ImagesGetty ImagesTHE END
OF AN ERASince 2008 Manchester City had been transformed by the
ownership of Sheikh Mansour, a billionaire member of the royal family
of Abu Dhabi, who had spent millions assembling a new squad.
Ferguson had dismissed City as “noisy neighbours”, but by the
2011–12 season they were ready to turn up the volume.
United were given an early warning when City handed them
a humiliating 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford, but by the spring they had
an eight-point lead. Then United suffered a slip, losing to Wigan,
drawing with Everton and losing 1-0 to City, to put their rivals top.
On the final day of the season, United needed to better City’s result
to win the title. They won their game 1-0 over Sunderland and
learned City were losing 2-1 to QPR, with their game now in added
time. But almost immediately City equalised, and just 125 seconds
later news filtered through they had scored again through Sergio
Agüero to snatch the title on goal difference. “We were champions
for 30 seconds,” Ferguson has recalled.
“The United players were devastated. Several of them were sitting
slumped on the floor, silent, heads in their hands,” former United
defender Patrice Evra has said.
On the coach back to Manchester, however, Ferguson was already
using the experience to inspire his squad. “The boss walked up and
down the aisle, telling us, ‘Don’t you ever forget what this feels
like’,” Michael Carrick has said. “‘Let this motivate you to win the
league next year.’”
It had been speculated Ferguson was preparing to retire at the
end of that season, but losing the title in such a cruel manner
persuaded him to stay for another season with the aim of walking
away as a champion.
To achieve that, Ferguson pulled off an incredible coup by signing
the reigning Footballer of the Year, Robin van Persie, from Arsenal
for £24 million.
The Dutchman became one of his best signings, scoring 26 league
goals to help United regain the title, finishing 11 points ahead of
Manchester City. “He brought a Cantona-esque quality to an already
very good side,” said Ferguson.
The United manager had the happy ending he wanted to finish
his incredible reign at Old Trafford and announced his retirement on
8 May 2013. “I’m going out a winner,” he told his players when he
informed them he was leaving. After 26 years, 1,500 games and
38 major trophies, Ferguson departed Old Trafford as the most
successful manager in the history of English football.
One of his final acts at Old Trafford was to choose his successor,
and he recommended the United board appoint the Everton
manager David Moyes.
As a fellow hardened Glaswegian, Ferguson saw something of
himself in Moyes and had been impressed with what he had
achieved at Goodison Park. While he might not have won a trophy,
he had finished in the top half of the table in nine of his 11 seasons.
Ferguson’s expectation was once Moyes began working with
better players and a bigger budget his managerial skills would see
him flourish, but it didn’t work out like that and almost immediately
Moyes looked out of his depth.
He was not helped by the club’s failure in that summer’s transfer
market; having been promised several marquee signings, including
Gareth Bale, Cesc Fàbregas and even Ronaldo, he had to settle for
just Marouane Felliani from Everton.
Nonetheless, Moyes still had enough quality to challenge for
trophies having inherited the reigning champions, but he suffered
three defeats in his first six league games and never gained control
over a fast-unravelling season. Moyes wore the look of a haunted
man, who from September was locked outside the top four. By March
it was consecutive 3-0 home defeats to Liverpool and Manchester
City that provoked a ‘Moyes Out’ banner to be flown over Old
Trafford. Following a 2-0 defeat to Everton in April Moyes was sacked,
having taken United from first to seventh.
“Moyes never solved the football problems he faced,” former Red
Devils defender Rio Ferdinand has said. “He brought ideas and
tactics, which worked for him at Everton, but didn’t adapt to the
expectations of United... He created a negative vibe where with
Fergie it had always been positive.”
United turned to Louis van Gaal, a manager with a wealth of
experience who had enjoyed success at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern
Munich and who had just spent the summer of 2014 guiding the
Netherlands to the World Cup semi-finals.
United immediately backed him in the transfer market, signing
Ángel Di María, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo,
and Radamel Falcao (on loan) for a combined outlay of around
£146 million.
Despite this influx of talent, after ten league games United were
ninth. It was their worst start to a season since 1986–87, which had
led to Ron Atkinson being sacked. Van Gaal did eventually manage to
stabilise United’s season with a run of only two defeats from their
next 22 league games to climb to a fourth-placed finish.
Under Van Gaal there were complaints his football was too
defensive, and some of his players did not enjoy his strict instructions
and rigid structure, which allowed for little flair or creativity.Above José
Mourinho poses
with the Europa
League trophy
after his United
side had beaten
Ajax in the
2017 final
Bottom A
delighted Sir
Alex Ferguson
lifts his 13th
and final
Premier League
title aloftFourFourTwo.com The Story of Man Utd 115