Sir Alex Ferguson's 18 Biggest Moments as Manchester United Boss
November 6 marks the 28th anniversary of Alex Ferguson’s arrival at Manchester United. He retired in May 2013 after a glittering career, a knighthood and a record-smashing haul of silverware.
Given the anniversary and that United’s current form makes nostalgia particularly appealing at the moment, let’s take a look at the 18 biggest moments from Sir Alex’s time at United.
Honourable Mentions
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Given the length and success of his United career, there are plenty of big moments that missed out on inclusion. Honourable mentions go to the signings of countless iconic players, too numerous to name, but including Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Peter Schmeichel and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Also, each unmentioned trophy, especially those precious league titles. There are also many key staff appointments that made a huge difference—particularly the arrival of Carlos Queiroz.
His battles with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are worthy of a mention here, as are his run-ins with senior players.
Quite literally hundreds of the games Ferguson took charge of could be cited as having big moments in them. However, most of those chosen deal with wider issues than can be addressed by one key moment in a game. The first slide is perhaps the only exception to that rule.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the final list.
Mark Robins Keeps Fergie in a Job: January 1990
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It is perhaps apocryphal, but received wisdom suggests that Sir Alex was a Mark Robins goal away from the sack, as per this article by Chris Bevan for BBC Sport.
An FA Cup third-round match with Nottingham Forest in January 1990 was heading for a draw when Robins popped up with a winner. Prior to that game, pressure had been mounting on Ferguson, who was not universally popular with United fans, as the infamous "Ta ra Fergie" banner indicated.
United went on to win the FA Cup, Fergie’s first silverware with the club, and he used the breathing room this afforded him to spectacular effect.
Eric Signs: November 1992
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The catalyst for Ferguson’s first great United side, Eric Cantona’s arrival from Leeds United was an epochal football transfer.
Cantona walked into Old Trafford with an upturned collar and immediately contributed to an upturn in United’s—and Sir Alex’s—fortunes.
The Frenchman brought beautiful football and an inspirational quality to the side, which made him instrumental in Ferguson achieving what he had been brought to the club to achieve.
The First League Title: May 1993
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For the generation of football fans who have been born since Ferguson’s first league title at United, it might be hard to imagine just how important it was.
For the generation that preceded it, who saw archrivals Liverpool win title after title, United’s quest to return to the top of the English game had an Arthurian quality—the grail ever out of reach.
However, in 1993, 26 years after it had last been done, United finally won the league again. The journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step, and United’s first Premier League title opened the floodgates for all the success that poured in thereafter.
Keano Signs: July 1993
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Martin Scorsese had Robert De Niro. Federico Fellini had Marcello Mastroianni. Sir Alex Ferguson had Roy Keane.
Those great directors needed great actors to be their on-screen proxies; Keane was Ferguson’s proxy on the pitch.
We all know it ended in bitter recrimination and anger, but the day Sir Alex signed Roy Keane was the day he added an unquenchable will to win to his side that would bear fruit for more than a decade.
First Double: May 1994
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The first double was crucial because it was the point when it became clear that United had gone from being also-rans to the dominant side in the country.
The initial league success was anything but a fluke, and it was now clear that Ferguson had built an era-defining side. No one yet knew it, but his response to this was to do it all over again.
*Eagle-eyed readers with a working knowledge of Eric Cantona's haircuts may note that the above picture is of Cantona and Ferguson celebrating the 1995/96 double, but the point stands!
Ince, Kanchelskis and Hughes Sold: Summer 1995
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Ferguson’s boldest summer was the summer of 1995, during which he sold three players who were profoundly associated with United’s success and were certainly fan favourites.
Fears about the manager’s decision were abound. It felt as if the team that had been built to finally win the league was being torn apart.
It turned out that Fergie had a plan. And that plan would lead to dramatic success.
The Class of '92 Take Centre Stage: 1995
8 of 19"The trick is always buy when you're strong, so he needs to buy players. You can't win anything with kids."
Alan Hansen's infamous moment of misguided punditry has entered English footballing legend. Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville and Paul Scholes joined Ryan Giggs as regular members of United's first-team squad in the 1995/96 season.
By the end of the season, they had won the double, thanks in large part to Cantona's relentless heroics. In the seasons that followed, the "kids" would rely less and less on the Frenchman's genius, coming into their own and becoming the core of the side responsible for many of Sir Alex's best moments in charge.
'I Will Love It If We Beat Them. Love It': 1996
9 of 19United won the 1995/96 league title by four points in the end, but for a long time it seemed as though Kevin Keegan’s swashbuckling Newcastle United would win out.
Twelve points ahead in January, Keegan’s infamous rant came about after Ferguson asserted that teams were likely to try a little harder against Manchester United than they would against Newcastle.
Keegan’s meltdown began the legend of Fergie’s "mind games." A decade or so later, Rafa Benitez brought Keegan to mind with his "fact" speech, which ended in the same result—United went on to win the league.
That Night in Barcelona: May 1999
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So much has been written and said about Ferguson’s crowning achievement, the 1999 treble, that it feels redundant to add much.
The incredible peak of the "Class of ’92," combined with the joie de football of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke and the sheer, unbreakable Roy Keane-ness of Roy Keane, the 1998/99 season felt like the unfolding of a miracle.
