Fergie's biggest mistake- summer 2009

[Andycoleno9]

Just watching seasons 2008 and 2009 reviews. Personally i think that United team from 2008 is our best team ever. Despite i enjoyed watching 1999 team and Cantona's team from early 90s but this team was amazing.
World class back 5 with Rio and Vidic as best defending duo in the world, world class midfield in Carrick and Scholes, world class attack in Rooney and Tevez with Ronaldo as best player in the world. On top of that we had excellent squad depth in players like Park, Nani, O'Shea, Saha, Pique and Hargreaves.

That squad didn't have any flaw. We played attacking football with innovative asymmetric 442 formation with which we were dominant against any team and our team was full of players with strong and competitive characters.
That team should and could have been best in Europe next 5 years and be remembered as one of the best Euro sides ever (like Pep's Barca or Sacchi's Milan). But it lasted only two years. Why Fergie allowed that to happen?

Imo, Fergie did several mistakes in summer 2009.
1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

 

[adexkola]

Ah another muppet thread

Yeah that United team really underperformed.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Ah another muppet thread

Yeah that United team really underperformed.

It is not muppet thread. Just regret about that squad and question why it happened. If i can't share my thoughts about that with United fans then with who i should talk about that? With my wife? Ha ha

 

[Ali Dia]

Fergie got Ronaldo to sign a new deal on the promise that we’d sell him and we would get a world record fee for him. He was just keeping his word. Who was to know how fees would increase and that ronaldo would score 40/50 goals a season for Madrid every year. He was played in a different position for us. He was moved to out and out striker for Madrid who went on to invest far more than us in their team.
Tevez is Tevez.
I agree about the recruitment. Silva, Aguero, Thiago, Bale, Modric, Vidal, Hazard, were all gettable in the following seasons and we could have built teams around them even after the great man retired. Keeping Pogba onside would have been another shrewd move in hindsight.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Honouring the Ronaldo agreement is fine with me. £80m was astronomical at the time, even if hindsight proves it was a bargain for Madrid.

Not signing Tevez in summer 2008 was more regrettable than the position in 2009. The events which unfolded across 2009 made it impossible to sign him in the summer of 09.

The biggest issue remains replacements, or lack of!

No football team in the world would have been able to be as good as we were with the level of replacements we brought in for two world class players, that was a testament to Fergie, but a massive black mark on the club who should have gone balls deep for better players to retain our position in the top 3 club sides in Europe.

Valencia was the only real signing that summer, and although a good servant...miles away from those before him.

 

[stevoc]

Tevez was always leaving once the Arabs took over City, it could be argued not replacing him was a mistake but we'd just bought Berbatov.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Remember when Ronaldo signed for Real thinking that would halt Madrid's interest in Lyon's upcoming french forward Kazim Benzema,who minor a few details with Aulas, a deal would practically be done in a few days for the young French forward to join up with SAF new squad for the 2010 campaign.
Unfortunately, In the end, the deal to bring Benzema to Manchester didn't come to fruition.

Madrid came in and gazumped us for the striker and we, once again, were out there embarrassingly leaking various tid-bits through the media that Aulas was pricing us out of a deal.

The moment that deal collapsed was the moment I thought this was going to be a tight penny pinching summer for United and it went on to be the case.

 

[adexkola]

It is not muppet thread. Just regret about that squad and question why it happened. If i can't share my thoughts about that with United fans then with who i should talk about that? With my wife? Ha ha

Sorry I came across snippy, this topic has been discussed a lot and it comes down to: haha Valencia/Owen, we should have got Aguero/Sneidjer/Robben and we would have won 3 more CLs

 

[Rozay]

I remember being ‘open’ to Ronaldo moving at the time, on the basis that we could get Aguero and Ribery for the same price. But Fergie saw ‘no value’ in the market and got Owen and Valencia/Obertan instead. Not signing Aguero has been coming back to haunt us ever since, especially that one summer’s day in 2012!

