The Football Topic (Page 43 of 52)

You don't have to be a Manchester United fan or to be an SAF fan to laud the retirement of one of the greatest managers, if not THE greatest manager in the game.

His achievements will stand for all time and he is a living legend, thankfully.

He took over in '86 I think it was and endured difficult times. He was perilously close to a demise similar to that of Dean Saunders earlier in the week.

"After an eight-game spell in the league without a win during the 1989-90 season, reports suggested that if United lost to Nottingham Forest in their FA Cup third-round tie on 7 January 1990, Ferguson would be dismissed; Mark Robins scored the winner that went down as the "goal that saved Fergie" but the player believes it was a myth." (quote courtesy of the BBC)

He has been controversial, but then the most ruthless winners often are. You have to view the guy in the round. He is a winner. Single minded. Quick to claim the moral high ground at times, conveniently forgetting some of his own, and his teams indiscretions. But let that not tarnish his reputation. He is/was a man manager in that players seemed to know where they stood. Those that couldn't see it had a short shelf life.

I know of some fans of Uniteds, that even at the height of their dominance, still didn't think Ferguson was a good manager. That only goes to show that some fans don't know anything and will never be happy. Sure, no one is bigger than the club, but when a man like Ferguson IS the club I think fans have to be a little more objective.

As a West Ham fan I can only be envious. But then again he was envious of West Ham's ability to discover and develop talent. After all, he should know. he bought enough of them. Ince, Carrick, Ferdinand (via Leeds), and he tried to get a few more Cole, Johnson, Defoe. But he had no need to be. United's ability to turn out quality premiership standard players is pretty much unrivalled.

He has rebuilt United countless times combining British players with quality foreign imports. At times United have been the only top club whose teams have often been more than 50% made up of British players. He deserves credit for that. He deserves credit too for his dealings with the media. I shall always applaud his blackballing of the BBC as a result of comments made by the BBC's unctious Alan Green.

He leaves massive shoes to fill. You either go big with a big name or turn the whole thing on its head and give it to someone who doesn't have the 'big game' experience.

Mourinho must be favourite given this announcement, and to be fair he would do the job there. Of that I have no doubt. He also has recent experience of playing Munich who are set to be a dominant force over the next couple of seasons. For a publicly quoted company Mourinho has to be the choice.

But if they want someone of the character and integrity of the bloke who is retiring, then David Moyes...dour Scot...players man would be my choice. Sure, no league titles, no record of success, how can he stand against Mourinho? I don't know. But I would love to see him get it. No doubt he will be chuffed just to be even mentioned in the same sentence as the United job. Stranger things have happened.

Personally, I think it has to be Mourinho. United fans will be suspicious, but they needn't be. Jose is, underneath the flash and showbiz, all football. I don't rule out Louis Van Gaal though. The Munich we see today has been built on Van Gaal's team and they way they play today follows his thinking. Heynkes is claiming the credit, rightfully, just now, but Van Gaal was the original architect there.

What a way to bow out though. Champions by a mile. But only by a mile courtesy of Van Persie. Shrewd buy. But without his goals the championship winning margin would have been minimal. But thats what sets Ferguson apart from the rest. He knew what he needed and made sure the Glazers got it for him. Ruthless winner. Happy retirement.............

Fair point. Didn't mean any offence, after all it was his Aberdeen record that landed him the United job!

Can't speak about 'English' TV stations, although I wasn't aware of them. I thought the Beeb was British. Most of the reporting I have seen on the Beeb has reminded of his Aberdeen and St. Mirren managerial career.

Still, nice to see that the proverbial Scottish 'chip' is alive and well on your shoulder!

Now don't get riled.............I've lived in Germany for the last 10 years so I am the bloody 'Johnny Foreigner' anyway. Plus I still think that Archie Gemmill scored the finest World Cup goal.

