From a vigilante dust-up in Guyana to the mother of all sentimental gestures, highlights from an astonishing career
Alex Ferguson at his Manchester United unveiling alongside Martin Edwards in 1986. Photograph: PA
1) The lesson in mind games
1967: the summer of love. The sun, moon and stars align for Dunfermline striker Alex Ferguson, whose dreams come true after 66 goals in 89 appearances for the Pars win him a move to Rangers, the club that stole his heart as a young lad in Govan. But just as the idealism of the summer of love would turn sour by 1968, so things would quickly go pear shaped for the 25-year-old Ferguson at Ibrox.At the start of November, the manager who signed him – the legendary Scot Symon – was sacked with his unbeaten team top of the league, a kneejerk reaction to external pressure applied by Celtic, who not only had won the last two Scottish titles but were also reigning European champions. Symon was replaced by Davie White, a managerial novice whose lack of tactical nous would soon fair put Ferguson's back up. Still, the team nonetheless kept their momentum in the league, and by Easter were still ahead of Celtic. And still unbeaten.
At which point Celtic boss Jock Stein gave up the chase. "'It is Rangers' title now, unless they throw it away' was the gist of his statement," recalled Ferguson in his autobiography Managing My Life. "Somehow the onus he put on us proved unnerving and we went into freefall ... I shall never forget those headlines Jock instigated. The trick was instantly lodged in my memory."
Rangers did remain unbeaten up until their last match, but had started to draw games, allowing Celtic to overtake them. They were still in with a shout on the last day, but it proved a hurdle too far: despite Ferguson putting Rangers 2-1 up early in the second half at Ibrox against Aberdeen, the Light Blues crashed to a 3-2 defeat. It meant Celtic, who had a much superior goal average, only had to avoid losing at Dunfermline in their last game by 16 goals to retain their title.
Ferguson was Rangers' leading scorer in that season, with 23 goals, but came away with nothing. He would be drummed out of the club by White a year later, after being blamed for conceding the opening goal of the Scottish Cup final against Celtic, a game Stein's side won 4-0. White, who according to Ferguson had made a tactical dug's dinner of that game, lasted only a few months longer, becoming the first Rangers manager never to win a trophy. Ferguson, his Ibrox dream turned sour, would have to make do with a valuable life lesson from Stein, one that would stand him in fairly good stead down the years.
2) The sending off
In 1976, Ferguson took his St Mirren team to the Caribbean for a three-week tour, to play matches in Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana and Surinam. The high point of the tour was a 4-0 win for the Buddies over the national team of Surinam. The low point had come a week earlier, when facing the Guyanese national side.Guyana were treating the game as sharpening-up exercise for an upcoming World Cup qualifier, and as a result were putting themselves about. On the touchline, Ferguson became increasingly agitated at the treatment being meted out to the young St Mirren striker Bobby Torrance by one of Guyana's big central defenders. At half-time, Ferguson complained to the referee, but to no avail. Not for the first time in his life, and certainly not for the last, the red mist descended. "That's it," he told his assistant Davie Provan. "I'm going on. That big bastard is taking liberties."
Provan attempted to persuade Ferguson to calm down, but his efforts were predictably futile. Years later, Ferguson recalled the incident in Managing My Life. "In the first contest for a cross," he wrote, "I exacted a bit of revenge on the centre half, whose squeals caused the referee to point at me ominously. The confrontation became fierce until I nailed Torrance's abuser perfectly. As he rolled about like a dying man, the referee sent me off."
The confrontation became fierce until he nailed Torrance's abuser perfectly! After the match, a contrite Ferguson apologised to every one of his players for his outrageous performance. Oh all right, no he didn't, he pointed ominously at each player in turn, explaining via the medium of low hiss that it would be beneficial to their health if nobody back home heard about his wee on-pitch jaunt and subsequent banishment. "They never did tell the tale," confirmed Fergie in his book, as if you really needed to be told.
3) The industrial tribunal
Ferguson's time at St Mirren was quite the rollercoaster ride. Until Manchester City gave his Manchester United side a 6-1 beating at Old Trafford last month, two of his joint worst defeats as manager came as Buddies boss: a 5-0 hammering at Partick Thistle in 1978, and a 5-0 skelping by East Stirlingshire in 1975. The latter was particularly hurtful, as it came in his first season after leaving East Stirling for Love Street. East Stirling had also put St Mirren out of the Scottish Cup that year, with a 2-1 win that Ferguson admitted "might have been tripled".But unlike East Stirling, St Mirren finished in the top six of the old Scottish Second Division in 1974-75, ensuring the Paisley club would grab the last place in the First (i.e. second) Division of the following season's modernised Scottish League. After a season of consolidation, St Mirren won the First Division championship in 1977, and with it promotion to the Premier Division. Ferguson's joy at his first-ever managerial title was enhanced by the results of the three league games against Dundee: 4-0 and 3-1 wins at home, and a 4-0 win at Dens Park which clinched the title. Dundee, it should be pointed out, was managed by Davie White, not that Fergie was one to hold a grudge, or anything.