 

[FrankDrebin]

The seeding of 'no value in the market' really was put in place that summer of 2010 but it fully bloomed in 11.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

A great deal of hindsight being used for the first four points I think.

 

[siw2007]

We can’t have any complaints about how we handled the Ronaldo saga. He delivered us many titles, he did his job here and we had to accept his wishes for a new challenge at Madrid. We perhaps didn’t get his best years but we got the best we were ever going to get and we should look back at what we achieved together and not what could have been if he stayed on.

But we are right to question what happened after. It wasn’t really just the summer of 2009 but the culmination of transfer markets over the next few years in which we totally underwhelmed. We still had the core of a fantastic football team with the likes of Rio, Vidic, Evra, Rooney etc but we just didn’t buy players to improve the team. Players like Silva, Aguero and Hazard should have come to us, instead we got some trash like Bebe and Obertan, and some good players like Young and Valencia but they merely added to the roster instead of becoming star players. We benefited for a while on the basis that it wasn’t just United that was struggling but other teams like Chelsea and Arsenal weren’t as good either so we remained as the best of a weakened bunch, but of course we got caught out in the end.

In many ways we did become a new AC Milan. A great football team that was allowed to grow old together.

 

[FrankDrebin]

To think we brought in Owen,who was out there touting himself to anybody with his tacky brochure.

 

[Ali Dia]

To think we brought in Owen,who was out there touting himself to anybody with his tacky brochure.

that brochure was cringe worthy like almost everything Owen does.

*a globally recognisable brand
*can still run a bit
*no transfer fee

Christ on a bike!

 

[lenny_1248]

I swear this topic is discussed every 2 weeks.

 

[bosnian_red]

It's obvious that the Glazers had a big impact on that. Fergie was never shy about spending big, especially to replace big players if it was their time to go. He regularly through the years spent big on strikers, spent big on other star players when one was leaving. Yet we lost Ronaldo and Tevez and brought in Valencia and Owen. His hands were tied, and he made it work all the same (winning 2 titles, combined 1 point and a few goals away from winning the 2 other titles, 1 more CL title, then bad luck to exit the CL in 2 of the other 3 seasons in games where we were the better side). So I wouldn't call it a mistake. That was the time when the ownership was at it's worst for us and really hampering us from pushing on, and instead the level dropped a big but Fergie still made it work.

 

[SirAF]

It is believed that the Ronaldo money went to pay off the PIK loans, right?

 

[Canagel]

Benzema, Robben, Ribery were easily gettable too around that period, why the hell did Fergie allowed Ronaldo to leave without demanding for Robben in return? 2009 window screwed us badly , we could have improved the quality of the team easily if we wanted

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

After a while winning the league became too easy for Fergie. Looking at how other managers who succeeded him performed with the squad he left behind, his experience was easily adding 15 points worth to the players on hand. The times he reshaped and rebuilt his squad was when he was a distant second best to someone else in the league and that lack of a proper challenge in his latter years added to his complacency in Europe.

There's no way he'd have gone around tolerating inconsistency from Nani and Anderson, hanging onto Scholes and Giggs while not strengthening key areas like the midfield if he had to try harder to win the league.

 

[Adam-Utd]

We were hamstrung by the Glazer debt at the time, people forget that. Fergie did wonders on a pretty shoestring budget at that point.

We needed the cash upfront from Ronaldo otherwise i'm sure he would have swapped Ronaldo for Robben/Sneijder like many expected, instead we ended up with Owen/Valencia/Obertan.

While Valencia had a good career with us Imagine that team with a prime Robben and Sneijder behind Rooney?

We failed to capitalise on being the best in Europe as we didn't have the cash, and perhaps masked by Fergies ability to win with anybody.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

1) Fergie convinced Ronaldo to stay for one more season (08/09, he wanted to leave summer 2008). No way he'll prison Ronaldo. Why should he.

