Ferguson's Time Has Come, And Gone

The Ranter

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though chequered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

I've written extensively elsewhere that it is time for Sir Alex Ferguson to step down and leave Manchester United in the summer of 2006 after 20 glorious years at the helm.

Often this has been misinterpreted as the rant of a fan spoilt by years of success; all those Premiership titles, FA Cups and that wonderful night in Barcelona six and half years ago. Yes, to some extent all that silverware has had many a United supporter drunk on victory, unable to distinguish between the natural football cycle in which success wanes, and a sustained period of unacceptable failure. It matters little which of those United are currently in, though victory is ultimately what top class professional football is all about.

Over the years Ferguson's successes have been chequered by failure; the bitter taste of disappointment counterbalanced by the sweetness of conquest. Triumph all the more saccharine for the experience of losing.

Roosevelt was, above all, a student of history, able to put into a wider context all he had achieved. Ferguson, I fear, has no such ability and ultimately this will be his downfall, frozen in time, blinded by the glory of past success. Unable to move on when time demands progression.

It many ways Ferguson's reign at United has come full circle. The dark days, when Liverpool ruled English football are long gone but they are all too fresh in the memory for the United faithful. Ferguson changed all that, first supplanting the team from the other end of the East Lancs Road and then superseding them. For that at least Ferguson will be remembered in Manchester long after he has gone.

Moreover Ferguson's success was achieved on the back of youthful, exciting, attacking football in the best traditions of Manchester United – he did indeed dare to do mighty things.

This is no longer the case. United's record over the past four years has included third place in the Premiership three times. That's not a blip, that's the norm. United's period of transition has been set in stone with the ultimate aim – success – as far away as it ever was when Ferguson joined the club in 1986.

For many fans United's decline has gone beyond evolution – strategic failures have undermined the club and the man at the top must ultimately be accountable. United's decline has not been precipitated by any single catastrophe but a series of mistakes that gradually but surely loosened United's grasp of the summit of English football.

Every club makes mistakes in the transfer market. Real Madrid's President Florentino Perez once estimated that five out of six purchases failed at Los Merengues. But United have made increasingly bizarre buys in recent seasons. For every Rooney there has been an Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson or Diego Forlan.

Ultimately the strength of the squad has deteriorated, transition has become decline. Ferguson's failings in the transfer marker seem to have become more acute as his budget rose. Ironically in the summer just gone Ferguson's lack of money was rewarded with two excellent purchases in Park Ji-Sung and Edwin van der Sar. Paucity focuses the mind.

Equally key players were never replaced – Keane, Beckham, Phil Neville and Butt have left from the famous "Class of '92," and Jaap Stam was never properly replaced. By the same token Giggs and Scholes, fading forces both, have found no serious competition from incoming players.

Then there was the disastrous change in style from United's traditional 4-4-2, based on all-out attack with flying wingers, to the continental 4-5-1. It's an oversimplification, of course, but undeniably the result was a dramatic decline in the number of goals that the team scored. Worse still the entertainment on offer to the 67,000 faithful at Old Trafford has been barren for the best part of the last two years. Many feel that United's traditions have been ridden roughshod over just one time too many.

"We don't want the club in anyone else's hands. I have always tried to the bridge between the club and the fans. I have tried to support the fans in a lot of their pleas and causes. It's important for the club to recognise the fans. When the plc started, there were grave doubts about it - I had them myself - but I think the supporters have come round to that. There's a stronger rapport between the club and the fans than there's ever been."
Sir Alex Ferguson, November 2004

The turning point in many fans' opinion of Ferguson came not through any defeat, change of formation or abortive foray into the transfer market however. No, the takeover of the club by the Glazer family in the summer of 2005 finally separated Ferguson from the very people he seemed so close to: United's supporters.

In the build-up to the deal the manager had publicly voiced his opposition to the takeover, claiming at the same time to be at one with the ordinary support. How wrong that proved to be when the Scotsman went on record in the week after the deal to demand that the fans support the new owners. Later, and disastrously, Ferguson told supporters to "go and watch Chelsea" if they didn't like it, when challenged by a fan at an airport. He was once the dock-workers' shop steward in Govan but perhaps the fans expected too much of him. After all, to be consistent in his views would have been to forgo millions of pounds in wages. But what price integrity? The bridge was finally broken.

Ferguson could turn it around of course – United's form, bar the catastrophic Champions League exit, has been pretty good. The old cliché about not writing the old stager off still rings true. Indeed, The Red's points total is comparable to previous title winning seasons at this stage. The difference is that the bar has been raised a notch or two higher – and Chelsea have the greatest leap. United cannot compete with the hundreds of millions of pounds available to Jose Mourinho's team – and nor should the club try. Indeed at time of press Old Trafford's finest are on a run of ten Premiership matches without defeat, is scoring goals and has returned to a more attacking formation once again. In Wayne Rooney the side has arguably the Premiership's best player – certainly one who can win matches single-handed.

Something has changed though. Not just that failure has become more frequent – no team has a divine right to victory. Somehow Ferguson has dared less in recent years; become more conservative in many ways. Just perhaps some of that old fire has died. He has entered that grey twilight – in the autumn of his managerial career.

Most worryingly Ferguson would appear to not recognise this and strongly believes that he has the right to remain in his post so long as he chooses to do so. That it is his health and energy that are the standard bearers, which will postpone an overdue retirement. This is not so and in believing this Ferguson has betrayed both himself and the club's supporters. They say that all managerial careers end in failure but it didn't have to be that way. Sadly, for Ferguson and United, destiny is closing in on a messy and painful end.

The Ranter

Signed Giggs
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