The deification of the doyen will have to wait. Sir Alex Ferguson would have
been lauded as the best British manager of all time had Manchester United
gone on to win the Champions League this season, but their elimination by
Milan in the semi-finals pointed up a flaw in his credentials.
One European Cup in 21 years with United is not enough for primacy in the
pantheon, despite Ferguson’s preeminence on the home front, where he is
about to collect his ninth Premiership title. At the stratospheric level at
which he operates, European success is the currency of true greatness, and
by those standards Ferguson still lags behind Bob Paisley, who won the
European Cup three times with Liverpool, and Brian Clough, who picked it up
twice with Nottingham Forest.
That said, he still rates ahead of such luminaries as Sir Matt Busby and Jock
Stein, Bill Shankly, George Graham and Arsène Wenger. Sir Bobby Charlton,
living legend and a director at Old Trafford, articulated such doubts that
remain when he said recently: “There is no doubt Manchester United should
have won [the European Cup] more. It is the biggest prize.”
The manner of United’s defeat in Milan on Wednesday bordered on the
embarrassing, so where does it leave England’s champions elect? Chastened,
but still deserving of unstinted praise for the way in which they have
raised their game and seen off the money men of Chelsea after three years in
the doldrums. Okay, two third places and a second shouldn’t have been
sackcloth and ashes time, but these things are relative.
To his eternal credit, Ferguson has now built four different teams since he
succeeded Ron Atkinson in November 1986, with United 20th in the table, and
he has won the league with each of them (assuming there are no farfetched
slip-ups this time). The manager has always had a soft spot, and he doesn’t
have many of those, for the team that did the league and FA Cup Double in
1993-94, with the peerless Peter Schmeichel in goal, Paul Parker and Denis
Irwin at full-back either side of Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister, the boiler
room staffed by Paul Ince and Roy Keane and two flying wingers, Andrei
Kanchelskis and Ryan Giggs, servicing Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes.
That is probably still his favourite lineup today, despite the “you win
nothing with kids” triumph of 1995-96 and the historic events of 1998-99,
when United did the Double again and added the European Cup for good
measure. Schmeichel, Irwin, Keane and Giggs were still around then, but Gary
Neville, Jaap Stam and Ronnie Johnsen had taken over at the back, David
Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt had emerged in midfield and the
preferred strikers were Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, backed up by Teddy
Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Fast forward. How does the present team compare with the alumni of 1994, 1996
and 1999? Not as favourably as some would like to think. Edwin Van der Sar
is no Schmeichel – indeed his unreliability of late could see him displaced
next season by England’s Ben Foster, who is being recalled from his loan
spell at Watford. Neville is as good as ever and today’s centre-backs, Rio
Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, have it in them to equal, if not surpass, the
Bruce-Pallister partnership of fond memory.
It is further forward that the current team are found wanting. In midfield, as
was all too aparent in the San Siro, there is no Keane to drive, cajole and
lift the rest. In 1999, United were trailing 3-1 on aggregate to Juventus in
the second leg of their Champions League semi-final in Turin when the
inspirational Irishman ran up the skull and crossbones, swashbuckled the
Italians to a standstill and emerged victorious through sheer force of
personality. Last Wednesday, in similar circumstances, there was nobody to
do the same. Keane, we can be sure, would never have allowed Gennaro Gattuso
to dictate so decisively.
Scholes and Giggs are still around from 1999, and playing just about as well
as ever, but aged 32 and 33 respectively they are increasingly prey to
fatigue, which undermined them in midweek. Which brings us to the footballer
of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo. The much-hyped “head to head” between
Portugal’s finest and Milan’s Kaka was a one-sided nonevent, and our more
impetuous pundits are premature in hailing Ronaldo as the best player in the
world.
What he is, however, is a much more effective performer than some of us
thought he would ever become. The show-pony tricks are now mostly
subordinated to the needs of the team, and he has developed into so much
more than a mazy, dribbling winger. United would be nowhere near the title
without his 17 Premiership goals. Fast maturing at 22, he could be – and I
have never said this about anybody before – the first legitimate heir to the
genius that was George Best.