2) Surely you know the story no? Tevez wanted to leave. Done. Want Fergie to beg Tevez to stay or something? How come you believe in Tevez and his agent lies... it's so bs, trace back Tevez's interview comments over the season 08/09, full of crap -- his story pathetically changed from the start and at the end.

3) Agree about midfield. RB though we have the up and upcoming Rafael, and Fabio.

4) Why is it a mistake? this is hindsight 50/50. Do people forgot Pique played poorly in some games, the fast pace of EPL doesn't suit him. He wasn't ready to displace any of Rio-Vidic who are like superhuman in term of fitness when Pique was sold. They became injury-prone later on. We also got the other promising young CB Evans at that time who is better suited to the league. And again Pique wanted to leave, never heard of Fergie prisoning players. Same thing happened to Rossi.

5) I agree with you completely. Who knows why he didn't. I still don't get it. So many theories. Likely at that time, players like Benzema just are not interested in joining us? But then that says a lot about our scout being so poor at that time, surely they can find other quality players, and they should do better. I don't buy it that there's no other values at all in the market. It just doesn't make sense. (Valencia and Owen are good squad players but no way they'll be the main players although Valencia did surprise everyone.) We need someone like RVP!

 

[Bebestation]

For me apart from the wingers positions - him not moving on from the class of 92 was starting to edge me off at times. Players like the oldest Scholes & Giggs in particular the CM adaptive version wasnt the greatest thing to see.

As others have said, maybe SAF found it too easy to win the League and didnt really want to spend the money investing in his own vision - I felt like he just wanted to retire and get out of there in the end, but by that time I felt he held on to some players way too long.

 

[Stepney73]

It is believed that the Ronaldo money went to pay off the PIK loans, right?

This was the start of the rot

80 million for ronaldo should have been topped up with another 40 or 50 from the club so Fergie could have signed 2 or 3 top class players to fill the holes in the team that ronaldo and tevez left(both wanted to leave so there was not much the club could do about that).
I think that summer we didn't even spend half the ronaldo money let alone add to it.

But instead of doing that we singed 3 low to mid grade players and over the next 4 years brought scholes out of retirement had a near 40 year old Giggs playing in midfeild and signed players like young.


We all knew at the time how this was going to pan out (and it did)



To sum it all up n one word


Glazers.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

It's obvious that the Glazers had a big impact on that. Fergie was never shy about spending big, especially to replace big players if it was their time to go. He regularly through the years spent big on strikers, spent big on other star players when one was leaving. Yet we lost Ronaldo and Tevez and brought in Valencia and Owen. His hands were tied, and he made it work all the same (winning 2 titles, combined 1 point and a few goals away from winning the 2 other titles, 1 more CL title, then bad luck to exit the CL in 2 of the other 3 seasons in games where we were the better side). So I wouldn't call it a mistake. That was the time when the ownership was at it's worst for us and really hampering us from pushing on, and instead the level dropped a big but Fergie still made it work.

Fairly reasonable.

If we assume this line of thought to be the actual truth (it high-likely is), then turns out Fergie did not making mistakes after all his hands are tied, the difficult situation dictates him to play his best cards, and that's it. Kept Ronaldo who wanted to leave for one more season and he still deliver good performances is a huge success. Let Tevez go because of problems. Fergie's too good, he can still win trophies with a weaker squad of players. The players that remained still have the winning mentality and good enough quality wise with his guidance to win. Besides, we also get to see Nani stepping up and Rooney assuming a more leading role (he's more of a supporter previously) as SAF changed their roles.

Mistakes?

 

[The Brown Bull]

Yawn.
I would have thought Fergie's biggest mistake was the fecking racehorse row.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

For me apart from the wingers positions - him not moving on from the class of 92 was starting to edge me off at times. Players like the oldest Scholes & Giggs in particular the CM adaptive version wasnt the greatest thing to see.

You have a good point there.

