00:00Alex Ferguson was one of a kind.
00:01With 38 trophies in 13 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, and 2 UEFA Champions League title,
00:06Ferguson's Man United had a chokehold on English football for 26 glorious years.
00:11But how did he do it?
00:13How did he save a team of boozers destined for the second division
00:16and turn them into the most lethal trophy-winning monarchs of English football?
00:26To truly understand how he achieved it all,
00:29we need to travel back to the 1980s during Man United's darkest years.
00:37In 1986, Manchester United were completely crumbling from discipline issues on and off the pitch,
00:43while free-falling down the table with a one-way ticket to the second division.
00:47As a matter of fact, things were so bad that the club hadn't won any league titles in nearly two
00:51decades and hadn't seen a European trophy since the glory days of Saint-Marc Boswell.
00:55And to make matters worse, while their Anfield neighbours Liverpool were dominating both
00:59English and European football, Man United were sitting just one place away from devotion.
01:04Completely broken and desperate, Manchester United reached out to a 44-year-old
01:09Scotland, who had been rebuilding better teams like Saint-Myrin and Aberdeen since 1974.
01:14Winning promotion for Saint-Myrin before breaking the Celtic Ranger hold on the Scottish League
01:18for Aberdeen and lifting the Cup Winners' Cup.
01:20His new mission at Manchester United was to knock Liverpool right of the approach.
01:25Yet, even with his history of success, it looked like Sir Alex Ferguson had been handed
01:30a ticking time bomb when he was announced as United's new manager on 7th November 1986.
01:35And during his first years at Old Trafford, the fuse burned faster than ever.
01:50Now for a club in Stratford, it was no surprise that a working man's binge drinking culture
01:55of the community had seeped into the players at Old Trafford. And Ferguson was not a fan.
01:59So he immediately got to work instilling professionalism at every level, both on and off the pitch.
02:04But some senior players like Norman Whiteside and Paul Begrat pushed back,
02:09insisting this is how it had always been, as they were used to the relaxed party lifestyle,
02:13more suited to club promoters than professional footballers.
02:16They were immediately cut from the team to prevent them from infecting their younger players,
02:20showing early signs of Ferguson's ruthless winning mentality that lasted his entire career.
02:25And the move paid off as United climbed to a second-place finish, just 9 points,
02:30behind Liverpool, thanks to key additions in Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson and Baron McClure.
02:35But the positive effect quickly wore off as United slumped back to 11th the following season,
02:40despite breaking the bank, signing Fergus Rottweiler, Mark Hughes, which caused the
02:44loud minority of fans to go on weekly rants about Ferguson wasting talent and calling for him to be sacked.
02:50But the sentiment wasn't popular yet. But trusting the process, Ferguson doubled down the next
02:55season and signed even more players, with the likes of Gary Pallister, Mike Philan, Neil Webb
02:59and Paul Lince joining the team. But the new line-up was steamrolled in the Manchester Derby,
03:04suffering a humiliating 5-1 loss to Man City, with City fans waving banners that read,
03:10Manchester is blue to taunt their neighbours. And things were even worse,
03:14as United's own fans began showing up to matches with banners that read,
03:183 years of excuses and were still crap.
03:20Tyra Fergie, openly calling for him to be sacked, pushing Ferguson to the lowest point of his career.
03:26Probably that December of 89, before we started the cup run, we went about 8 games without winning
03:31a game and we lost here to Crystal Palace, 2-1. And that's life, but that's when you find yourself,
03:37that's when people, it's the character comes out, you know.
03:40But All Eyes won the FA Cup third round clash against Nottingham Forest, a match that would literally
03:46decide Ferguson's future at the club, with both fans and the board breathing down his neck.
03:51So cup drog's up, not as far as I may, can you leave it?
03:56Unfortunately for Fergie, after a goalless first half, it seemed like it was time for United to
04:01face reality and cut their losses. But during the half-time break, Ferguson delivered a fiery
04:08speech that would later become legendary and flipped the switch in the team.
04:20And whether it was desperation or destiny, the wheels of fate began to turn again,
04:25as a young striker named Mark Robbins rose to the challenge and headed the ball home with a goal
04:31that saved Ferguson's career. And from that moving on, everything changed.
04:55The win over Nottingham Forest didn't just save Ferguson's job, it bought him time he desperately needed.
05:00And he made the most of it. Guiding United passed Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Finals to secure his
05:06first
05:06trophy at the club. And slowly, the culture at Old Trafford began to shift. As Ferguson's method
05:11proved, he could not only improve but deliver silverware for the club. He wasn't building a team,
05:15he was building a dynasty. And with a fearless generation of young players waiting their turn,
05:20Manchester United was about to change football forever. Ferguson never believed United's future
05:25was in the transfer market, but it was already growing in the club's academy. And the media hated that
05:30idea. Even Allen Hansen made that very clear when he famously said, you can't win anything with kids.
