Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievement of a 12th Premier League title is amongst the greatest feats in football. And his closing of the gap between, and then overhauling of, Liverpool, to lead the club to a 19th top flight title is epic in scale. In terms of statistics there is no English football manager in history who comes even close to this achievement.
The late Bob Paisley seemed to have set a new precedent when he won his sixth and final Football League Championship with Liverpool in 1983, before handing the reigns over to his assistant Joe Fagan, at the tender age of 64.
Paisley himself had only just overtaken the man who built Manchester United into the great club it is today, Sir Matt Busby, whose total of five title wins beat the legendary Herbert Chapman’s by one; his four achievements were gained over 13 years and with two clubs, Huddersfield Town and Arsenal during the 1920s and 30s. So, on Football League/Premier League title wins Ferguson is in a league of his own and the question has long been not whether the Scotsman is a great manager– but how great.
Comparing football managers of different eras is difficult because the game has changed so much over the years, tactically and, even more so, financially.
And that second factor has made the most colossal difference, for there is no question whatsoever that Premier League managers in the modern era have much more money at their disposal than the old First Division bosses did, even allowing for the inflationary decrease in the value of currency.
Thanks to satellite TV and mega-rich owners and backers, today’s big English clubs are literally awash with money like never before. That means their managers can afford to have not only bigger, but better squads.
At Old Trafford, Ferguson enjoys the luxury of being able to call on established and highly experienced internationals such as Dimitar Berbatov or Michael Owen as substitutes in a ‘listed’ first team squad of 42 players. Years ago it would have been unthinkable for players of that class to spend most of the season warming the bench – even with a great club like United. But the salaries they receive keep them happy to do just that.
This unprecedented strength in depth was well illustrated in the recent Champions League semi-final second leg United partook in, when Ferguson fielded practically a reserve team which was still strong enough to annihilate German side Schalke, by no means a poor club themselves. And that factor was acknowledged by Ferguson himself last November when he told reporters before the Champions League match against Glasgow Rangers: "I expect Rangers to have a strong side, despite their injuries, although it’s fair to say they do not enjoy the same resources as us. We could play two teams tonight. We have a big squad of 28 or 29 players – a lot more than Rangers and that has a lot to do with the financial constraints at the club.” In fact so large is his squad, Ferguson seems to have forgotten about 13 members of it.
The British media at least will soon be churning out the superlatives and the words ‘greatest ever manager’ are sure to crop up somewhere. But the suspicion lingers that the 69-year-old himself is not quite satisfied with his staggering achievements so far because there is one trophy he desperately wants to win again – the Champions League.
This is the holy grail of European club football and Ferguson’s two successes so far put him in joint second with 13 other managers and coaches. They include his old adversary Jose Mourinho, who is still only 48 and has already won six major League titles with three different major clubs and more importantly, two Champions Leagues.
Equally importantly though is the feeling that Ferguson will not rest until he has that third ‘big one’ under his belt which will put him at level pegging with the only man to have ever lifted that trophy three times, albeit under its old name the European Cup – Bob Paisley. Perhaps only then will the former Aberdeen manager convince himself that he is the greatest football manager of all time.