The picture above speaks infinite words, and besides, the great man summed it up better than anyone has since:
"Football, bloody hell."
The First Hat-Trick of Titles: May 2001
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"You’ll never win three in a row" is a line from a song that United fans sing about Chelsea’s post-Roman Abramovich success.
Ferguson achieved that remarkable feat twice. By the end of his first hat-trick, in May 2001, winning the league felt completely standard. The years that followed were (by Ferguson’s standards) relatively fallow, but United’s domestic dominance in this period was total.
Not Retiring: February 2002
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The decision not to retire was apparently inspired by a conversation by his wife, Cathy, per The Scotsman (h/t BBC Sport). Sir Alex had decided that the 2001/02 season was to be his last. He was going to step down from the Old Trafford hot seat, allegedly to be replaced by none other than Louis van Gaal, per an interview Van Gaal gave to Dutch television (h/t Goal.com).
Fortunately for United fans, Sir Alex changed his mind. After his U-turn, United won a further six league titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups and another Champions League title.
Postponing his retirement was a very big moment.
Ronaldo Signs: Summer 2003
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The best player Sir Alex Ferguson ever signed. It is a bold statement, given the quality of some of those who came before and indeed followed Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Old Trafford.
However, the sheer productivity Ronaldo achieved, the record-breaking scoring feats he managed—at both United and at Real Madrid—make a compelling argument. He was Sir Alex’s only player to win the Ballon d’Or and the fulcrum of Fergie’s last great side.
United were struggling when Ronaldo arrived, but the team built around him went on to reassert domestic dominance and conquer Europe.
Coolmore and the Rock of Gibraltar: 2003/04
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In May 2014, Jim White of the Telegraph, wrote an account of the Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United, which included the following paragraph:
"At the time of [Malcolm Glazer's'] manoeuvre, through 2003 into the autumn of 2004, the club manager Sir Alex Ferguson was in the midst of a bitter dispute with the Irish Coolmore racing conglomerate over stud rights to the horse Rock of Gibraltar. In an act of calculated revenge, as Glazer was going quietly about his work, the Coolmore crew accumulated a huge number of United shares, largely picked up from those with small portfolios, hoping to use them as leverage to put pressure on Ferguson’s position as manager.
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Sadly, this is an inglorious moment in the history of the club, as Sir Alex's run in with Coolmore can be seen as leading to Glazer's deeply unpopular leveraged buyout of the club. Therefore, given its ramifications, it is certainly one of the biggest moments of Ferguson's United career.
Keane Leaves: November 2005
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The politics and motivations around Roy Keane’s eventual departure from United have been the subject of much spin and counter-spin in the books he and Ferguson have since written.
Whatever the precise mechanics of his dismissal, for Sir Alex to effectively sack his on-pitch alter ego showed just how ruthless he could be.
It signified the end of an era. With Keane gone, Ferguson built anew, and once again, he built for success.
2008 and All That: May 2008
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It is notable that both Sir Alex’s European Cups came in seasons in which United also won the league. When Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012, they finished sixth in the league, 25 points behind Manchester City. When Liverpool achieved their dramatic win in Istanbul in 2005 they finished fifth, 37 points behind champions Chelsea.
Ferguson never compromised domestic success for European glory. Perhaps that was part of the reason he "only" won two Champions League titles, but in truth, two is a very big number where this matter is concerned.
Each was also won in dramatic fashion after all had seemed lost. As John Terry stepped up to take the penalty that would have seen blue ribbons tied to the trophy, United hearts sank.
Ten minutes later, it was United who were triumphant.
Ferguson’s reaction after the round-of-16 defeat against Real Madrid in his final season in charge showed how badly he wanted a third Champions League title, but in 2008, his second acted as vindication for his post-millennium approach and the signifier that he had once again built a side that could accurately be described as great.
2011 Champions League Final: May 2011
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One of the few moments when Sir Alex’s remarkable ability to exert control over events seemingly beyond his control let him down. A poignant shot of him on the bench showed his hands shaking, and the idea that Sir Alex would one day not be manager of United felt real.
Barcelona were the much better side that day, as United’s run of three Champions League finals in four years came to an inglorious end. It was a big moment for all the wrong reasons, one of very few on this list that is not a celebration of triumph.
Stand and Statue: November 2011 and November 2012
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The statue unveiling was a moving occasion, as so many of the great players who had played for Sir Alex came to honour him, including those who had not left on the best of terms, such as Ruud van Nistelrooy.
When the renaming of the North Stand in his honour was revealed, it seemed to genuinely take him by surprise—a considerable achievement, given the level of control he exerted at the club.
Although the wisdom of making his successor face his name when looking out from the dugout at Old Trafford may be questionable, there was certainly no doubt that Ferguson deserved the accolade.
20 Times: May 2013
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The acquisition of Robin van Persie was a final stroke of perfect opportunism, and the Dutchman's goals led to Sir Alex's retirement taking place in a blaze of glory.
It is almost unthinkable to imagine that Sir Alex could have retired as anything other than the manager of the champions of England.
That he did not have to was one last act of fate, one last hurrah for United's longest-serving and most successful manager.
One last beautiful moment.
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