Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager of Manchester United for 26 years before retiring in May 2013. During that period, the team won 13 premier league titles, as well as 25 other domestic and international trophies. He also won 16 managerial honours.

Ferguson, on the other hand, was considerably more than a manager. He was a key figure in the United organisation, overseeing not only the first team but the whole entity.

Ferguson ruthlessly got rid of those he felt were past their best — or had dared to cross him, such as Roy Keane, David Beckham, Paul Ince, and Ruud van Nistelrooy — and built at least three great teams, overseeing the development of brilliant players such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United was in the midst of a difficult period when Ferguson came to Old Trafford. They hadn’t won a league title since 1967 when Sir Matt Busby was in charge and had spent several seasons in the middle of the table. Success didn’t come right away once he arrived from Aberdeen, and United grew for several years. But it didn’t seem to stop coming after that. After winning their first Premier League championship in 1993, Ferguson and his team dominated for the next ten years, capturing eight titles in 10 seasons from 1993 until the turn of the century.

Youth Program

When Ferguson arrived in Manchester, he immediately set on revamping United’s youth programme to build a long-term framework. He built a youth programme for potential players as young as nine years old and enlisted the help of several scouts, pushing them to bring him the best young talent they could find.

Perhaps the most influential of his signings was Ryan Giggs, who was spotted by Alex Ferguson playing at a local Sunday League match when he was thirteen.

Ferguson arrived at Giggs’ house on November 29, 1987 (his 14th birthday) with United scout Joe Brown and offered him two years on associate schoolboy forms. They promised to waive YTS paperwork and convinced Giggs to sign by promising him a professional career in three years if he signed.

Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, among others, were the backbone of the great United sides of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which Ferguson credits with defining the club’s contemporary character.

It was a big bet on young talent, but it soon paid off.

Winning a game is merely a temporary advantage — you may lose the following one. The establishment of a club provides stability and consistency. You never want to take your gaze away from the first team, but Manchester United’s youth development initiatives in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in several victories. The club’s spirit was truly captured by the young players.

Maintaining authority

Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United for 26 years, which is no mean feat considering most managers last for around 3–4 years, and usually move between a few clubs during their career.

Sir Alex never ceded control.

Ferguson’s ability to respond aggressively when players breached that norm was a crucial element of sustaining high standards across the board. They were punished if they got into trouble. Ferguson let them go if they stepped out of line in a way that jeopardised the team’s performance.

In 2006, United’s leading scorer at the time, Ruud van Nistelrooy, became openly disgruntled over several benchings, he was promptly sold to Real Madrid.

The previous year, longstanding captain Roy Keane’s contract was terminated after he publicly insulted his teammates.

Taking a strong stance is only part of a story here. It’s possible that reacting promptly before things get out of hand, is just as essential as retaining control.

Team Rebuild

Ferguson sought to rebuild his club even during periods of great success. During his stay at the club, he is credited with constructing five different league-winning squads while also continuing to win trophies. His selections were influenced by a deep understanding of where his club was in the rebuilding process, as well as a comparable understanding of player life cycles.

Cutting players, including loyal veterans to whom Ferguson had a personal attachment, was unavoidable when managing the talent development process.

Manchester United spent less on incoming transfers than its rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool in the last decade, during which the team won the Premier League five times.

United’s incoming transfers had a far greater proportion of people under the age of 25 than its competitors. United was prepared to sell players who still had years ahead of them, and it generated more money from departing moves than most of its rivals, allowing the team to continue to gamble on potential prospects.

Young players were allowed to flourish, while the majority of elderly players were transferred to other teams while still valued assets and a few elite veterans were retained to provide continuity and carry the club’s culture forward.

Ferguson believed that a successful team’s cycle lasts around four years before it has to alter. They attempted to see the team three or four years ahead of time and make decisions based on that vision.

Prepare to win

Ferguson’s teams have a propensity for winning in the last minutes of games.

When their teams are down late in a game, many coaches will tell their players to move forward and attack. Ferguson’s attitude was both extraordinarily forceful and uncommonly methodical.

He made players rehearse how they should play if a goal was needed with 10, 5, or 3 minutes remaining regularly. The repetition of abilities and strategies was the focus of United’s training sessions. The training sessions were viewed as chances to learn and develop.

There appears to be more to this strategy than the widely held assumption that winning teams are based on habits, and that they can execute particular moves almost instinctively. There’s also an underlying message that you’re never happy with your current situation and are always seeking methods to better.

United’s approach was one of optimism, adventure, and risk-taking. They were there to help the team win the game. His teams were all tenacious and never gave up. He didn’t have to be concerned about conveying that message. It’s an incredible trait to have, and it’s incredible to witness what can happen in the last seconds of a game.

Adapting

The world of football evolved drastically during Ferguson’s quarter-century at United, from the financial stakes to the science behind what makes players great. Responding to change is never simple, and it’s probably much more difficult when you’ve been on top for a long time.

Nonetheless, proof of Ferguson’s desire to reform can be found all over.

Ferguson was the first manager to field teams with a high proportion of young players in the comparatively unprestigious League Cup in the mid-1990s, a tactic that sparked anger at the time but is now typical among Premier League clubs.

He was also the first to let four of the best centre forwards compete for two positions on his roster for an entire season, a strategy that many outsiders thought was unmanageable but was crucial to United winning the Treble in 1998–1999: the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.

Ferguson bolstered his backroom staff and hired a team of sports scientists to assist the coaches off the field. Following their advice, he constructed Vitamin D booths in the players’ locker rooms to compensate for the lack of sunshine in Manchester, and he promoted the use of GPS-enabled vests that allow performance monitoring within 20 minutes after a training session.

Conclusion

It’s no secret that since Alex Ferguson departed Manchester United, the club has never been the same.

The Red Devils appear to have never been able to instil the same brutal attitude that Ferguson did. David Moyes was chosen by his predecessor, although he only lasted one season. The dull style of play that Louis van Gaal employs has been criticised. With a Europa League and League Cup victory under his belt, Mourinho has had the greatest success of any United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is headed in the right direction, qualifying for regular champions league football and reaching the final of the Europa League. Remember Ferguson’s success never came right away.

It is now up to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to withstand the storm and establish his own legacy at Old Trafford.