doffcocker wrote:I don't think Ferguson is necessarily the best ever, purely because he only managed the one English club. It'd be interesting to know how he'd have gone on at a club like us or even if he'd had to start again at a title challenging club like Chelsea or Arsenal.
It was alright for Ferguson because when he had a problem with a player (Ince, Stam, Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, Keane, Heinze etc.) he could just drop them and/or get rid and bring somebody else in. That's very much part of man management but the squad is so small and generally poor Lennon's in no position to act like that.
Fergie served his time at Aberdeen who were just another minor Scottish football club at the time, having won nowt for years (with a fan-base of about 8000) and who were swimming in the same pool as Rangers and Celtic without success but he formed them into a more than decent team which went on to enjoy European success - A feat previously unheard of for a club of their size.
Several members of that team subsequently came down to England and became integral parts of some very successful teams back then and forged careers as managers: Souness, McLeish, Strachan and "Cheer up" Mark McGhee.
What Old Red Nose did in Scotland back then was unprecedented and that's why he got the Utd gig.
And subsequently why Martin Edwards stuck with him when he did fuck all initially.
I'm too young to remember Shankly at Liverpool and I barely remember Bob Paisley taking over back when they dominated English football but I've read a bit about them and I can appreciate what they did.
When I was 18 it just seemed that Liverpool would win the league every year and that was the way that it was.
Fergie broke that mould.
Whatever we are supposed to think about Utd as Bolton fans, you've got to give him that.
And he's an old school socialist, so that's not bad.