I can’t think of another sport where one is expected to use only his feet (with an occasional use of the head, literally), the only exception I guess is kickboxing . 22 men, 3 wardens (nowadays we have 5) and several people in the background work tirelessly to put up a spectacular football match.
If football was food for a teenager like me, Sir Alex Fergusson was my Master Chef. When I had watched enough football to decide on my favorite team, I selected Manchester Untied for two simple reasons, it had some outstanding players and they won more matches than any other team that I watched (in 1998-99).
They had a winner in every position;
Upfront were Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole and Solskjaer who were clinical in their finishing and Teddy Sheringham who could see light at the end of his playing career came of the bench at times to mesmerize the fully packed Old Trafford.
David Beckham and Nicky Butt dominated the middle of the park. The man who could have easily qualified for an Olympic sprinter, Ryan Giggs played “right middle” by position and more of “right winger” by his playing style and speed.
The defense was solid; Gary Neville and Jaap Stam were two outstanding defenders. Having played defense for most of my playing life (in my own small circle of school and college level football), I looked up to Stam for some inspiration and boy did he show us how to anticipate, let the ball roll and go for the kill when the striker was a millimeter away from his mark. (I always chose the jersey number “6” in my small playing career as Stam glorified the number “6” at ManU).
Roy Keane grabbed people’s attention by leading the team to several victories (and the media’s attention through his off field histrionics). Though football does not install as much responsibility on a captain as much as cricket does, he commanded respect from his players and tried to keep things simple on field.
In an interview with BBC, he said, “Pass (to a man in a red shirt) and Move, I’ve made a career out of it”. And many at times that was what he did best as a midfielder.
The victories in 1999;
First at FA Premier League, Winners at the FA Cup, Runner up at the Charity Shield and also won the UEFA Champions League.
ManU played a simple 4-4-2 Formation; at least one striker played up front with the other trying to play in the hole, mid fielders were masters of the long pass and the defense was built on rock.
As we fast forward to the present day, we now have a very different Manchester United. The playing field has changed and so has this magnificent football club. They have moved away from a 4-4-2 formation to play 4-2-3-1 of late. The interesting fact is that Wayne Rooney is a “Central Attacking Midfielder” despite carrying the “Striker” tag. It has worked well for them up until now, especially with Van Persie playing at the pointed end of the attacking arrow.
This year they managed to comprehensively silence their noisy neighbors, Man City is no where in contention for the Barclays Premier League and the victory feels sweeter after last year’s defeat.
From being a normal club to becoming a global brand, average to phenomenal fan following and from being a football club to becoming “The Football Club”, Sir Alex Fergusson has turned this English Club into a Global Craze. He has had the occasional fallout with some big names; he has sold some purely for the business side of the sport and promptly sacked the unruly. But when you total his performance as a manager, he has nurtured stupendous talent not just for Manchester United but also for England. He has been a protégé for several young kids who have grown up to be successful football players.
Dignity is the first word that comes to my mind when I think of Sir Alex. He showed the world to play like a man, win like a man and at times lose like a man. His passion for the game was beyond compare and that shows in his success rate as a manager (and the number of times he was sent off the side lines). After 1500 games, his success rate of 65% speaks for itself. There is only one manager who has a higher success rate, Jose Mourinho (with a success rate of 70% in his 13 years as a manager).
Today Manchester United is the world’s most valuable franchise valued at around 2.24 billion dollars. Where it will go from here, time will tell. David Moyes will have a pair of giant size shoes to fill.
Let all that happen in the background, the Man of the hour for me is – “Sir Alex Fergusson”. In all that you do, Farewell Champion!
- United Fan
If football was food for a teenager like me, Sir Alex Fergusson was my Master Chef. When I had watched enough football to decide on my favorite team, I selected Manchester Untied for two simple reasons, it had some outstanding players and they won more matches than any other team that I watched (in 1998-99).
They had a winner in every position;
Upfront were Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole and Solskjaer who were clinical in their finishing and Teddy Sheringham who could see light at the end of his playing career came of the bench at times to mesmerize the fully packed Old Trafford.
David Beckham and Nicky Butt dominated the middle of the park. The man who could have easily qualified for an Olympic sprinter, Ryan Giggs played “right middle” by position and more of “right winger” by his playing style and speed.
The defense was solid; Gary Neville and Jaap Stam were two outstanding defenders. Having played defense for most of my playing life (in my own small circle of school and college level football), I looked up to Stam for some inspiration and boy did he show us how to anticipate, let the ball roll and go for the kill when the striker was a millimeter away from his mark. (I always chose the jersey number “6” in my small playing career as Stam glorified the number “6” at ManU).
Roy Keane grabbed people’s attention by leading the team to several victories (and the media’s attention through his off field histrionics). Though football does not install as much responsibility on a captain as much as cricket does, he commanded respect from his players and tried to keep things simple on field.
In an interview with BBC, he said, “Pass (to a man in a red shirt) and Move, I’ve made a career out of it”. And many at times that was what he did best as a midfielder.
The victories in 1999;
First at FA Premier League, Winners at the FA Cup, Runner up at the Charity Shield and also won the UEFA Champions League.
ManU played a simple 4-4-2 Formation; at least one striker played up front with the other trying to play in the hole, mid fielders were masters of the long pass and the defense was built on rock.
As we fast forward to the present day, we now have a very different Manchester United. The playing field has changed and so has this magnificent football club. They have moved away from a 4-4-2 formation to play 4-2-3-1 of late. The interesting fact is that Wayne Rooney is a “Central Attacking Midfielder” despite carrying the “Striker” tag. It has worked well for them up until now, especially with Van Persie playing at the pointed end of the attacking arrow.
This year they managed to comprehensively silence their noisy neighbors, Man City is no where in contention for the Barclays Premier League and the victory feels sweeter after last year’s defeat.
From being a normal club to becoming a global brand, average to phenomenal fan following and from being a football club to becoming “The Football Club”, Sir Alex Fergusson has turned this English Club into a Global Craze. He has had the occasional fallout with some big names; he has sold some purely for the business side of the sport and promptly sacked the unruly. But when you total his performance as a manager, he has nurtured stupendous talent not just for Manchester United but also for England. He has been a protégé for several young kids who have grown up to be successful football players.
Dignity is the first word that comes to my mind when I think of Sir Alex. He showed the world to play like a man, win like a man and at times lose like a man. His passion for the game was beyond compare and that shows in his success rate as a manager (and the number of times he was sent off the side lines). After 1500 games, his success rate of 65% speaks for itself. There is only one manager who has a higher success rate, Jose Mourinho (with a success rate of 70% in his 13 years as a manager).
Today Manchester United is the world’s most valuable franchise valued at around 2.24 billion dollars. Where it will go from here, time will tell. David Moyes will have a pair of giant size shoes to fill.
Let all that happen in the background, the Man of the hour for me is – “Sir Alex Fergusson”. In all that you do, Farewell Champion!
- United Fan
