![Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United F.C.]() |
| Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United F.C. |
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson,
CBE (born 31 December 1941) is a
Scottish football manager and former
player who has managed
Manchester United since 1986. His time at the club has led to Ferguson being one of the most admired and respected managers in the history of the game.
[4] On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced his retirement as manager of Manchester United. During his 26 years at the club, he won 38 trophies, including 13
Premier League titles, and the
UEFA Champions League twice.
[7]Early life
Born to Alexander Beaton Ferguson, a plater's helper in the shipbuilding industry, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Hardie,
[8] Alex Ferguson was born at his grandmother's home on Shieldhall Road,
Govan, on 31 December 1941, but grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road which has since been demolished where he lived with his parents as well as his younger brother
Martin.
[9]Playing career
Ferguson's playing career began as an amateur with
Queen's Park, where he made his debut as a
striker aged 16.
[13] He described his first match as a "nightmare",
[14] but scored Queen's Park's goal in a 2–1 defeat against
Stranraer. Perhaps his most notable game for Queen's Park was the 7–1 defeat away to
Queen of the South on
Boxing Day 1959 when ex-England international
Ivor Broadis scored four of the Queen of the South goals. Ferguson was the solitary Queen's Park goalscorer.
[15]Despite scoring 20
goals in his 31 games for Queen's Park, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to
St. Johnstone in 1960. Although he continued to score regularly at St. Johnstone, he was still unable to command a regular place and regularly requested transfers. Ferguson was out of favour at the club and he even considered emigrating to Canada,
[16] however St. Johnstone's failure to sign a forward led the manager to select Ferguson for a match against Rangers, in which he scored a
hat trick in a surprise victory.
Dunfermline signed him the following summer (1964), and Ferguson became a full-time professional footballer.
The following season (1964–65), Dunfermline were strong challengers for the Scottish League and reached the Scottish Cup Final, but Ferguson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against St. Johnstone. Dunfermline lost the final 3–2 to Celtic, then failed to win the League by one point. The 1965–66 season saw Ferguson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Dunfermline. Along with
Joe McBride of Celtic, he was the top goalscorer in the
Scottish League with 31 goals.
[17]He then joined Rangers for £65,000, then a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs. He was blamed for a goal that they conceded in the
1969 Scottish Cup Final,
[18] in a match in which he was designated to mark
Celtic captain,
Billy McNeill, and was subsequently forced to play for the club's junior side instead of for the first team.
[19] According to his brother, Ferguson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away.
[20] There have been claims that he suffered discrimination at Rangers after his marriage to a Catholic, Cathy Holding,
[21] but Ferguson himself makes it clear in his autobiography
[22] that Rangers knew of his wife's religion when he joined the club and that he left the club very reluctantly, due to the fall-out from his alleged cup final mistake.
The following October,
Nottingham Forest wanted to sign Ferguson,
[23] but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time so he went to
Falkirk instead. He was promoted to player-coach there, but when
John Prentice became manager he removed Ferguson's coaching responsibilities. Ferguson responded by requesting a transfer and moved to
Ayr United, where he finished his playing career in 1974.
Early managerial career
East Stirlingshire
In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed manager of
East Stirlingshire, at the comparatively young age of 32. It was a part-time job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single
goalkeeper at the time.
[24] He gained a reputation as a disciplinarian, with club forward
Bobby McCulley later saying he had "never been afraid of anyone before but Ferguson was a frightening bastard from the start."
[25]The following October, Ferguson was invited to manage
St. Mirren. While they were below
East Stirlingshire in the league, they were a bigger club and although Ferguson felt a degree of loyalty towards East Stirlingshire, he decided to join
St. Mirren after taking advice from
Jock Stein.
[26]St. Mirren
Ferguson was manager of St. Mirren from 1974 until 1978, producing a remarkable transformation of a team in the lower half of the old
Second Division watched by crowds of just over 1,000, to
First Division champions in
1977, discovering talent like
Billy Stark,
Tony Fitzpatrick,
Lex Richardson,
Frank McGarvey, Bobby Reid and
Peter Weir while playing superb attacking football.
[27] The average age of the league winning team was 19 and the captain, Fitzpatrick, was 20.
[28]St. Mirren have the distinction of being the only club ever to sack Ferguson. He claimed wrongful dismissal against the club at an industrial tribunal but lost and was given no leave to appeal. According to a Billy Adams
Sunday Herald article on 30 May 1999, the official version is that Ferguson was sacked for various breaches of contract including unauthorised payments to players.
[27]He was counter-accused of intimidating behaviour towards his office secretary because he wanted players to get some expenses tax free. He didn't speak to her for six weeks, confiscated her keys and communicated only through a 17-year-old assistant. The tribunal concluded that Ferguson was "particularly petty" and "immature".
[29] It was claimed during the tribunal by St. Mirren chairman,
Willie Todd, that Ferguson had "no managerial ability".