His tendency to show over-reliance on both Giggs and Scholes is just too much.

Then again, the two of them are just too good, which says a lot about the other players not able to replace them. Carrick, Hargreaves, Fletcher and Anderson are supposed to replace them in CM but then we know what happened to most of those. Fletcher is unavoidable and forgivable but Hargreaves should be expected while Anderson is just shocking. Additionally Clev and Pogba. Clev suddenly turn shit for some reason, likely complacency, disappointing after a good breakthrough. As for Pogba, well he's still not ready adapting to the EPL's pace and physicality, and his agent sweet-whisper his impatience ambitious heart.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Benzema, Robben, Ribery were easily gettable too around that period, why the hell did Fergie allowed Ronaldo to leave without demanding for Robben in return? 2009 window screwed us badly , we could have improved the quality of the team easily if we wanted

A deal for Robben was in place, he chose Chelsea in the end. Kenyon probably had a hand in it as well.

 

[sparx99]

A deal for Robben was in place, he chose Chelsea in the end. Kenyon probably had a hand in it as well.

Robben was at Real Madrid at the time. The deal for Robben to Chelsea was around 2005.

 

[Offside]

Fergie alone was the reason Ronaldo stayed until 2009 and didn’t leave in 2008. Or 2006 even.

As for the argument about replacing Ronaldo, I get the fact the midfield wasn’t strengthened was bizarre for all of Fergie’s final years. However, getting Valencia on the right and Rooney down the middle worked perfectly that season. It’s been proven since that spending on a squad overhaul after losing your best player (Suarez, Bale) doesn’t work so well.

It was letting Tevez go that was the biggest mistake. Ronaldo was always going to leave.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Robben was at Real Madrid at the time. The deal for Robben to Chelsea was around 2005.

Ah yes, you are right. In that case I don't think he would've come, we had one chance to get him.

 

[90 + 5min]

Just watching seasons 2008 and 2009 reviews. Personally i think that United team from 2008 is our best team ever. Despite i enjoyed watching 1999 team and Cantona's team from early 90s but this team was amazing.
World class back 5 with Rio and Vidic as best defending duo in the world, world class midfield in Carrick and Scholes, world class attack in Rooney and Tevez with Ronaldo as best player in the world. On top of that we had excellent squad depth in players like Park, Nani, O'Shea, Saha, Pique and Hargreaves.

That squad didn't have any flaw. We played attacking football with innovative asymmetric 442 formation with which we were dominant against any team and our team was full of players with strong and competitive characters.
That team should and could have been best in Europe next 5 years and be remembered as one of the best Euro sides ever (like Pep's Barca or Sacchi's Milan). But it lasted only two years. Why Fergie allowed that to happen?

Imo, Fergie did several mistakes in summer 2009.
1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

1. It was agreed between the manager and the player that Ronaldo would stay for another year and then he would be given green light to go to Real Madrid. We could have lost Ronaldo earlier. Fergie did what he could and can't be blamed for Ronaldo leaving.
2. What should we have done? We gave him a big contract but the guy wanted more money. ManCity, with bottomless pit, gave him what he wanted and more.
3. Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick. And with Anderson, Ji Sung (sometimes), Gibson as backup we were alright. Same at right back position with Rafael, Valencia, Oshea, Brown filling in for captain Neville.
4. Nothing could be done here either. Pique wanted to go to Barcelona. We had Ferdinand and Vidic who were not going to be moved for 5-6 more years.
5. Agree. I was very happy with Valencia but we could have gone in different direction instead of Owen. On other hand, Owen was just brought in as a backup to Berbatov, Rooney and ever injuried Welbeck. So in some way, I can understand. And he didn't do to bad.

