Lady Luck and Ferguson’s European Legacy

It is often said of wars that the winners write the history, with the loser's perspective and views ignored and consigned to the dark annals of history.

The same is true of football in a way. Once John Terry slipped and Nicholas Anelka’s tame penalty was beaten away by Edwin Van Der Sar, the manuscript was drawn up and the winner’s version was produced by the media.

What will be remembered of the 2008 Champions League Final? Ronaldo’s brilliance and Ferguson’s genius. But the fact that United were outplayed for most of the game, that Chelsea hit the woodwork and should have won the game in normal time? Pushed to the annals.

The image of Ferguson as a true managerial great has been peddled by all and sundry after United’s victory. It appears that it is a form of sacrilege to question a man who has managed the same club for 20 years, won countless domestic titles and won two European Cups. Well condemn me to hell and ready the trident because that’s what I’m about to do.

Let me make it clear that I don’t doubt that Ferguson is one of the greatest British managers the game has ever seen, his record speaks for itself. It is more the idea that he is almost untouchable and beyond scrutiny that I take issue with.

Should Ferguson be given so much praise for defeating a team managed by a man like Avram Grant? After all, Grant was ushered into the Chelsea job after the departure of Mourinho with very little qualifications and top level European management experience. No one gave Grant a chance at the start of the season, and he must be commended for doing what he did with us.

Ferguson came very close to being bettered by a man who was in his first top level European job and who seemingly didn’t have the support of the whole dressing room.  You cant really attribute such a feat to genius, just merely competence.

United did dominate the opening stages of the game, and really, they should have been out of sight before Frank Lampard scored. But, for the rest of the game it was a different story. We dominated and should have won it. Drogba hit the bar and we had numerous other chances to put the game to bed.

If Barcelona had been a little less profligate in their finishing, United might not even have been at the final. Barcelona played very well in the Semi-Final and outplayed United for large periods of the game.

We’ve seen this before. In the 1999 Final, United were outplayed for virtually most of the match (sound familiar?) and nicked it right at the death in the most extraordinary fashion. Scholler and Jancker both hit the woodwork for Bayern, before Sheringham and Solskjaer completed that comeback.

When examining the circumstances of both finals, it is hard not to see something else at work. The 1999 Final fell on what would have been the 90th birthday of Sir Matt Busby, who won United their first European Cup back in 1968. The 2008 Final was 50 years since the Munich Air Disaster. Destiny, it seems, was on United’s side.

Indeed, such a view was given much credence by the media, who seemed to suggest that it was morally right that United win. Of course we were cast as the villains of the piece (as we so often are).

Most of this piece deals in hypotheticals and can be read as the biased discourse of a bitter Chelsea fan (guilty as charged), but I think the point is worth making that, especially in the case of Ferguson, the line between ‘greatness’ and total failure is a very thin one. Sometimes, just a few centimetres.