Thread on why comparing Sir Alex Ferguson to anyone is a waste of time.
Seen a lot of people piping up comparing Fergie to other managers, so I put together a relatively comprehensive thread on why he stands head and shoulders above anyone else.
TROPHIES.
I don’t like trophies as a metric generally, they need context to determine how big achievements they actually are, which I’ll provide later in this thread.
But here’s the trophy cabinet of the most successful manager in the history of football, by some distance.
EAST STIRLINGSHIRE.
Got the gig as a part-time job in June of 74, left to manage St. Mirren later that fall, naturally not much to talk about.
But here’s a really cool interview with an old player about his first ever game as a manager.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/alex-fergusons-touchline-debut-east-4031427.amp
ST. MIRREN.
Sir Alex joined a St. Mirren side spiraling downward. For 12 years before his arrival they failed to finish a single season higher than the season prior (excluding the first season after changing divisions for obvious reasons).
He then took the team from second tier mid-table to third in the SPL (behind Celtic and Rangers), within 6 points of the title, in just under 6 seasons. This insane form cannot be fully appreciated without seeing it in context of the league position history of St. Mirren in full.
Note: He technically got sacked from St. Mirren, the specifics are disputed. In 1999 it was claimed that he basically got sacked for being a dick to his secretary, in 2008 it was said to be mostly because he agreed to join Aberdeen.
But it had nothing to do with actual football.
ABERDEEN.
Scottish football has been about Celtic and Rangers since the start, Between them they have only failed to win the league title 18 times since 1890. They have always been the best teams in Scotland.

Sir Alexender Chapman Ferguson made Aberdeen the best team in Scotland
In his 8 seasons at the club, Sir Alex’s Aberdeen won 10 trophies. No other side won as many in that period. These include:
1 League cup
4 Scottish cups
1 UEFA Cup winners cup
1 UEFA supercup
3 Scottish league titles
Sir Alex singlehandedly made Aberdeen the most decorated Scottish club in the history of European football, a record they hold to this day. Furthermore, his 3rd league title, in 1985, a quarter century ago, is still the last time anyone except Celtic and Rangers won the title.
The way Sir Alex grew St. Mirren is hard to comprehend, but knocking Celtic and Rangers off their perch is a whole other beast. Very few have ever done it, even for a moment. Nobody has done it close to the way Sir Alex did. He was already a once in a lifetime manager.
MANCHESTER UNITED 86-92.
Man united have been a powerhouse in English football more or less since WWII, Sir Alex took over a relatively stale side in a bad place, usually decent, never great. They were in 21st place when he took over. He needed to rebuild and revitalize the team.
Ferguson gradually turned the season around, before spending years building a team and implementing his way of doing things, never losing track of his philosophy even when the going got tough.
There were doubters, but the board kept the faith, and were rewarded in 1990.
He followed that first FA cup with winning the cup winners cup the next season, he was winning over any skeptics left over. Now he had a team that was formed by him for the way he wanted to play.
There were also youth players who got their first taste of first team football in 90/91. Notably a 17 year old Ryan Giggs. Ferguson bought into the united way of believing in youth, and didn’t spend big that summer to fullfill his title aspirations.
91/92 was a disappointing seasons all together, despite it being the first time united won multiple trophies in a season since 1957, it was only a supercup and league cup. The league slipped through their fingers, which was about to become a rare occurrence.
MANCHESTER UNITED 1992-2013

Throughout the fall of 92 players like Beckham, Neville and Butt made their debuts. Sir Alex had a FA youth cup winning side to form into the players he needed, who knew only his philosophy. He also brought in Eric Cantona on the cheap.
United finally clicked for Sir Alex, he won the league convincingly and we basically all know what comes next.
13 league titles.
2 champions leagues.
5 FA cup.
and many other smaller titles.
Sir Alex’s success was defined by a belief in youth, a never say die spirit, and a dynasty without comparison in English football. Finishing his career with 49 titles to his name. Streets ahead of anyone else.
He also received 85 individual awards, orders and honorary degrees.
CRITISISM.
The closest thing to valid criticism thrown at Sir Alex is that he spent a lot of money. In his first 5 seasons he only spent as much as Spurs while building foundations, from the start of the premier league until the treble season his net spend was below zero. 1/
After that, the team needed a lot of turnaround, a lot of stars from the 90s were leaving or getting old. In the next 4 years united did have the highest net spend in the league. The difference between this and other teams buying success is we were already the best in England. 2/
After this period of restructuring United were once again outspent massively by other teams. After city got taken over this became a joke.
Between City’s takeover and the 11/12 season they won their first league. City had a net spend of £400 million, united MADE £24 million. 3/
Yes, Sir Alex did break the british transfer record 3 times, he also sold a player for a WORLD record fee. When he spent a lot he had to to maintain the level he was already at, he trusted youth and made multiple supersaturated whenever he could. 4/
And crucially, as opposed to teams that actually bought their success, he built the best team in the world first, before spending accordingly. He was never a checkbook manager. 5/
Twitter literally won’t let me add more tweets to this thread, but I could go on and on for days about every little thing that makes Sir Alex Ferguson the undisputed greatest manager the world has ever seen.

End of thread.
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