Sir Alex Ferguson has lots of bling for an avowed socialist.
You may know very little about soccer abroad, or at home. It may even bother you that most of the world calls soccer “football”, not to be confused with the kind that just engulfed our entire Sunday. But chances are that if you know anything about sports, you know that Manchester United is arguably the biggest sports club on the planet.
Bigger than the Dallas Cowboys, bigger than the Green Bay Packers. Bigger than the LA Lakers, bigger than the Chicago Bulls in Michael Jordan’s heyday and bigger than any hockey team, even with Wayne Gretzky. Their supporters are everywhere across the world, their reach stretching farther than Steelers fans, Ohio State Football crazies, and probably Catholic missionaries too. Only the New York Yankees or perhaps their Spanish soccer rival Real Madrid, primarily in the Spanish-speaking world, venture to come even close.
You may hate Manchester United or soccer as a whole, and may have stopped reading by now. But if not, it’s important to notice that besides the millions of fans, fame, money, 11 championships in two decades, and world titles, there is one solid factor that has remained a constant in the 25 years of success for Man United. That is their coach and manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who has been at the helm for 25 years.
José Mourinho (l) wants Fergie’s job, but his mouth gets him in trouble with media and club owners.
But Laurent Blanc aka “Larry White” (middle) seems to be a favored front runner, while Martin O’Neill (r) is a possibility.
A coach with a 25 year stint at any organization is a rarity in big money sports. Within English Football, Newcastle United, a cross-country rival has had 13 managers since the arrival of Ferguson at Man United.
In college basketball, Jim Boheim has stayed at the controls at Syracuse almost as long since the late 1980s, along with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Maryland’s Gary Williams. But in pro sports Phil Jackson’s six championships and total dominance of the NBA in eight years bought him nothing more than a open door leading outward from the Chicago Bulls. Even Billy Martin’s spotty decade with the Yankees didn’t occur without Martin getting fired several times.
United has hosted some of the world’s biggest footballers, both acquired and home grown, often watching them excel to greater heights. Legends like Paul Ince, Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham have all come and gone, while others like Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney have stayed. Like it or not though, perhaps no player, no matter how famous, no matter how excellent, is bigger than the club and its manager.
Nonetheless, United’s training academy appears to continue morphing crafty 13 year olds toward becoming world class players; and the coffers are rife with money to acquire new talent from other clubs bent on cashing in on United’s check writing skills.
While the on-field talent has remained constant, many of United’s past legends such as Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce have had marginal success in managing clubs. Meanwhile, other legends like Roy Keane and Bryan Robson have had, at best, short and rocky careers running clubs into the ground.
'80s legend Robson, left, has been a managerial flop and Roy Keane, right, hasn’t fared much better.
Other legends who want the job and won’t get it: Paul Ince, Steve Bruce, Steve Coppell, Mark Hughes, and Eric Cantona.
My joke about this is that while sharing a history at Man United, former United stars share one common coaching skill: the ability to drive a busload of footballers downhill, fast.
Some predict that Ferguson, age 69, will step down fairly soon. His eventual retirement, whether voluntary or forced by Father Time, may possibly signal and end to Manchester United’s unfettered dominance. United haters, of course, hope it will herald the eventual demise of the club.
David Moyes, left, has done wonders at Everton with scant money and fair talent. Another possibility could be Gordon Strachan, right.
But with its reputation, past success, and large sums of money, it would be hard to think that Manchester United would make a careless choice in putting in place the next manager of the world’s biggest club. And if their first choice, whoever that may be, among managers is not available at the time of the next position opening, it’s likely that at least Steve McClaren, who got fired again this weekend, will be available.
Andy Frye writes about sports and life here and tweets throughout the day on Twitter at @MySportsComplex.
Written words © 2011. Pictures courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, UK
