was still shocked by the barbarity and harshness of the English football environment."

--Inscription

Ferguson's Red Devils won their first game against Queens Park Rangers.

This victory gave him a little buffer in his troubles at the Red Devils. Now everyone is looking forward to more victories. Many years later, Ferguson said: "We certainly know what the fans think. It's not just about winning a few games. They want to see more exciting football, not the team struggling to avoid relegation."

On November 1986, 11, the Red Devils played away against Wimbledon in the 29th round of English League One.

Ferguson thought that the Red Devils were on the rise, and their opponent was just a small club, a newcomer to the First Division that had just been promoted. They could not be very strong and could not cause too much trouble to the Red Devils.

But he was wrong, as English football once again refreshed his understanding.

Wimbledon has a long history, with its earliest founding date dating back to 1889. In the 1970s, they were still an amateur team. In the 1975 FA Cup, Wimbledon became the first amateur team in the 20th century to defeat a top league team, beating Burnley.

Wimbledon then became a professional club and gradually upgraded to the English League Two in the 1983-84 season. In the 1985-86 season, the team was very lucky to win the third place in the English League Two and entered the play-offs, eventually defeating Huddersfield and successfully promoted to the First Division.

The 1986-87 season was the first season for Wimbledon to compete in the English Football League. They did not bring in any big-name players before the season and were considered by the media to be the favorites for relegation. However, Wimbledon incredibly won five consecutive games at the start of the season and once grabbed the top spot in the standings.

The reason why Wimbledon team emerged suddenly was because of their wild playing style and strong body. The savagery and arrogance of Wimbledon quickly spread in the English First Division, and the unbridled "Wimbledon Gang (nickname)" became a unique landscape in England.

This team does not have any sophisticated tactics, nor any particularly outstanding players. Some of them are rough and brave, and some are just collisions, long and short dribbling, relying on simple tactics to attack various teams. They dare to provoke anyone, even the opponent's league champion or even the Champions League overlord, they don't take it seriously.

Manchester United's match against Wimbledon gave Ferguson a big surprise.

Before the game, Wimbledon deliberately poured water into the Red Devils' dressing room and even put salt in the Red Devils' players' drinks as a prank. When the Red Devils were preparing for a meeting to make pre-match arrangements, their staff even more brazenly rushed into the Red Devils' dressing room and deliberately made loud noises to provoke trouble.

Ferguson couldn't understand it and asked the Red Devils' security chief to negotiate. As a result, the Wimbledon team said shamelessly, "This is English football. If the Scots don't like it, they can go back."

After the provocation before the game, Wimbledon became even more arrogant after the game started.

They are a team with a very rough style of play. They start with physical contact, various collisions and tackles, and play very savagely. Wimbledon players are generally tall and very strong, even like wrestlers or boxers. They don't seem to be playing football, but using physical collisions to fight for the initiative. They keep tackling in the middle and front court, constantly squeezing and colliding, and even try to fly with the soles of their boots from time to time, or foul from behind. Wimbledon always wants to play dirty, commit extremely rough fouls, and even kick fiercely and stomp without hesitation, just like a group of gangs fighting.

Ferguson was stunned, and the Red Devils players were also a little dumbfounded. They had no advantage on the field, were at a disadvantage in physical confrontation, and were even suppressed by their opponents to the point of being unable to breathe.

What was the referee doing? He didn't call many obvious fouls, which directly encouraged the arrogance of the Wimbledon players.

When the Wimbledon player tackled the Red Devils player with the sole of his boot, Ferguson's eyes widened, "Referee, this is not a foul?! This is not a yellow card?!"

The referee cast a disdainful look at him from the field and ignored him completely.

At the end of the half, neither side scored a goal and returned to the locker room. Ferguson called all the players together and gave them instructions on how to deploy new tactics. Before Ferguson could say a few words, the Wimbledon players started swearing at the door of the locker room, attacking and insulting him, deliberately raising their voices to not give Ferguson a chance to speak properly.

Ferguson's anger began to burn. This was absolutely unbearable. He had been provoked during the game and had already been beaten to the face. How could he still tolerate it?

Ferguson threw a pot of water at the door of the locker room and rushed out like an angry lion, cursing and rushing to beat up those blind guys. His assistant Norris also rushed out with him. Fortunately, the staff on the scene hugged them and separated them from the opponents and took the provocative players away, so that no bigger incident occurred.

Ferguson complained to the match supervisor angrily, asking the referee to rule that Wimbledon had violated the rules of the game and to sentence them to a 0:3 loss. However, the referee did not think this provocation was serious, and they casually perfunctorily responded to Ferguson, pretended to reprimand the Wimbledon coach, and just dealt with it like that.

Ferguson exploded after returning to the locker room: "This is an absolute humiliation! Wimbledon is not playing football, they are fighting in the streets. They don't play football but kick people. The physical confrontation is like fighting. There are unacceptable dangerous actions and fouls beyond the limit. How could this happen in English football? This is not an honorable thing. This is a shame for football."