 

[0le]

1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

1) He persuaded Ronaldo to stay an extra season. Both the player and club left on amicable terms.
2) The deal with Tevez was highly complicated with the ownership rights.
3) We had Brown and Rafael for RB. We had Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher for midfield, with Gibson and Cleverley at the time showing promise and also signed Anderson.
4) Pique wanted to leave and his game time was limited.
5) We tried to sign several players such as Lucas Moura and Hazard but they chose other clubs.

 

[Sky1981]

Just watching seasons 2008 and 2009 reviews. Personally i think that United team from 2008 is our best team ever. Despite i enjoyed watching 1999 team and Cantona's team from early 90s but this team was amazing.
World class back 5 with Rio and Vidic as best defending duo in the world, world class midfield in Carrick and Scholes, world class attack in Rooney and Tevez with Ronaldo as best player in the world. On top of that we had excellent squad depth in players like Park, Nani, O'Shea, Saha, Pique and Hargreaves.

That squad didn't have any flaw. We played attacking football with innovative asymmetric 442 formation with which we were dominant against any team and our team was full of players with strong and competitive characters.
That team should and could have been best in Europe next 5 years and be remembered as one of the best Euro sides ever (like Pep's Barca or Sacchi's Milan). But it lasted only two years. Why Fergie allowed that to happen?

Imo, Fergie did several mistakes in summer 2009.
1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

It's not fair to the great man:
1. Ronaldo. Fergie isn't a slave driver, there are long term strategy and mutual understanding between players. You can't give in to players, but you also can't strongarm them to the point that they'll run down their contract sitting on the bench. Your board won't allow an 80M asset to rot in the bench just so that you can spite him. Ronaldo gave him that extra 1 year, my guess is that they both got a gentlemen agreement that he can move the next year.
2. Tevez was principal IMHO. He was a loanee and somehow asking for outrageous transfer fee. The fee itself IIRC was hardly extraordinary, 30M? But Fergie probably thinks this guy's out of contract and he's not paying them 30M as signing fee.
3. He did win the league, so any point is moot. It is adequate for his system.
4. We had Vidic/Evans/Rio, pique seldom got game. This is not FM, you can't keep 4 CBs happy, especially when the 4th in order got an offer from Barcelona to be their main man.
5. Valencia was a good buy, before he broke his leg he did a fine job in RW. Owen was a free transfer

 

[Jippy]

That squad didn't have any flaw.

Goes on to lists loads of flaws.

 

[Sky1981]

We were hamstrung by the Glazer debt at the time, people forget that. Fergie did wonders on a pretty shoestring budget at that point.

We needed the cash upfront from Ronaldo otherwise i'm sure he would have swapped Ronaldo for Robben/Sneijder like many expected, instead we ended up with Owen/Valencia/Obertan.

While Valencia had a good career with us Imagine that team with a prime Robben and Sneijder behind Rooney?

We failed to capitalise on being the best in Europe as we didn't have the cash, and perhaps masked by Fergies ability to win with anybody.

Robben/Sneijder for one reason or another chooses other teams, could be us not pursuing them.

Glazer's aren't sugar daddy, but Robben and Sneijder weren't actually expensive players back then, they move for around 30M. If SAF wants them I don't think 30M would be an issue.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Just watching seasons 2008 and 2009 reviews. Personally i think that United team from 2008 is our best team ever. Despite i enjoyed watching 1999 team and Cantona's team from early 90s but this team was amazing.
World class back 5 with Rio and Vidic as best defending duo in the world, world class midfield in Carrick and Scholes, world class attack in Rooney and Tevez with Ronaldo as best player in the world. On top of that we had excellent squad depth in players like Park, Nani, O'Shea, Saha, Pique and Hargreaves.

That squad didn't have any flaw. We played attacking football with innovative asymmetric 442 formation with which we were dominant against any team and our team was full of players with strong and competitive characters.
That team should and could have been best in Europe next 5 years and be remembered as one of the best Euro sides ever (like Pep's Barca or Sacchi's Milan). But it lasted only two years. Why Fergie allowed that to happen?

