The DT of the Red Devils knew how to work in a shipyard and be a union representative. He also had his goalscoring days. As a coach, he built the incredible Aberdeen of the early 1980s. And he led his country's team at Mexico 86.
Alex Ferguson is for the eyes of the world the eternal manager of Manchester United. These are two intertwined and apparently inseparable trademarks. He took charge of the Red Devils on November 6, 1986 and since then has built one of the longest and most successful cycles in world soccer history. He won an impressive 33 titles, including 11 English Leagues and two Champions Leagues. Along the way he achieved what very few in British football circles achieved: being considered Commander of the British Empire. Also for this reason, in the United Kingdom, when referring to him, most refer to him as "Sir Alex".
But Ferguson was not born in 1986. He was already 44 years old (he was born on the last day of 1941) the morning he was presented at Old Trafford. And he had gone through football and life with the same intensity and self-demand as in his more than two decades at United.
He has always been a militant of the culture of effort, perhaps learned in his youth when he worked in a shipyard. In those brave days he already exhibited the other key trait of him: that leadership capacity that he showed when he became a union representative, beyond his young age. He once recounted: "Soccer was born in the industrial world and the work ethic is part of its essence. People pay a lot of money to watch a game, but they not only want to see the game played, they also recognize one hundred percent dedication."
He was not an extraordinary footballer. But he had a certain facility to reach the goal. The son of Alexander Beaton Ferguson, an assistant sheet metal worker in the boating industry who eventually took him to work for him, and Elizabeth Hardie, he began his career with Queens Park FC, a team from his hometown of Glasgow. He had studied at Broomloan Road Primary School and then at Govan High School.
In his first club he scored 20 goals in 31 games, but soon left for St. Johnstone. A remarkable performance (with three goals included) against Rangers allowed him a transfer to Dunfermline and the signing of his first professional contract, already in 1964. He was not talented, but he was very opportunistic. In the 65/66 season he was the top scorer in the Scottish Premier League, with 31 goals, the same as Joe McBride. With that he was enough to reach Rangers, one of the two giants of Scottish football. For him they paid a record figure for the time: 65,000 pounds. His experience in the Protestant club had a traumatic end: a decisive mistake in the 1969 Cup final and the Catholic status of his wife Cathie pushed him to say goodbye. It was intended by the English Nottingham Forest, but Ferguson preferred to finish his career in the country where he boasts of being born. He was a footballer and coach at Flakirk and Ayr United.
Ferguson wanted to be a coach. He took his first steps in two minor teams in Scotland: East Stirlingshire and St. Mirren, which he transferred from the Second Division (the third category) to the Premier League, between 1975 and 1978. The team that won the second promotion he had an average age of 19 years. They fired him anyway. The official version indicated that Ferguson had violated the contract and that he had granted his players bonuses not authorized by the leadership. St. Mirren chairman Willie Todd went so far as to say that Alex "had no coaching skills".
His next step as a coach was pure glory. He put together one of the most amazing teams in history: Ferguson's Aberdeen. Usually in the shadow of the greats, he became the great revelation of Scotland and Europe. Between 1978 and 1986 he won 10 of the 18 titles in the club's history, which had not been Premier League champion since 1955. And in 1983 he was the great revelation of European football: he won the Cup Winners' Cup (in the final against Real Madrid). and the Super Cup (against Hamburg, then winner of the Champions Cup).
Simultaneously, Alex was an adviser to Jock Stein, the coach of the Scottish national team. But on September 10, 1985, Stein died of a heart attack in the match between his team and Wales, at Ninian Park in Cardiff. Ferguson replaced him in charge and, after the playoff against Australia, qualified him for the World Cup in Mexico. But there he did not do well: the team barely added one point (0-0 against Uruguay) in three games. In the months that followed, he was offered to take charge of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. He gave up on both cases. As if he had been waiting for him to join Manchester United.
Source images: Manchester United Official Website.
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