There is a nice interview of SAF when he first landed the job on the pitch at Old Trafford. He comments that if the players he was taking over from Ron Atkinson were honest and prepared to work hard then 'they' as a group would do alright. Bit of an understatement there I would say. 'Alright' barely covers winning 39 major titles in 26 seasons. We'll miss his modesty for sure!

the BBC is more "English" than the royal family!

- BBC has regional centres; BBC wales etc, supposedly one big corporation but it is run regionally with programmes "traded" between.

The Sky programme that followed the game where Adebayo's twin brother played for Spurs last night covered a lot of the Aberdeen stuff which is probably as interesting if not more in terms of achievement than the Man Utd years and I mean no disrespect to his unequalled success there.

not smug at all that I got this one right - As we said before it is all in the timing, and I think that Fergie has done an honourable thing for the good of the Club as  Moyes was available and they wanted him before anybody else picked him up. Big congratulations to David Moyes for getting the job although I think it was his for some years. Wonder if Rooney is practicing his apology or looking for another job?

I'm thinking that cheese was stuck with your tongue firmly in cheek though Brack eh?

Surprising result really, but given Citeh's lack of application this season it shouldn't be. Mancini has already paid the price.

Pleased for Wigan and it shows that it is still possible in a one off game to triumph, but against Citeh they shouldn't have had a hope. I hope it is enough for them because staying up might be beyond them this time, but lets see. Miracles do happen.

Disappointed, but not surprised to see Mancini get the chop. The Arabs, like Abramovich, pay the bills, so they get to say what happens. But if they were to take a leaf out of their neighbours book they would see that chopping and changing isn't the way. United just about gave Ferguson 3 years in the beginning and they have reaped quite a payback on that trust.

Citeh have had success in a much shorter time and given their resources would have more. But the Citeh paymasters unlike the United board at the time have no real history in football and a s result, like most of the world today, must have instant results. Realistically, they failed in the Champions league this year for sure, and the overall consistency was lacking in their play. Too many players again getting paid too much for too little.

I think there is a desperate need, if not for a wage cap (which will never happen), then payment by results. No wins, no wages or at least severely reduced. If clubs started paying against performance we might see some slightly more motivated players out there. I don't see Mancini being at fault. His players made appalling mistakes over the season. He can't kick every ball for gods sake.

As for Citeh, I don't see there being an improvement. Buying success will only cause problems when the much vaunted finance fair play rules come in so that isn't the answer. So now the club becomes a candidate for another mercenary manager. Benitez is probably a favourite for the job I guess given his existing knowledge of the English game, plus he has doen a fair job at Chelsea despite the criticism.

When will they learn? Never of course, which is why they will always be the second club in Manchester. Sorry to say it. Eastlands is a house built on sand...........

I was disgusted that the Chavs stole it at the death. That's all I have to say about that.

Now that the year's reached it's various conclusions globally, I thought I'd provide a brief update on how things panned out down under. Perhaps uncool to quote one's self but as these posts were back on page 53, have included for context.

So Sydney FC with ADP and Newcastle Jets with Heskey finished the league in 7th and 8th positions respectively, therefore both missing the finals series. Top of the league was new club Western Sydney Wanderers, whose manager Tony Popovic had left the assistant job at Palace to take this one and was rewarded with coach of the year as well as the Premiership. My beloved Central Coast Mariners were 3 points back in 2nd. The play-offs resulted in us meeting WSW in the Grand Final where, in front of 42,000 fans, we prevailed 2-0 to claim our maiden Championship!

Oh, we also reached the Round of 16 in the Asian Champions League before losing to Chinese powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande, coached by Marcello Lippi and whose playing roster is worth about 20 times ours.

We lost Tommy Rogic to Celtic in the January transfer window. Mat Ryan's just agreed to terms with Club Brugge.
One or two going might be going to Asia. Another youngster, defender Trent Sainsbury, will surely appear over your way before too long.

Another former CCM player from only 4 years ago (of whom I'm immensely proud) has just captained his side to promotion to the EPL next season! Come on, humour me - please name the club and player...

Just on my way home from watching Australia qualify for the World Cup! Well in lads!