He is extremely controlling. Wants everything his way. What Beckham should wear, how he should cut his hair, how many days he should spend on his honeymoon, who should he marry and who should he not be with … Is this OK for you? And he would get away after physically assaulting him? For SAF, everything was always about himself.
Arsene Wenger on the other hand is so different. He only controlled what people ate (and that too, through education and not “enforcement”). I never hear any such stories about him. He too was a winner, wasn’t he? But completely different style of management.
Seems Ferguson controlled through fear while Arsene Wenger coached through love.
Wait until you hear about how he treated the refs! Scandalous for sure!
He was his manager. Where I work we have rules about how much time we can have off work, what we wear to work, etc. And the boot incident was an accident. He didn’t stop him from marrying Victoria, he wanted to know that he was still focused on being a footballer and not a celebrity, which as his manager at work he should be.
He too was a winner, wasn’t he?
Wenger was a great manager but he only won three PL titles. Sir Alex won thirteen.
Sounds like a father from a different generation.
In a football sense, whose record would you prefer SAF or Wengers?
It’s easy to look at the records at the end and compare, but when the respective club’s had somewhat similar resources Wenger’s first 1000 games were statistically better than Fergie’s, albeit only just. That gap was only created, and then widened after 2004 when Arsenal couldn’t give Wenger what he needed to compete with a free spending Utd and Chelsea.
Both were absolute geniuses in different ways. But I do wholeheartedly believe if Wenger had the resources of Utd, Chelsea or later City after 2004 he would definitely have won more than just the 3 titles he did.
I get what you are saying. Im just looking at it from the outside and the trophies have to be the gauge of the success of both.
A lot of players saw Ferguson as a father figure and by all accounts, he took many young players under his wing and nurtured them both as players and as people.
He was an absolute master at getting the best out of his players. But you cannot do that by ruling in fear - he didn’t demand respect… he commanded it.
He was also a ruthless mofo and would discard anyone who no longer suited his purpose or who got in the way of his vision.
Both of these things made him one of the greatest football managers of all time. Love him or hate him, that’s what it takes to achieve that level of success.
THE greatest manager of all time. I’m not even a united fan, but it’s a fact.
I don’t think many people would claim that Ferguson is some morally exceptional person. He was, quite simply, an exceptional manager. Quite possibly the best ever.
Wenger isn’t in the same conversation. And Wenger was an excellent manager himself. But his legacy isn’t on the same level as Ferguson’s.
Theirs was a function vs. form rivalry. Ferguson’s focus was entirely on what made Man Utd win. If it was ugly, so be it. If it was beautiful, that was a nice bonus. But ultimately, winning was all that mattered.
Contrastingly, Wenger would sacrifice a certain level of competitiveness for the sake of aesthetics. That 5-10% he sacrificed was a key difference between winning titles and finishing 4th so often in the latter years of his Arsenal reign.
Fergie being extremely controlling?
This is news to me, I cant believe it!
Arsene coaching through love. Now that’s an image.
looool - i think all great managers are … think Pep and Jose
You have to be
Nah look at klopp he isnt controlling, its more like a preference
The boot incident was an accident.
There are many differences between SAF and Wenger, but the biggest is the amount of titles they each won…
Not really the point of the conversation. Just take a look at Keane’s view on SAF
But the point is Ferguson’s methods were more effective. He got better results. Was he more ruthless? Probably. But it was for a reason, and the reason is titles and trophies.
Look at the countless players who have nothing but praise for him.
Roy Keane is hardly the best example of a sensible view either. The guy gets mad at quite literally everything.
Not wrong either
Guess that’s why he has 13 prem titles and 2 Champions Leagues with them.
As much as I love Arsene, he could have used a little more of a mean streak.
The second half of his time there he certainly began to lack authority and could have achieved more, though I imagine Gunners can point to ownership as a part of that problem too.
Definitely could’ve been more enforcing. He completely lost that team the last few years at Arsenal.
Yes and no. I was Arsene Out from earlier than most, and while I still look back and see mistakes I also think we have to acknowledge what he did under terrible conditions. He was given no budget at all, and I don’t think any other manager could have kept getting top 3-4 finishes with squads full of Squilachis and Yaya Sanogos and Andre Santoses and Bendtners. How he kept us in the CL every year with that trash is a miracle.
Oh yea dude it’s phenomenal. I’ve done the math on how much money he made that club from just getting to the CL as many years as he did. Basically paid for Emirates. I was never an Wenger out supporter. I didn’t mind him.
Sir Alex ferguson spent £685 million on transfers in his 27 years at United. Arsene Wenger spent £830 million in 22 years at arsenal.
I am not sure about all that. All I can say is that what he did at Arsenal financially, only a few coaches across every sport in the world have accomplished. There is one thing you can say about Wenger, he made that club a fuck ton of money. And the football got sacrificed. Bit make no mistake he was a money making machine.
Sir Alex ferguson spent £685 million on transfers in his 27 years at United. Arsene Wenger spent £830 million in 22 years at arsenal.
In 2003 ferguson bought ronaldo for €19 million. That same year wenger bought Jose Antonio reyes for €20 million.
One day somebody will calculate the quality of the squads he had compared to Fergie in the latter years and realise he worked miracles.
