The Keys to the Mancunian Throne: Who Will Take Sir Alex Ferguson's Place?

Sir Bobby Robson, once gaffer of Newcastle United, recalled a few years ago a meeting he had with Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson. In that interview, Ferguson told Robson that he wasn’t really up for coaching into his 70’s, unlike Robson who was a head coach until he was 72.

Robson tried to convince Ferguson that as long as he was healthy and fit to coach, he should keep doing it. Ferguson, however, would be a hard man to convince.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who will most likely go down in history as one of the greatest coaches ever to live, has won it all. By won it all, it’s meant to be taken in the most literal sense. There isn’t a trophy that he hasn’t laid his hands on, there isn’t a footballing stage on this Earth that he has risen above.

He has taken a club with an already rich history out of the dark depths that were the 80’s and made it the richest and most successful club modern times.

Sure, there is one little pesky landmark that he hasn’t surpassed. During the late 80’s and 90’s when Ferguson was just beginning to shine, the legendary Brian Clough spoke of Ferguson’s success in the 1999 Champions League and said:

"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls."

Ever since then it seems Ferguson been keen on not only equalling Clough’s European Cup record (which he has) but surpassing it. Also, if we want to get technical with the trophies, he still hasn’t surpassed Bob Paisley’s enormous three European Cup trophy haul with Liverpool, but at this point in Ferguson’s career, it may be a prize waiting just around the corner.

But really, save for personal supremacy, Ferguson doesn’t need any more shine to show off his illustrious career. So it begs the question, who will take his place once he realizes it's time to go back home to his wife and grand kids?

That’s a question that the board behind Ferguson and United must be asking themselves constantly. They know that for the short-term Ferguson will bring in some more trophies and leave the club on a high as opposed to the tragic low that ended Clough’s alcohol-riddled coaching career at Nottingham Forest.

But for the long term, there are maybe four options that the club has available to them.

The first is the most interesting and headline grabbing; The Special One. Jose Mourinho is one hell of a coach, of that there can be no question. Disregarding the fact that he led the Chelsea revolution which almost destroyed Ferguson’s career and still threatens to topple Arsene Wenger’s kingdom at Arsenal, Mourinho would be a fine fit at such a high level.

The man has stepped up to every challenge and new stage in his career with bravado, brashness, and a man to man management system that none can match. He can grind out results and it’s already been established that the man can win domestically and on the European level.

But there is one very serious problem that throws his entire candidacy into question.

Youth.

If there is one problem that Jose has in his coaching, it’s youth development. Manchester United, ever since the Busby Babes, have been a club that have prided themselves on youth policies that have built the greatest Enlgish football players to ever grace a pitch, from Charlton to Best to Giggs to Beckham.

Mourinho fills his rosters with seasoned, experienced veterans, and while this most definitely works in short term trophy hauls, it fails in the long term due to a rising average age.

Take Mourinho’s Chelsea. Massive competitors, English champions, but now with an age problem so widespread that only another massive Abramovich bankroll would pull them out of their age crisis.

Inter Milan right now only have Ballotelli and Santon as first team youth products in a team filled with old, trophy winning veterans who won’t be around in a few years time. So in the long term, Mourinho isn’t the best to take the reins at Manchester’s red half.

Another option is Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill. A veteran of the English game as a midfielder with Brian Clough’s super-powered Nottingham Forest and a veteran coach as a Leicester and Celtic manager.

He plays a fast and effective 4-3-3 formation with wingers and has the type of flair and personality that would fit for a big club like Manchester. The problem with O’Neill though, is that at 57 he isn’t exactly a trophy grabber.

Yes he did win his fair share with Celtic, but to have success at either Celtic or Rangers in the SPL isn’t an achievement, it’s an expectation.

There is also the dark horse of Roy Hodgson. A personal favorite, the man is a master-class in poise, professionalism and immense success with scarce resources. He certainly wouldn’t fit in terms of Red Devil flair with his defensive minded systems, but he is a fantastic manager nonetheless.

His success with Fulham should be fully acknowledged and his cosmopolitan coaching experience around Europe is an important achievement. However, he is as of yet fairly untested when it comes to a big name club like Man United, so he would be a big gamble.

The final choice, and the best in this writer’s opinion, is a certain strawberry-blonde Scotsman by the name of David Moyes. He is, behind Ferguson and Wenger respectively, the longest tenured coach in the Premier League. That alone speaks volumes of his skill and character as a manager.

He has taken Everton from relegation threatened outsiders to top four upstarts, and he did it without all the huffing and puffing of a certain Portuguese charmer. He has the class of Hodgson with a bit of O’Neill’s flair, and like Wenger, he’s done it all with a shoestring budget.

He’s bred young players while finding a nice mix of experience and has made nothing but smart choices in all his transfer spending. Tim Cahill was right in saying that other Premier Clubs were envious of Everton’s money spending in correlation with their success.

But maybe even more telling than Moyes’ youth success and classy reputation is his style of club building which strangely resembles that of another wily Scot.

Moyes, like Ferguson, builds his teams from the midfield. Hodgson builds from the back four with players like Brede Hangeland, as does Mourinho. O’Neill likes his wingers and well as big, attack minded forwards.

But all of Moyes’ big transfer talk over the years hasn’t been on attackers or defenders, but on strong, varied, and all-around midfielders.

Moyes is smart enough to understand that the midfield is where championships are won and lost. Yes he has respect for the back for with such cultured players as Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka. But he prides himself on purchases like Steven Pienaar, Tim Cahill, Leon Osman, and Marouane Fellaini, all robust midfielders with box-to-box talents.

Everton’s recent striker dilemma following an injury crisis that included Louis Saha proved that games can still be won through the midfield. Speaking of Saha, Moyes even saw the same potential that Ferguson saw in Saha without the injury problems.

Sir Alex Ferguson is a legend who will never be properly replaced. To try and find someone as fitting as the gaffer is an impossibility. But if given the chance and the opportunity to shine, Moyes might just be the best path that the Manchester Reds could take.

At 46, the man who’s survived the highs and lows of the most difficult league in football can only get better.