On 31 May 2008,
The Guardian published an interview with Todd (then aged 87), who had sacked Ferguson all those years earlier. He explained that the fundamental reason for the dismissal was a breach of contract relating to Ferguson having agreed to join Aberdeen. Ferguson told journalist Jim Rodger of the
Daily Mirror that he had asked at least one member of the squad to go to Aberdeen with him. He also told the St. Mirren staff he was leaving. Todd expressed regret over what happened but blamed Aberdeen for not approaching his club to discuss compensation.
[30]Aberdeen
Late 1970s
Ferguson joined Aberdeen as manager in June 1978, replacing
Billy McNeill who had only managed the club for one season before he was offered the chance to manage
Celtic. Although Aberdeen were one of Scotland's major clubs they had won the league only once, in
1955 under
Dave Halliday. The team had been playing well, however, and had not lost a league match since the previous December, having finished second in the league the previous season.
[31] Ferguson had now been a manager for four years, but was still not much older than some of the players and had trouble winning the respect of some of the older ones such as
Joe Harper.
[32] The season did not go especially well, with Aberdeen reaching the semi-final of the
Scottish Cup and the
Scottish League Cup Final, but losing both matches and finishing fourth in the league.
1980s and silverware
Aberdeen had started the season poorly but their form improved dramatically in the new year and they won the Scottish league that season with a 5–0 win on the final day. It was the first time in fifteen years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or
Celtic. Ferguson now felt that he had the respect of his players, later saying "That was the achievement which united us. I finally had the players believing in me".
[34]He was still a strict disciplinarian, though, and his players nicknamed him
Furious Fergie. He fined one of his players,
John Hewitt, for overtaking him on a public road,
[35] and kicked a tea urn at the players at half time after a poor first half.
[36] He was dissatisfied with the atmosphere at Aberdeen matches, and deliberately created a '
siege mentality' by accusing the Scottish media of being biased towards the Glasgow clubs, in order to motivate the team.
[37] The team continued their success with a Scottish Cup win in 1982. Ferguson was offered the managers' job at
Wolvesbut turned it down as he felt that Wolves were in trouble
[38] and "[his] ambitions at Aberdeen were not even half fulfilled".
[39]European success
Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season (1982–83). They had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as a result of winning the Scottish Cup the previous season, and impressively knocked out
Bayern Munich, who had beaten
Tottenham Hotspur 4–1 in the previous round. According to
Willie Miller, this gave them the confidence to believe that they could go on to win the competition,
[40] which they did, with a 2–1 victory over
Real Madrid in the final on 11 May 1983. Aberdeen became only the third Scottish team to win a European trophy and Ferguson now felt that "he'd done something worthwhile with his life".
[41] Aberdeen had also performed well in the league that season, and retained the Scottish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Rangers, but Ferguson was not happy with his team's play in that match and upset the players by describing theirs as a "disgraceful performance" in a televised interview after the match, a statement he later retracted.
[42]After a sub-standard start to the
1983–84 season, Aberdeen's form improved and the team won the Scottish league and retained the Scottish Cup. Ferguson was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1984 honours list,
[43] and was offered the managers' jobs at Rangers,
Arsenal and
Tottenham Hotspur during the season. Aberdeen retained their league title in the 1984–85 season, but had a disappointing season in 1985–86, finishing fourth in the league, although they did win both domestic cups. Ferguson had been appointed to the club's board of directors early in 1986, but that April he told Dick Donald, their chairman, that he intended to leave that summer.
[citation needed]Ferguson had been part of coaching staff for the
Scottish national side during qualifying for the
1986 World Cup, but manager
Jock Stein had
collapsed and died on 10 September 1985 – at the end of the game in which Scotland qualified from their group for a play-off against
Australia. Ferguson promptly agreed to take charge of the Scottish national side against the Australians and subsequently at the World Cup. To allow him to fulfil his international duties he appointed
Archie Knox as his co-manager at Aberdeen. However, after Scotland failed to progress past the group stages of the World Cup, Ferguson stepped down as national team manager on 15 June 1986.
[44]Around this time,
Tottenham Hotspur offered Ferguson the chance to take over from
Peter Shreeves as manager, but he rejected this offer and the job went to
Luton Town's David Pleat instead. There was also an offer for Ferguson to replace
Don Howe as Arsenal manager, but he rejected this offer as well, and fellow Scot
George Graham took the post instead.
[45] That summer, there had been speculation that he would take over from
Ron Atkinson at
Manchester United, who had slumped to fourth in the English top flight after a ten-match winning start had made title glory seem inevitable.
It was not the first time that Ferguson had been linked with a move to England. In February 1982,
Wolverhampton Wanderers had approached him about succeeding
John Barnwell as manager as they were heading for relegation from the First Division.
[46] He rejected this offer, perhaps concerned about the club's financial stability, as they were more than £2million in debt at the time and narrowly avoided going out of business. At the end of the
1984–85 season, it was reported that Ferguson was being considered for the
Liverpool manager's job after the retirement of
Joe Faganwas announced, but the job was quickly accepted by Liverpool striker
Kenny Dalglish.
[47]Ferguson had also been approached for the
Rangers job in October 1983, but also rejected this offer.