Imo, Fergie did several mistakes in summer 2009.
1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

1) Letting Ronaldo go is the right decision. If player wants to go then let him go, Sir Alex promised him to go. (No Mistake on this)
2) Letting Tevez go is fine but not signing a replacement for him is a mistake. We were linked with Benzema but Benzema's desire was to join Real unfortunately to be the next R9 his idol.
3) Fletcher stepped up and played big part in 08/09. In 09/10 Fletcher was in PFA Team of The Year, we pretty much already had quality replacement. Too bad for his illness that he couldn't last long to perform in the club. (No Mistake on Hargreaves)
4) Evans was actually playing very well in 08/09 season, perfect for backup rather than stalling world class talented Pique on the bench, we sold him in summer 2008 anyway not 2009. (No Mistake on this)
5) Valencia was very good for us, his role is different to Ronaldo. Rather than scoring goals, he produced assists and he was assist king for Rooney in his first three years, also with Valencia & Nani on the wing, it's more suitable to play 442. Valencia isn't the issue, we just didn't have another world class striker beside Rooney in 09/10. (No Mistake on Valencia to me).

Biggest summer mistake of Sir Alex was, not to sign Van Der Sar as direct replacement of Schmeichel.

 

[2 man midfield]

I’ve said it loads on here, but for me the chronic underspending seen between 2009 and 2013 is the main reason we’re in this mess right now.

 

[gerdm07]

1. We were very good but Barcelona were that much better and showed it in the final. Even if Ronaldo stayed Barca were going to be the best team for the next 5 years
2. By 2009 Messi was the best player in the world winning the CL and Ballon d'Or (and in 2010, 2011 and 2012)
3. Fergi didn't make a mistake letting Ronaldo go, there was little he could do.

 

[Peyroteo]

Didn't Ronaldo pretty much triple his wages when he moved to Madrid despite Madrid being half the team United were at the time? I think his 'dream' of going there could have easily changed had United been able to give him a similar contract.

The underspending started with Ronaldo and Tevez leaving to get more money at teams that at the time were clearly inferior. I don't know enough about it to understand why it happened though.

 

[Sandikan]

Just watching seasons 2008 and 2009 reviews. Personally i think that United team from 2008 is our best team ever. Despite i enjoyed watching 1999 team and Cantona's team from early 90s but this team was amazing.
World class back 5 with Rio and Vidic as best defending duo in the world, world class midfield in Carrick and Scholes, world class attack in Rooney and Tevez with Ronaldo as best player in the world. On top of that we had excellent squad depth in players like Park, Nani, O'Shea, Saha, Pique and Hargreaves.

That squad didn't have any flaw. We played attacking football with innovative asymmetric 442 formation with which we were dominant against any team and our team was full of players with strong and competitive characters.
That team should and could have been best in Europe next 5 years and be remembered as one of the best Euro sides ever (like Pep's Barca or Sacchi's Milan). But it lasted only two years. Why Fergie allowed that to happen?

Imo, Fergie did several mistakes in summer 2009.
1) Ronaldo. Fergie has reputation as ruthless manager. Allowing best player in the world who is under long term contract to leave in his best years just because "Real is his dream" was bad decision.
2) Tevez. Not doing everything and on time to keep Tevez was mistake.
3) Not signing quality in midfield where Hargreaves was injury plagued and right back where we only had Brown was mistake.
4) Selling Pique season earlier was mistake
5) Even if he couldn't stop Tevez and Ronaldo transfers then he should have bought another top players on that positions. Not bloody Valencia and Owen.

To deal with this quickly, in case you weren't around, or have forgotten

1) We'd already done very well to keep him one more season. Only Fergie's relationship secured that.
2)Agent. Tevez. Man City huge fee. Easily explained.
3)Potentially.
4)Never keeping either of our main two out, and he wanted to go home
5)Potentially, but Valencia was absolutely superb at the start, and we only narrowly missed out on the league.