By comparison, Wayne Rooney has not come on as quickly as United (and England)
would have hoped. He is not as prolific as Cantona and Yorke were, and Louis
Saha is not fit enough often enough. In short, it has been a good season for
United, one of strong resurgence, but not a vintage one by their enviable
standards. The team is still a work in progress, and Ferguson will be busy
in the transfer market again during the summer, when he will not be strapped
for cash.
The doom and gloom that greeted the Glazers’ takeover seems to have been a
false alarm. Money is available for top-quality reinforcements, and there is
every likelihood that it will be spent wisely. It is said that Ferguson’s
transfer policy has changed in recent years, and that he now concentrates
exclusively on “big” signings, but this is not borne out by the facts. Yes,
he pushed the boat out for Michael Carrick last summer, paying Spurs £18.6m,
but his previous buys before that were Vidic, at £7m from Spartak Moscow,
Patrice Evra, £5.5m from Monaco, Ji-Sung Park, £4m from PSV Eindhoven, and
Foster, £1m from Stoke – good acquisitions, but hardly shopping at Harrods
stuff.
Chelsea, in contrast, splashed out £80m on Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack
and Shaun Wright-Phillips, another £13m on Paulo Ferreira, and even the
excellent Ricardo Carvalho was hardly a snip at £17m. What Ferguson is doing
these days is recruiting sensibly and well. He had a dodgy spell a few years
ago, when he frittered good money on Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, David
Bellion, Diego Forlan and too many iffy goalkeepers to mention, but from the
day he paid £12.2m for Ronaldo, in August 2003, his judgment has been sound.
Few would quibble over Alan Smith at £7m or Gabriel Heinze for £6.9m, while
Rooney, at £20m, was hardly a gamble.
United, like Chelsea, have a well-known interest in Micah Richards, of
Manchester City, who could be the long-term replacement for Neville, but the
first arrival this summer is likely to be Owen Hargreaves, from Bayern
Munich, for about £15m. Ferguson will then have five mid-fielders –
Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Ronaldo and Giggs – vying for four places. My
belief is that it is his intention to play Hargreaves and Carrick in the
centre, but where does that leave Scholes? Probably sharing the left side
with Giggs. Up front, Ferguson would like to replace Saha with Tottenham’s
Dimitar Berbatov and, while Spurs are not inclined to sell their best
player, they would be more amenable about Jermain Defoe.
There is optimistic talk of another “golden generation” emerging from the
youth team, runners-up in the Youth Cup this year, but don’t hold your
breath: nobody from United’s last Youth Cup-winning side, in 2003, commands
a place in the first team. No matter, the seniors may well suffice for
another year in the Premiership. The European Cup, however, remains
Ferguson’s key to everlasting glory.
Five key moments that swung the title race Manchester United’s way
October 14, 2006 Chelsea won 1-0 at Reading but goalkeeper Petr Cech
suffered a fractured skull. Cech was out for three months and, with John
Terry also injured, Chelsea looked vulnerable
Christmas 2006 Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Everton and United’s defeat
by West Ham closed the gap to four points. But United won three of four
festive games and Chelsea could only draw three
January-March 2007 Liverpool played terrifi c football at Anfi eld
against both Chelsea and United. Chelsea were beaten 2-0 in January and in
March United were hanging on by their fi ngernails until John O’Shea snatched
the winner in the last minute
April 2007 Chelsea wasted chances to put pressure on United. Sir Alex’s
team drew with Middlesbrough on April 21 but Chelsea could only get a point
at Newcastle the next day. Last weekend, United trailed 2-0 to Everton but fi
nished 4-2 winners while Chelsea were held 2-2 by Bolton
May 2007 United, and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular, came in for some
harsh treatment in the Manchester derby but Sir Alex’s men kept their nerve
to stay on course
Ferguson’s trophy haul
Premiership 8
FA Cup 5
League Cup 2
Champions League 1
European Cup Winners’ Cup 1
European Super Cup 1
InterContinental Cup 1
