Alex Ferguson - 10 Years On

[Pretty Boy]

I thought the below was an interesting piece on Fergie's retirement a decade ago this month:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65494103

I think it paints a picture as to how much upheaval a manager leaving creates (obviously that's heightened when it's 2 decades and unprecedented success we are talking about). There is also a subtext though as to how important it is to have structures in place to smooth the transition and in the case of United that clearly wasn't the case; they have paid a heavy price.

[Bostonhibby]

Read that earlier, I was left thinking that he might have been one of the last where the manager was bigger than the players at the club and it arguably was his way, or not at all in the dressing room, around the club and on the pitch?

I do regard him and Cloughie as the 2 managerial greats of my time watching football.

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[Pretty Boy]

Read that earlier, I was left thinking that he might have been one of the last where the manager was bigger than the players at the club and it arguably was his way, or not at all in the dressing room, around the club and on the pitch?

I do regard him and Cloughie as the 2 managerial greats of my time watching football.

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I think so. He was everything at Man Utd and I think as long as he was there it disguised the fact a lot of the foundations were pretty shaky.

I remember reading that one of the reasons Italian football went from being the dominant force in Europe in the 90s to a bit of an also ran for years was for broadly similar reasons. Big name managers held the balance of power at clubs and everything from recruitment to youth to commercial was an afterthought. It got ruthlessly exposed as money flowed into the EPL, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid kicked on and 'new money' clubs became a thing.

[Bostonhibby]

These days it's suggested that once a manager "loses the dressing room" the players will see him brought down through their own efforts or lack of......

I don't profess to have the answer to it but I think the phenomenon of player power in some situations isn't healthy.

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[neil7908]

The article touches on it briefly but the fact that David Gill left at the same time was huge. Ferguson leaving was always going to be incredibly difficult to deal with but the Chief Executive also leaving? Near impossible to cope with.

It shows imo the importance of getting the off field structure right. Very few managers will have anything like the longevity SAF did, so you need the professional structure at a club to be right.

We have had an awful lot of upheaval off the field, and I hope that after the shock and sadness of Ron's passing, we now have the right people and structure in place.

[Pagan Hibernia]

It’s hard to believe they botched the succession so spectacularly. Not like they didn’t have enough time to prepare for it. Ferguson was originally to stand down in 2002, before changing his mind. They should have had the foundations laid for a seamless transition (or as seamless as it could be when replacing a legend like that)

[Keith_M]

These days it's suggested that once a manager "loses the dressing room" the players will see him brought down through their own efforts or lack of......

I don't profess to have the answer to it but I think the phenomenon of player power in some situations isn't healthy.

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John Collins era at Hibs immediately springs to mind.

[MWHIBBIES]

Read that earlier, I was left thinking that he might have been one of the last where the manager was bigger than the players at the club and it arguably was his way, or not at all in the dressing room, around the club and on the pitch?

I do regard him and Cloughie as the 2 managerial greats of my time watching football.

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That's certainly the case at Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City right now. Manager comes well before the players. I think it has to be to build long term success.