Sir Alex ferguson spent £685 million on transfers in his 27 years at United. Arsene Wenger spent £830 million in 22 years at arsenal.
Wenger had as good as if not better budget than ferguson he just didn’t spend it as well.
While I can’t disagree with the above, you aren’t comparing like for like periods and specifically the stadium build era until around 2013.
If you look at Wenger, he spent alot post 2013, when Fergie was retired and other managers were spending at old Trafford. Likewise Wenger started late 1996 so Fergies transfers pre Wenger were cheap compared to modern transfer fees.
You have to remember that it wasn’t like it is now. Managers today are just managers. Clubs are run by other people. But back then, Ferguson was such a huge part of the way United was run. He wanted his players to conform to certain standards and his role in the club meant he could demand it from them…fairly or unfairly. But he also adapted. He wasn’t like that with the later generations of player like Rooney/Ronaldo etc.
What most people are failing to understand was the 90s and 2000s was the largest growth and innovation in how media was consumed, and how the subjects of that media were treated.
Newspapers and radio had been a dominant for of media, but now the advent of phones and smaller cameras were coming into existence, mixed with the explosion of internet and eventually social media.
Honestly can’t imagine Ferguson was clairvoyant but his method was incredible for the time. Now young players are media trained and have grown up with the media being deployed. Back then, Ferguson kept young players from interviews and it protected them and the team.
Don’t you think there is a reason that all of those boy’s respect him the most out of anyone? It’s almost like 16-20 year old boys are fucking idiots and they had a person genuinely looking out for their best interest. I’m sure they talked shit behind his back when they were kids but you best believe it clicked for them when they were 25-30 and realized how much SAF did for them, not only on the pitch but off.
All you need to do is compare Beckham’s career post 2003 to Scholes and Giggs.
Beckham won one La Liga (in which he started 17 games) in an inconsistent spell at Real and was basically done as a serious top level footballer by 2007.
Scholes and Giggs won another 5 league titles and a Champions League.
If we’re only talking about football then Beckham leaving United so he can live his celebrity lifestyle was a disaster for his football career and he’s have been far better off staying at United.
From what i saw in that documentary, Beckham and his wife seemed to be problematic couple. Bro had problems out of thin air. Ferguson must have punched the air when Beckham left.
Usually young football players havr to be told what they NEED to hear not what they WANT to hear. Im a Gunner since 2001 but Sir Alex is a Sir for a reason, he always got more out of his squad then the sum of its individual parts. Id still pick Wengers philosophy though, he revolutionized football, pioneered implementing Advanced Sports Nutrition, Advanced Statistics and was the first to suggest FFP. One was a winner, the other innovator.
Also, id rather watch tiki taka football than crosses and long balls and Fergie time winners. My opinion.
Tbf the only reason why Wenger isn’t also a Sir is because he’s foreign.
And the fact that wenger won 10 less pl titles and 2 less ucls than ferguson. They aren’t comparable as managers. Wenger was an innovator but he isn’t an all time great manager. Ferguson is an all time great manager.
The description of Fergie in the OP post is extremely one sided. I presume the OP is younger and didn’t follow football during Fergie’s reign.
Fergie was arguably the greatest manager and greatest man manager ever. He treated his players as his children and they looked up to him as a father figure. He nurtured them, protected them and guided them.
He was so successful because he fostered a winning mentality where every player bought into the team ethos. No player was bigger than the club. It didn’t matter how good you were, if you weren’t prepared to dig in and fight for your team mates there wasn’t a place for you at the club.
He nurtured Beckham from a teenage boy and had a special relationship with him. Beckham wouldn’t have had half the career he had without him. What you see as controlling is actually Fergie keeping him on the straight and narrow.
Beckham is presented in a certain way in the documentary but he was no angel. At various points throughout his career he saw himself as above the club and above his team mates which goes against everything which made Man United so successful. He said himself in the documentary that he craved fame and publicity. With the haircut, he was a massive celebrity figure - partially because of the hair - and shaving the curtains off was always going to generate publicity. There’s nothing remotely comparable these days. But he orchestrated it to keep it secret until he stepped on the pitch at Old Trafford knowing the eyes of the world would be on him for non-footballing reasons and effectively used the club to generate publicity for himself.
He didn’t control who he could see, either, but rightly felt his relationship/marriage was distracting him from football and was within his rights to move a player on who wasn’t fully committed.
Without Fergie you get pisstakers like Pogba and 2021/22 Ronaldo running the club and poisoning the dressing room. Bearing in mind he already got shot of one and nurtured the other into one of the best players of all time.
was within his rights to move a player on who wasn’t fully committed.
Not only “within his rights”, but ultimately right. He sold Beckham and brought in Ronaldo, and after 3 rough (by Sir Alex’s standards) seasons, the club went on to win a further 5 league titles and never finished outside of the top 2.
Not that I don’t rate Arsene because he’s obviously class. But I just love Ferguson’s blue collar background. He was union steward in a shipyard I believe? And as a player, he led a group of footballers on strike at Falkirk. I just respect the hell out of him
Yeah, and look what happened to United after Ferguson’s era was over. More Ferguson, less whining snowflakes in football!