Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson was hired from Aberdeen on Nov 6th, 1986, barely hours after Atkinson was sacked. When he took over, United were languishing at second from bottom, but Ferguson managed them to finish the season in 11th place. That summer, Ferguson signed some major players, including Viv Anderson, Brian McClair, Stev Bruce and Jim Leighton.

In 1987-88, United were foiled in their attempts to land silverware, finishing runners-up to the league title, clawing back to 9 points behind from Liverpool's 17-point lead, and exiting the FA Cup at the fifth round stage. At the end of the season, fans celebrated the return of Mark Hughes, who was regarded to have flopped abroad.

Following the ineffectual 1988-89 season (finishing 11th after slipping in the late season), Ferguson began introducing some youth players into the side, and bought footballers such as Gary Pallister, Paul Ince and Danny Wallace. However, he came under fire for several poor performances, including a humiliating 5-1 loss to huge rivals Manchester City, not helped by the media furore over a takeover bid by Michael Knighton. Despite calls in January 1990 (at which point United were sitting 15th out of 20) for him to be sacked, Ferguson guided United to win the that season's FA Cup, silencing the critics and beginning the most successful period in the team's history. A finish in the league at position 13 was disappointing, but confidence was high that the following season would yield a higher place.




The next season, United finished the league in 6th and went out of the FA Cup in the 5th round to Norwich City. However, that season the ban on English teams entering European competition (following the Heysel Stadium disaster was lifted, and the team went on to win the European Cup Winners Cup against Barcelona in Rotterdam. Mark Hughes scored both United's goals in a 2-1 win against his old team. They also finished runners-up in the League Cup, losing 1-0 to Second Division Sheffie. The following season, however, they did manage to capture the trophy, beating Nottingham Forest 1-0. A tremendous season was let down in the final game, meaning United finished runners-up to Leeds and also won the League Cup. The 1991-92 season was also important in that 18-year old winger Ryan Giggs and goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel were brought into the team.
Three In A Row

The following season was a strong victory in the Premier League, United finishing 18 points clear of runners-up Arsenal, but going out to Real Madrid 3-2 in the quarter finals and not entering the FA Cup - for the first time in living memory, a major team decided not to enter the competition. This was due to the desire to play in the FIFA World Cup Championship, which clashed with the FA Cup fifth round matches. In 2000-01, Alex Ferguson became only the third manager to ever win three League titles in a row. Bayern Munich also exacted revenge by defeating United in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

United finished 2001-02 without a trophy, in a season that also saw the arrival of Ruud Van Nistelroy. They bounced back the following year however, clawing back Arsenal's lead at the head of the table to win their eighth title in eleven seasons. It is probably a commentary on the success that Manchester United have become used to that the 2003-04 season, which saw them finish third in the league but win the FA Cup, was considered a disappointment.