[49]Although Ferguson remained at Aberdeen over the summer, he did eventually join Manchester United when Atkinson was sacked in November 1986.
Managing Manchester United
Appointment and first years
Ferguson was appointed manager at
Old Trafford on 6 November 1986. He was initially worried that many of the players, such as
Norman Whiteside,
Paul McGrath and
Bryan Robson were drinking too much and was "depressed" by their level of fitness, but he managed to increase the players' discipline and United climbed up the table to finish the season in 11th place, having been 21st (second from bottom) when he took over.
His first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat at underdogs
Oxford United on 8 November, followed seven days later by a goalless draw at newly promoted
Norwich City, and then his first win (1–0 at home to
QPR) on 22 November. Results steadily improved as the season went on, and by the time they recorded what would be their only away win of the league campaign at title challengers and deadly rivals Liverpool on
Boxing Day, it was clear that United were on the road to recovery. 1987 began on a high note with a 4–1 victory over
Newcastle United and United gradually pulled together in the second half of the season, with relatively occasional defeats on the way, and finished 11th in the final table. Ferguson's mother, Elizabeth died of lung cancer, aged 64, three weeks after his appointment. Ferguson appointed
Archie Knox, his assistant at Aberdeen, as his assistant at Manchester United in 1986.
[citation needed]In the
1987–88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including
Steve Bruce,
Viv Anderson,
Brian McClair and
Jim Leighton. The new players made a great contribution to a United team who finished in second place, nine points behind Liverpool. However, Liverpool's points lead had been in double digits for most of the season and while United had lost only five league games all season, they drew 12 games and there was clearly still some way to go before United could be a match for their north western rivals.
[citation needed]United were expected to do well when
Mark Hughes returned to the club two years after leaving for
Barcelona, but the
1988–89 season was a disappointment for them, finishing eleventh in the league and losing 1–0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup Sixth Round. They had begun the season slowly, going on a nine-match winless run throughout October and November (with one defeat and eight draws) before a run of generally good results took them to third place and the fringes of the title challenge by mid February. However, another run of disappointing results in the final quarter of the season saw them fall down to mid table.
During the season, United played in friendly matches against the
Bermudan national team and
Somerset County Cricket Club as part of the Bermudan team's tour of England. In the match against Somerset, both Ferguson himself and his assistant, Archie Knox, took to the field, with Knox even getting on the scoresheet. The match remains Ferguson's only appearance for the Manchester United first team.
[citation needed]For the
1989–90 season, Ferguson further boosted his squad by paying large sums of money for midfielders
Neil Webb,
Mike Phelan and
Paul Ince, as well as defender
Gary Pallister and winger
Danny Wallace. The season began well with a 4–1 win over defending champions Arsenal on the opening day, but United's league form quickly turned sour. In September, United suffered a humiliating 5–1 away defeat against
fierce rivals Manchester City. Following this and an early season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games, a banner declaring "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked.
[50][51] Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.
[52][53]However, Ferguson later revealed that the board of directors had assured him that they were not considering dismissing him. Although naturally disappointed with the lack of success in the league, they understood the reasons for the sub-standard results (namely the absence of several key players due to injury) and were pleased with the way that Ferguson had reorganised the club's coaching and scouting system.
Following a run of seven games without a win, Manchester United were drawn away to
Nottingham Forest in the third round of the
FA Cup. Forest were performing well that season and were in the process of winning the League Cup for the second season running,
[54] and it was expected that United would lose the match and Ferguson would consequently be sacked, but United won the game 1–0 thanks to a
Mark Robins goal and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match that saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career, even though it has since been stated that his job was never at risk.
[54][55][56] United went on to win the FA Cup, beating
Crystal Palace 1–0 in the final replay after a 3–3 draw in the first match, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as Manchester United manager. United's defensive frailties in the first match were unilaterally blamed on goalkeeper
Jim Leighton, forcing Ferguson to drop his former Aberdeen player and bring in
Les Sealey.
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu: نواز شریف, pronounced [nəˈʋaːz ʃəˈriːf]; born 25 December 1949[1]) is a major politician, steel mill industrialist and business magnate, serving as the 12thPrime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 until the military coup d'état staged to end his government on 12 October 1999. He is currently President of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), one of Pakistan's major national and largest conservative political party. As the owner of Ittefaq Group, a leading steel mill conglomerate, he is also one of the country's wealthiest industrialists.[2]
Serving as the Leader of the Opposition during Benazir's second tenure, Sharif was again re-elected to prime minister with a historic two-thirds majority in parliament,[4] after Benazir was again dismissed by her own hand-picked president Farooq Leghari.[4] In office, Sharif replaced Leghari with Rafiq Tarar as president, then stripped the Presidency of its powers by passing the Thirteenth Amendment. He also notably ordered Pakistan's first nuclear tests in response to neighbouring India's second nuclear tests, as part of his tit-for-tat policy, a termed he coined thereafter.[5][6] When Western countries suspended foreign aid, Sharif responded by freezing the foreign currency reserves to prevent further capital flight, but this only worsened economic conditions.
