MANCHESTER UNITED 2-1
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1993When Ferguson moved to Manchester
United in 1986, a league title was what he
wanted most – even after winning three of
them with Aberdeen. But, seven years into
his time at Old Trafford, he was yet to break
his duck.
The season before his arrival, United had
looked on course to win the league, starting
the campaign with 10 straight wins under
Ron Atkinson before faltering badly. In the
following campaign, they were fourth
from bottom when Ferguson arrived in
November 1986, recovering them to 11th.
He led the Red Devils to second place in his
first full season, which only made finishes of
11th in 1988-89 and 13th in 1989-90
seriously underwhelming. The pressure was
relieved by an FA Cup triumph in 1990, then
by beating Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona in the
Cup Winners’ Cup final of 1991, but still the
league title eluded Ferguson’s United: 6th in
1990-91, and 2nd behind Leeds a year later.
By November 1992, Manchester United
were 10th, and pundits were wondering
whether it was ever going to happen.
Ferguson had failed to sign Alan Shearer
and David Hirst, and then new boy Dion
Dublin broke his leg. United had scored just
14 goals in 15 games. “We may have to do
something about it,” admitted Ferguson.
“There’s money available, but the options
aren’t great.”
The options were better than he had
ever imagined.
Leeds phoned Manchester United
chairman Martin Edwards to
discuss full-back Denis Irwin.
On the spur of the moment,
Ferguson asked his boss to
enquire if Eric Cantona
might be available for a
transfer away from
Elland Road. Pundit
Emlyn Hughes
described thesubsequent signing as Ferguson’s “last
gamble in charge”. And what a gamble it
was: Cantona spearheaded Manchester
United’s charge into title contention.
Third in early April, they climbed above
Norwich with victory at Carrow Road, but
trailed at home to Sheffield Wednesday
days later. Fearing that Atkinson’s Aston Villa
would win and move four points clear with
five games left, Ferguson threw on 36-year-
old Bryan Robson, who changed the game.
Defender Steve Bruce headed the
equaliser with four minutes left, then
repeated the feat for the winner, in the
seventh minute of Fergie Time. Typically,
Ferguson later insisted, “I watched the video
that night and used my stopwatch for
injuries and substitutions – there should
have been 12 minutes.”
Villa had drawn. United were top. As the
challengers collapsed, Ferguson claimed his
first Premier League title by 10 clear points.JUVENTUS 2-3 MANCHESTER
UNITED 1999Ferguson had four Premier League titles when
the 1998-99 season began, but his team’s
dominance hadn’t been replicated in Europe.
The Champions League had been a
constant source of frustration. United had
been snuffed out by Galatasaray in a stormy
second-round match in 1993-94; eliminated
by Barcelona and IFK Gothenburg in the
group stage in 1994-95; beaten by Borussia
Dortmund in the semi-finals of 1996-97; and
knocked out by Monaco in the last eight a
season later.
In 1998-99, United didn’t actually qualify as
English title winners – Arsene Wenger had
just won his first with Arsenal – but non-
champions had been allowed into the
Champions League as of a year earlier.
United’s route to the final was tough.
Having edged past LKS Lodz, they
were drawn into a Group of
Death with Bayern Munich,
Barcelona and whipping boysPlayers were banned from laughing on the
journey home. When Steve Cowan was
coaxed into a smirk by a team-mate,
Ferguson refused to talk to him for months.
“You’re a bloody disgrace,” he told his team
the next day. “Every c**t in Scotland is
laughing at you.”
A more reflective Ferguson would later
confess, “We learned from painful exposure
to masters of the techniques and discipline
required in European competition.
“Those kinds of memories burn deeply.”
ABERDEEN 2-1 REAL MADRID
1983
Two seasons after that drubbing at Anfield,
Ferguson’s Aberdeen had learned how to
become a European force.
In the 1981-82 UEFA Cup, they’d knocked
out holders Ipswich before losing narrowly
to Hamburg. After Ferguson had turned
down an offer from Wolves, Aberdeen
progressed to the quarter-finals of the 1982-
83 Cup Winners’ Cup. The opposition was
daunting. Real Madrid, Diego Maradona’s
Barcelona, Inter and PSG all remained in
contention for the trophy. Aberdeen would
face Bayern Munich.
The night before the first leg, Ferguson
made the rare decision to take control of his
side’s open training session at the
Olympiastadion, instead of assistant Archie
Knox. He instructed the squad to belt long
balls at each other, resulting in a chaotic
session in which several players were hit on
the head. Ferguson was trying to make
Bayern believe Aberdeen were useless, and
he told the press that they would settle for a
2-0 defeat. In fact, a superbly disciplined
performance bagged a 0-0 draw.
A dramatic second leg saw Aberdeen come
from behind to win. Their equaliser came from
a deliberately bizarre free-kick routine: takers
Strachan and John McMaster both ran off,
pretending to leave the ball to one another,
before Strachan exploited the confusion by
crossing for McLeish to score. Ryan Giggs and
Paul Scholes would perform a similar routine
at Manchester United many years later.
Waterschei of Belgium were thrashed in
the semi-finals to set up a final against
Real Madrid, managed by Alfredo Di Stefano.
The night before the final in Gothenburg,
Ferguson gave Di Stefano a bottle of whisky,
trying to lull him into thinking Aberdeen were
in awe of the legend and his side. Privately,
Fergie was confident of victory. “Usually, you
could be playing Inverurie Locos and he would
build them up as if they were Brazil,” said
defender Stuart Kennedy. This time, Ferguson
played down the threat of Real Madrid.
After Madrid equalised in the final,
Ferguson made subtle tactical changes at
half-time. Aberdeen triumphed 2-1 after 120
minutes. “We slaughtered them in the
second half and extra time,” a proud
manager declared. Di Stefano himself
admitted, “Aberdeen have what money
can’t buy – a soul, and team spirit built in a
family tradition.”
DI STEFAn O ADMITTED,
“ABERDEEn HAVE WHAT
MOn EY CAn ’T BUY”
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