ALEX FERGUSON will become the longest-serving manager in Manchester United’s history this month, passing Matt Busby in the club’s record books and predicting that the achievement will never be bettered, almost a quarter of a century since arriving at Old Trafford.
When Ferguson takes his place in the dugout for the match at Chelsea on December 19th he will have been in charge of the club for 24 years, one month and 14 days, one more than Busby’s total during two stints – from October 1945 to January 1969 and December 1970 to June 1971.
“I didn’t know that,” Ferguson admitted when told he would soon pass the man who survived the Munich air disaster in 1958 to rebuild the club and win United’s first European Cup a decade later.
“That will be a nice moment. I never imagined I’d be here so long. I don’t think it will happen again and I feel lucky to have been here all this time.”
Ferguson took charge of his first United match in November 1986, a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United that offered few clues of the dynasty that would follow, with 11 league titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups and two European Cups making him the most successful, as well as the longest-serving, manager in the game.
“There’s absolutely no doubt that what this club is today is built around what Matt started and the vision he had for United,” Ferguson said. “He created a lot of firsts here. It was his idea to introduce executive boxes at Old Trafford, he took the team into European competition for the first time and, of course, under Matt United became the first English team to win the European Cup.”
Busby still had an office at Old Trafford when Ferguson, now approaching his 69th birthday, moved south from Aberdeen, and the legacy of their strong working relationship is the way United’s manager speaks so highly of his predecessor.
“In some ways it was a shame that I came in during the latter part of his life but, on the flipside, it was fantastic that he was here and I used to have a lot of good chats with him. You always knew he was in the building because you could smell his pipe. I’d go for a chat and a cup of tea with him whenever I had the chance; he was a lovely man who was always keen to offer encouragement to me.”
Ferguson has strived to emulate Busby’s playing ethos, principally by nurturing and trusting talented young players, even though there are times when putting so much faith in this system can backfire. One example was the 4-0 defeat to West Ham United in Tuesday’s League Cup quarter-final.
United had been culpable of conceding “terrible goals”, according to their manager, and Jonny Evans faces another spell out of the team as the club’s coaching staff ponder how to rebuild his confidence. The Northern Ireland international has endured a difficult start to the season and has openly admitted he has not been playing well.
Since returning to the team he was blamed for Blackburn’s consolation goal, as a second-half substitute in the 7-1 win for United at Old Trafford on Saturday, and the defeat at Upton Park represented the lowest point by some considerable distance, with Evans badly at fault for two of the goals. Ferguson spoke afterwards of “soft defending” and it has become a particular concern to United’s management how frequently the centre-half is losing battles with physical opponents.
There is, nonetheless, a firm belief behind the scenes that Evans, 23 next month, will recover from the first prolonged loss of form in his career. The problem would be more serious were it not for Rio Ferdinand’s improved fitness but, for the time being, Evans is likely to drop into the reserves, with Brown or Chris Smalling the back-up options for Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at Blackpool on Saturday.
GuardianService
