ImageGetty ImagesVengeance, mind games and humiliation at Anfield: they all helped to make Sir Alex the best manager of all time
Words Chris FlanaganTHE 6 MATCHES
THAT SHAPED FERGIE’S
RISE TO GREATn ESS
EAST STIRLINGSHIRE 2-0
FALKIRK 1974Fittingly, Alex Ferguson’s first big result as
a manager was motivated by revenge.
A year earlier, Ferguson had been a player-
coach at Falkirk, in his first venture into
coaching. Then John Prentice was appointed
as the club’s new boss, and he told a young
Ferguson that his services were no longer
required. “He found it hard to look me in the
eye,” the future manager later recalled.
When the disgruntled Scot joined Ayr, a
dispute ensued, as Prentice tried to deny him
a payment that he felt he was owed.
In the summer of 1974, Ayr boss Ally
MacLeod – later Scotland’s manager at
the 1978 World Cup – had recommended
that East Stirlingshire appoint Ferguson, just
32, as their new manager. He had previously
failed a job interview at fellow Second
Division side Queen’s Park; “I surrendered to
nerves,” he would admit one day.
East Stirlingshire had struggled at the
bottom of the second tier in the previous
season. When Ferguson arrived, they had only
eight players and no goalkeeper. In his first
game, however, he helped them to recover
from 3-0 down to draw at Forfar. By early
October, they were 3rd in the table, thanks to
their manager’s unceremonious approach.
“He was a frightening bastard from the
start,” said forward Bobby McCulley. HisALEX FERGUSOn
team-mate, Jim Meakin, was banished after
telling his manager that he wouldn’t be able
to make training on Monday because he was
going to Blackpool for the weekend with
a club director. “I don’t care if you’re going
with the Queen,” Ferguson retorted.
Then came a match against Prentice’s
Falkirk, recently relegated. East Stirlingshire,
based in the same town, hadn’t beaten
Falkirk in the league for 70 years. Determined
to get one over on Prentice, Ferguson devised
a game plan, analysing Falkirk in minute
detail. “There’s not one thing I don’t know
about this mob,” he told his players. “I can
tell you which side of the bed they lie on.”
East Stirlingshire won 2-0. Later that
month, Ferguson was recruited to be St
Mirren’s new manager. In just 117 days at
East Stirlingshire, he had proven himself as a
rising star.LIVERPOOL 4-0 ABERDEEN
1980It was defeat at Anfield that drove Ferguson
to European success – and gave him the
desire to put Liverpool in their place one day.
His European debut as a manager did not
go well. Early in his first season, Aberdeen
lost the first leg of a European Cup Winners’
Cup tie to Marek Stanke Dimitrov, a club
playing in only their second – and last –
European campaign, and who have sinceslumped into Bulgaria’s regional leagues.
Ferguson had attracted Aberdeen’s attention
by guiding St Mirren into the top flight, but
his new club finished a disappointing 4th in
his first campaign.
Only a year later, however, he won just the
second league title in Aberdeen’s history,
and their first in 25 years, getting the best
out of emerging talents such as Gordon
Strachan and Alex McLeish as the team rose
from 6th in mid-March to clinch top spot.
In their debut season in the European Cup,
Aberdeen faced Liverpool in the second round.
Before the first leg, Ferguson travelled to
Anfield to watch the reigning English
champions in action against Middlesbrough.
“So, you’re down to have a look at our great
team,” Bill Shankly said as they met in the
directors’ box. “Aye, they all try that.”
Liverpool won 1-0 at Pittodrie. Manager
Bob Paisley had lavished praise on Strachan
before the match in an attempt to soften
him up; according to Strachan, it worked.
“They were well armed in the psychological
war department,” said Ferguson.
At Anfield, Willie Miller’s own goal paved
the way for a hammering: Phil Neal, Kenny
Dalglish and Alan Hansen all found the net
in a 4-0 win. Liverpool would go on to beat
Real Madrid in the European Cup final, but
Ferguson was furious with his team,
believing they’d gone into the game with an
inferiority complex.FourFourTwo.com The Managers 39GREATEST
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