05:36But Ferguson never needed the media on his side, so he trusted the youngsters anyway. And Fergie's
05:41rebuild paid up immediately with the European trials, as United clawed their way to a final
05:45against UN Croix Barcelona. A side regarded as one of the club's most iconic dream teams,
05:51with many pandits and experts stating, second place isn't that bad after a fluke FA Cup win.
05:55But this is the big league, and luck doesn't win trophies. And for the first 60 minutes,
06:00the media looked absolutely spot on, as United were locked down and failed to produce a single goal.
06:05But as the jokes began to pile up, it's on Man United who stole the spotlight with a brace from
06:10Mark Hughes,
06:14bringing the trophy back to Old Trafford for the first time in 20 years.
06:31But Ferguson boldly claimed his team was finally ready to win the league moving forward.
06:36And because he believed United should never follow Trent but set them, he pushed forward with his
06:40first major injection of youth in 17-year-old Ryan Giggs, a winger who looked destined to light up the
06:45league and proved that maybe you could win wickets. But for now, the 1991-92 season was underway,
06:53and Alex Ferguson began his sixth season in charge by adding Peter Schmeichel and Paul Parker to
06:58bolster United's leaky defence. And those additions proved effective as United lifted both the European
07:04Super Cup in the league. But detractors held firm as Ferguson was proven overconfident when United
07:16failed to win the league title, finishing second to Leeds United on the final day of the season.
07:22It's a carnival occasion here. But like a mad scientist, Alex Ferguson went back to the drawing
07:29board, searching for a solution to United's second-place finish. And he quickly realised that
07:36despite their solid defence, the team lacked goals when they mattered the most.
07:39I said to the players, you know, if you don't kill these teams off, you know, you may live to
07:43regret it.
07:46And that proved true, my words, you know, which I wish I'd never said. But it was a fact we
07:53weren't
07:53finishing teams off. Our goals ratio did dry up and we were left to suffer. But true to his win
08:00at all
08:01cost mentality, Sir Alex Ferguson set his sights on the very man who cost him the title and did everything
08:07he could to bring him to Manchester United before the new campaign began. But this season was different,
08:13as wounds of change swept through European football and the Premier League was born. And it kicked off
08:18as England's top clubs prepared to tear each other apart in the battle for dominance and Manchester
08:23United was no exception. And with the stage set, Alex Ferguson received some good news. As rivals
08:30Liverpool began losing key players and it suddenly looked more and more likely than Man United could
08:35finally knock them off their perch and end their dominance on English football in one fell swoop.
08:41But with Liverpool sitting on a staggering 18 league titles, it would take far more than ambition
08:47for them to consider Manchester United as a real competition. And with Ferguson's pursuit of a
08:53perfect finisher stalling, he signed Deion Dublin to fill the role. But just three games into the season,
09:00Ferguson was back on the road as Deion suffered a devastating leg break and it left Manchester
09:05United without a clinical goalscorer once again, as they slipped to 10th place with their hopes of
09:10a title fading fast. But in the nick of time, Alex Ferguson turned despair into hope as Man United
09:17had finally unveiled a brand new number 7 and with it their fate would change yet again. For just 1
09:23.2
09:23million pounds facing Leeds United, Alex Ferguson had found his missing piece in Eric Cantona, a top
09:29professional both on and off the pitch. Solving Manchester United's goal problem by forming a
09:34little 1-2 with Mark Hughes and coordinated extended training sessions with Ferguson, showing early
09:39glimpses of the mentality that had driven Leeds United to the title the previous season.
09:44And with Eric Cantona in his ranks, Alex Ferguson's vision of professionalism finally took hold as the
09:49team followed his lead and stayed disciplined even when he was not around. The shift it might have
09:54paid off and by April Manchester United were back in the title race alongside Aston Villa and Norway
09:59City with just one match left to decide the champions. And with how far they'd come, this was
10:05a game Manchester United could not afford to lose. But the title decided against Sheffield Wednesday
10:10turned into a defensive struggle as Manchester United, down 1-0 with just 4 minutes on the clock,
10:16were on the verge of losing everything they had worked for.
10:19Manchester United really have to score. They came up just short last year. They're in danger of doing
10:24so again. But when our hope was lost, Manchester United were awarded a corner. In a last-ditch attempt,
10:31Dennis Irwin lobbed the ball into the box where Steve Bruce was waiting. And for the first time
10:35in 1993, Bruce's header found his mark. In that instant, Manchester United were back.
10:52They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but those who witness it are eternally blessed.
10:58Yes, I doubt Chris Woods felt that way. As deep into stoppage time, Bruce struck again.
11:04Bruce! Yes! Unbelievable!
11:16After six years and six failed campaigns,
11:19Ferguson's Man United had finally done it.
11:29But they were just getting started.
11:33So
11:33...
11:33...
11:34...
11:34...
11:35...
11:36...
11:36...
11:37...
11:41So
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