In November 1986 I was 2 years old. Sania Mirza and Suresh Raina were born. The world's first supermodel Gia Carangi (on whom the movie Gia starring Angelina Jolie was based) passed away aged 26.
On 6th November 1986, a British Helicopter crashed 2.5 miles out of the Sumburgh Airport, killing 45 people - the worst civilian chopper crash recorded.
On the same solemn day in Manchester, England, Alex Ferguson took over at Manchester United, becoming the 19th boss and longest serving manager, of the biggest club in the world.
25 years on, the question everyone is asking is... is he the best?
While I will never convince a Liverpool fan in the Fergie v Shankly debate, I will also never be convinced that the game has seen a greater manager than Sir Alex Ferguson.
So, here is how yours truly believes it can be divided. The history of football can easily be divided in two
1. B.P.
No whiskey aficionados, it is not Blender's Pride. It is Before Premiership.
1992 revolutionized English football with the launch of the Premier League. The way the TV coverage expanded globally under BSkyb still cannot be deduced by number. The Premier League remains the best packaged football league in the world. But we are talking about a time before that.
Former United legend Sir Matt Busby and Liverpool legends Bob Paisley & Bill Shankly are the only managers post-war that can measure up to Sir Alex but even then, only Sir Matt Busby enjoyed a continued period, the longevity of which can be compared to Sir Alex. That's not to say that the 15 years that Bill Shankly spent at Liverpool were any less.
Quite the opposite. Shankly set up a team that Bob Paisley took over and went on to win 6 League Titles, 3 European Cups, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup and 3 Football League Cups in a career spanning 9 years.
Shankly was a working class guy much like Sir Alex. In fact, once a Liverpool fan met him outside a stadium in Brugge during the second leg of the UEFA Cup final and said he didn't have a ticket. Shankly promptly went and bought him one.
So Shankly and Paisley combined to serve Liverpool for 24 consecutive years, winning
9 Premier League Titles
1 Division 1 Title
2 FA Cups
3 League Cups
3 European Cups
2 UEFA Cups
1 UEFA Super Cup
overseeing what is unarguably the most successful era for Liverpool Football club.
Then there is the man all United fans worshiped as he guided the first ever English team to a European Cup, Sir Matt Busby. This was all the more ironic as Matt Busby the player had only played for 2 major clubs in his career. Manchester City and Liverpool.
The songs of the Busby babes are stuff of legend, much like Sir Matt's story. He built a team on youth that infamously and tragically crashed in the winter of 1958. Who knows how many trophies his team might have won if Duncan Edwards and the 7 others that died in the Munich crash had survived.
Few people know that the Last Rites were performed on Sir Matt Busby as he was in the hospital for 9 weeks due to injuries suffered in the crash. But he survived. And felt guilty about forcing the FA to allow Manchester United into European Competition. So much so that he wanted to give up his post as manager of Manchester United until he was convinced otherwise by his wife who told him he owed to his players. And the rest is history.
Under Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United went on to win
5 League Titles
2 FA Cups
1 European Cup
People will argue about Miguel Muñoz of Real Madrid and Johan Cryuff of Barcelona who are all very worthy candidates, but ladies & gentlemen the aforementioned are the only 3 managers IN THE WORLD that Sir Alex can ever be compared to. But we will get to him a little later.
2. A.P.
The importance of the English Premier League has already been highlighted earlier in the blog. What we haven't touched upon is the players.
George Best is described as the prime example of a modern day footballer in the not-so-modern days. Players were afraid of tackling him because he would just get up and tackle them harder. Glyn Pardoe of Manchester City knows this only too well as Best nearly ended his career in a 1970 Manchester Derby.
Today, players dive to tease the referees and if they are tackled, they roll the length of the pitch or get a player carded... whichever comes first.
Sir Alex has dealt with players from both mindsets. He has managed a team that was seen in 170,000 households and a team that was recently seen on 17 BILLION television sets worldwide. Such is the extent of his tenure in the game.
Fergie's talisman striker of yore, Mark Hughes, has now ventured into management after a prolific career. And his talisman striker of today, Wayne Rooney, was 1 year old when Fergie took the throne at Manchester United.
Throughout his career, Fergie has maintained that no one is bigger than the club. While this has held true for Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and more recently Cristiano Ronaldo, few will argue that Fergie himself is as big as the club. Or at least Manchester United is where it is because of his genius.
In 1986, he stepped in and vowed to knock Liverpool off their perch. He did so officially on the 21st of May this year. He went on to lose the Champions League final in a weeks time, and he has now vowed to challenge Barcelona. All I can say is, watch out Catalans.
His records and Manchester United's decision of sticking with their man speaks for themselves.
Since he took over in '86,
Chelsea have won (with 16 different managers - player managers/caretaker managers included)
3 League Titles (all under the Abramovic revolution)
1 Division One Title (Fergie's team has always remained in the Premier Division)
5 FA Cups
3 League Cups
1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup
1 UEFA Super Cup
Arsenal have won (with 6 different Managers)
5 League Titles (3 under Wenger)
5 FA Cups (4 under Wenger)
2 League Cups (for all the talk of Wenger and his youngsters, he has never won the Carling Cup)
1 European Cup Winners Cup
Liverpool have won (with 9 different managers)
3 League Titles (All before the Premiership, including 1985-86 - the season Fergie took over)
5 FA Cups (Including 1986, the season Fergie took over)
3 League Cups
1 European Championship
1 Uefa Cup
2 Uefa Super Cups
and Manchester United have won
12 League Titles (All since the Premiership, including the inaugural one)
5 FA Cups (The one in 1989-90 people say saved Fergie his job)
4 League Cups (United have won only 4 League Cups in their history, all under Fergie)
2 European Cups
1 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup
1 Uefa Super Cup
1 Intercontinental Cup (the only English side to win it)
1 Fifa World Club Cup (the only English side to win it)
In short, No English Team has accomplished more than Fergie has in the last 25 years. And this is not counting the season opening Community Shield. (Also, 20 of the 25 FA Cups that have been contested since Fergie's reign have been equally shared by the erstwhile Big 4)
Sir Alex Ferguson has had more success in England and Internationally than Shankly and Paisley combined, just by the sheer number of trophies he has won and has almost won more in each category as well.
If a season of football is judged by who is on top of the league table and the table doesn't lie, a manager can be judged purely on his ability to win trophies. And in that, Fergie has no match.
All pundits have said that he is a once in a lifetime manager, that we will never witness genius like his ever again. On the eve of his 25th year, I can only hope his successor is as good as Fergie's shadow.
Until then, bring in the beers.