St Mirren's first season in the new Premier Division was a constant battle against relegation. Ferguson's team stayed up comfortably enough in the end – by six points – but the manager had fallen out with chairman Willie Todd, and just before he could resign to take over at Aberdeen, he was sacked at the end of the 1977-78 season. St Mirren claimed Ferguson had broken his contract on 15 instances, the rap sheet including approaching staff with a view to taking them to Pittodrie, swearing at a secretary, advising a bookie that St Mirren would beat Ayr, and lending the groundsman his car so he could get to the European Cup final between Liverpool and Bruges at Wembley.
A piqued Ferguson took the club to an industrial tribunal, but was roundly trounced, the report stating that he was "petty" and "immature", and "it shows him as one possessing, neither by experience nor talent, any managerial ability at all". Now there's a judgement right up there with Decca Records talent spotter Dick Rowe's "Guitar bands are on their way out, Mr Epstein." It doesn't take a genius to work out which party was the real winner there. (We're referring to Ferguson and Aberdeen, not the Beatles, though the point stands.)
4) The two sides of Fergie
Aberdeen won the first leg of their 1983 Cup Winners Cup semi final against Belgian side Waterschei 5-1 at Pittodrie. The result meant the second leg was a formality, but despite negotiating it with ease – they lost 1-0 to book their place in the Gothenburg final – there would be a terrible cost, right back Stuart Kennedy shredding his knee in a freak accident after his studs caught in some wooden kerbing around the pitch. He would miss the final – in fact, he would never play football again – but there would be one last bittersweet hurrah. Ferguson named Kennedy as one of his five substitutes in Gothenburg, knowing full well the player couldn't contribute. "Naming somebody who couldn't play was a risk, but Stuart deserved no less," said Fergie years later, of a decision he ranks as "one of my best ever in management".Not quite so clever was his decision, ten days later, to criticise his heroic side live on BBC television for winning the Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden. After a poor game was settled four minutes from the end of extra time by Eric Black, Ferguson told the nation, as his players cavorted with the cup in the background, that "it was a disgraceful performance". Willie Miller and Alex McLeish were spared the pelters: "They won the cup for us as they played Rangers by themselves ... If the Aberdeen players think I am going to accept that standard then I will be looking for new players next season." Ferguson later went into the changing room and, according to Peter Weir, "went crazy. He shouted for us all to sit down and then went ballistic. He did apologise to us the day after, but by that time it was too much for some of our players, and I know a few I could name who never ever spoke to him again after that."
5) The zero-tolerance approach to hedonism
Upon joining Manchester United in late 1986, Ferguson quickly implemented a zero-tolerance approach to hedonism. His breaking up of a soiree at Lee Sharpe's house in 1992 may have gone down in history as his most famous act of party pooping, but the most amusing was this effort from his early days at Old Trafford.United had travelled to Bahrain for an exhibition match, which was won 1-0. The team and their new manager stayed there for a couple of days after the game, allowing Ferguson some time to go out shopping. In lieu of anything to do, the United squad drained a few beers. Upon getting back to the hotel, and discovering his charges all souped up on booze, Ferguson dragged them into his hotel bedroom and informed them en masse that they were "a disgrace to the club and yourselves", his rant culminating in the glorious payoff: "You're an absolute irresponsible bloody nightmare!"
Upon leaving Ferguson's room, barrack-room lawyer Norman Whiteside turned to Bryan Robson and pointed out that, while the general theme of the tirade had been unambiguous, the manager had nevertheless failed to specifically ban them from going out again and continuing their bender. The pair accordingly departed for a nearby bar, before going onto a nightclub, assuming they were well off Ferguson's radar. They were sadly mistaken; United chairman Martin Edwards was in the club fluting champers, and quickly shopped the pair to his new manager.
"We knew we'd been busted and that he'd be on the phone to the boss but boozy bravado took over and we quickly ordered another round before the inevitable happened," recalled Whiteside in his autobiography Determined. "Sure enough, fifteen minutes later the manager and his assistant, Archie Knox, careered through the doors as if they were raiding a Wild West saloon, grabbed the pair of us and dragged us out. Outside the club the boss let us have it. 'I've only been in the job a couple of weeks,' he bellowed. 'I haven't even signed my contract yet and here we are with my two best players behaving like this. Look at the bloody state of you!' I apologised immediately and said, 'C'mon, boss. We're really sorry. Let's get a taxi back to the hotel.' That was the red rag that set him off again. 'Effin' taxi?' he cried. 'Bollocks! You can walk.' And he marched us the three miles back to the hotel with me and Robbo swaying from side to side."
Whiteside spent the journey home repeatedly apologising to Ferguson, offering to give up a week's wages as a fine. His genuine contrition did not go down well with his team-mate. "Bryan, a person, shall we say, who is rather more careful with his pennies, was having none of it. 'Shut up, you,' he hissed. 'No one's effin' fining me a week's wages!'"
6) The mass of contradictions made flesh
"We want to get away from the pie and Bovril image and start catering properly for families, but you need the right atmosphere. In America I saw three games and didn't hear a single swear word. I think the fact that the stadiums are comfortable and all seated has a lot to do with it" – after a factfinding mission to the North American Soccer League in 1979 with Aberdeen."Youse are all fuckin' idiots" – after the press questioned the form of £28m Juan Sebastian Veron.
"Football? Bloody hell" – after winning the 1999 Champions League.
• Many thanks to Rob Bagchi and Rob Smyth
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