Although Ferguson was furious, the Red Devils players were clearly unable to withstand the onslaught of their opponents. After the start of the second half, Wimbledon still had the upper hand through a quick and simple collision style of play, and frequently created opportunities through quick long passes and lobs. The Red Devils held out hard for 45 minutes, but still lost the game with a score of 0-1.

Ferguson was extremely disappointed.

Although the league is difficult, it is not surprising for the Red Devils to lose to any opponent, but Ferguson could not accept losing to Wimbledon like this.

Ferguson didn't want to find other reasons. The Red Devils players were slow, their movements were deformed, their rhythm was chaotic, and they were very passive on the field. Their own tactical characteristics were completely unplayable, and they were unable to create any opportunities. These were all facts, and Ferguson knew them well. But these situations were directly related to the ferocity of the opponent. The tactics of the Wimbledon team were simple, that is, attacking from both sides, passing high balls, and grabbing points in front of the goal. This tactic is not impossible to resolve. The key is that the players of the Wild Gang played too roughly and too violently.

The Red Devils were eventually defeated, but Ferguson refused to admit defeat and put the conflict on and off the pitch in the press box in an attempt to prove that Wimbledon's behavior was bad.

The result was bizarre. Ferguson was met with almost unanimous ridicule from reporters.

Critics said: "Losers have no right to ask for more. If they are capable, they should just go to the field to solve the problem and win."

This is the media's cold eyes, competitive sports are so cruel. Without victory, there is no respect.

Ferguson later told Norris: "This game made me realize the reality and what we really need. Wimbledon used the simplest tactical style, but this kind of direct rush and lob, relying on strength in the frontcourt to gain an advantage, and a combative and ruthless style of play is common in England. Even if they didn't play savagely and didn't commit so many fouls, we couldn't win."

Ferguson specifically talked to Strachan after the game. Strachan said: "Of course I remember that game, because Alex was really angry. He wanted to play on the field and fight with the Wimbledon players. There are two things he can't accept. One is that the opponent plays too brutally, and the other is that his players are kicked stupidly. He restrained himself and didn't spit on the faces of every Red Devils player."

Ferguson later recalled: "I wanted to scold every player, but I was in a bad mood at the time and was not familiar with the team, so I didn't vent completely. I just found Strachan to talk and asked him what he felt as a spectator. Strachan said that Wimbledon's style is very common in the lower leagues in England, but the Red Devils are not necessarily weak players, but were intimidated by their opponents at the beginning. Gordon also agreed that the refereeing was very unfair and almost completely biased towards the rough home team. The Red Devils players on the field were very passive because after they were violated, there was no referee to help them get justice, and there was no fair referee to rely on."

Ferguson asked Strachan to imagine how the game would have gone if he and Robson were in the team. Strachan said: "It's hard to say what the final score would be, but the Red Devils would never play like this. Who is Robson? What big games has he not seen? Of course he can calm down the opponent and control the situation. With a backbone, everyone will not panic."

"But even so, Wimbledon is not easy to play. We still need to study the tactical targeting carefully before the game," said Strachan.

Later facts proved this point. Although Wimbledon was a newly promoted team, their brawling tactics gave many teams headaches. The club even won the FA Cup 18 months later, defeating the invincible Liverpool team.

Ferguson now knows that the football environment in England is bad. It is not physical confrontation, strength and speed, but brutal fouls and rough tactics, as well as random penalties by referees.

All this was really an eye-opener for Ferguson.

Before the match against Wimbledon, Ferguson received the bad news he had been dreading - his mother was taken to hospital and was about to die.

A few months ago, Ferguson's mother, Liz Ferguson, was diagnosed with lung cancer, which became Ferguson's concern. After coming to Manchester, if he couldn't go back, Ferguson would call Glasgow every day, where his mother was hospitalized. At the end of 1986, the hospital told him that his mother might only have a few days left to live.

Ferguson was heartbroken, but he could do nothing. After the game against Queens Park Rangers, Ferguson immediately flew back to Glasgow from Manchester to be with his mother Liz. Ferguson later said that his mother's selfless courage lasted until the end. She was already on her deathbed, but when she was occasionally awake, she was still concerned about her sons' work and life. She even asked the Ferguson brothers to leave early, go back to rest, and prepare for the next day's game.

So Ferguson returned to England with a lot on his mind and continued his work.

That afternoon, in the southwest suburbs of London, at Plough Lane, home of Wimbledon, Ferguson suffered the most painful defeat of his life.

In this stadium, which is even more cramped than Oxford United's home ground, Ferguson feels his grief alone amid the noise of many people.

Ferguson said: "No one can understand my feelings. I meditated secretly, hoping to win a victory to dedicate to my mother, but I failed in the end. At that moment I felt double the pain, but I couldn't show any weakness."