If SAF was still the gaffer, would he be competing with Pep/Klopp?

[VeevaVee]

Yes I think so. He'd have done another rebuild and probably begrudgingly accepted the insane prices about now. Would likely be his best rebuild ever, knowing the points he'd need to reach (which I firmly believe he could've achieved with his best sides if needed anyway). Would certainly have been one of the most interesting to watch. The rebuild would've started about when he left or a little later, and probably be in prime position for these last 2 seasons and going in to the next.

 

[Eriku]

Yes.

One thing that he didn’t get enough credit for was his insistence of making character a huuuge part of his evaluation of a transfer. He knew, or could figure out quickly, whether players had the required mentality, and he always made sure to retain a core of winners, so that it could rub off on the rest.

As if football has changed too much in 6 years for Fergie to keep up. He managed to have United catch the wave during the biggest changes we’ve ever seen to the game.

 

[lsd]

He wouldn't have Pogba in his team that's for sure.

There would be boots flying to ppls faces in away dressing rooms...

Pretty sure he would .

 

[Ludens the Red]

Exactly. People keep saying times have changed, well it always changed from 80s and he adapted to every challenge.

This is the man who got 77 points in 30 games, 84 points in 34 games in his last season and that was with average team.

Yeah basically you know how people (United fans it has to be said) kinda pretended football began in 1992. That is basically happening now, people are pretending football began last year and city and Liverpool are the be and end of everything in football.

 

[Minimalist]

He's pretty fecking old. I'm sure he'd be doing a reasonable job but think his energy would be severely challenged by now.

 

[hasanejaz88]

I wouldn't say the quality of the league has "massively improved" compared to 2012-2013. There's a reason why English clubs did terribly in Europe immediately after Fergie retired, the overall standard plummeted. That standard has now been raised back to what it was because of Pep and Klopp, as proven by the recent improved competitiveness of English teams in Europe.

Yes I agree, English football was at its nadir from 2012-16 and only the last couple of seasons have they improved with the arrival of Pep and Klopp. That's why I mentioned that I think SAF would've won in 2015-16, maybe one before that as well but I don't think he would've won it more with Pep and Klopp developing their teams to the level they are now.

 

[FattyFooty]

I find it almost funny how anyone could doubt that.

He's rebuild an entire squad 4 times. We seen all managers go out on date. He never did. He never failed. When everyone cried we needed a midfielder. He got us RVP and won the league.

SAF is the greatest manager of all time. Do you people think our lineup would look anything like what we have now? He would not compete. He would still be winning things.

In fact he's the biggest winner ever.

 

[Okey]

Serious question??? SAF was a genius manager. Easily the best manager ever in club football. Yes we've seen a couple seasons of great new fangled football but to doubt SAF?! Nah... Let's not get carried away.

 

[McGrathsipan]

Football has moved on. Pep and Klopp are playing completely different styles of football to the 90s and early 2000s.

Having said that, SAF was and is probably still the boss. Won everything there was to win. If he was still around managing us today, how competitive would we be? Would we be winning the league with Pep and Klopp around? Or would he struggle?

Have you forgotten how bad we were under fergie for a few seasons - winning with that team in 2013 was a miracle

 

[reelworld]

Yes.

One thing that he didn’t get enough credit for was his insistence of making character a huuuge part of his evaluation of a transfer. He knew, or could figure out quickly, whether players had the required mentality, and he always made sure to retain a core of winners, so that it could rub off on the rest.

As if football has changed too much in 6 years for Fergie to keep up. He managed to have United catch the wave during the biggest changes we’ve ever seen to the game.

This has been missing from our recruitment and cleaning up the squad post Fergie. Fergie knows exactly who don't have it anymore in the squad and when to let them go. He knows a target who have "it" and who doesn't. He gets it wrong once in a while, but he'll get it right most of the time.

 

[marukomu]

No. The club is run like a fecking theme park. Expect major new attractions this Summer.

 

[Bulldog United]

Competing with Klopp? He still hasn’t won anything yet at Liverpool, unless you want to include the very prestigious Premier League Asian (Friendly) Championship.

Klopp would still be trying to compete with our Fergie.

Let’s see how that lot does in the next season when they lose all the lucky decisions that VAR will stamp out.

 

[Fridge chutney]

literally the entire face of English football would be different if Ferguson hadn’t left. Different players would have joined different teams, different sides would have won different titles, Ferguson would have responded to city like he responded to every single challenge he ever faced and come out on top. I fully believe that city or Liverpool simply wouldn’t be where they are if he was still going, and even if we entertain the hypothetical and pretend they’re up there getting 90 plus points,then yes, obviously Alex Ferguson would be competing.

This ‘left at right time’ and all similar bullshit is so idiotic, the game changed in England because he left. He didn’t get out of anything. Unless you can point to evidence of a challenge he didn’t meet and overcome you’re just talking hypothetical babble. Because people on the other side can demonstrate endlessly where he overcame every single rival. Do people forget mourinho came in and hit 95 points and could hardly concede while united were at a low point. Three years later we were playing the best football we ever have under Ferguson with the two best young players in England destroying teams.

Thank you. Excellent post. Should be stickied to the top of this thread.

 

[Velvet Revolver]

wonder what he would have thought of value in the market these days

 

[Aloysius's Back 3]

Replaced Ronaldo with Valencia & Young.

 

[Bojan11]

Replaced Ronaldo with Valencia & Young.

Who do you support? Looking through your posts not convinced.

Btw he won two leagues after Ronaldo left, lost one on goal difference and the other due to Martin Atkinson’s incompetence.

 

[Aloysius's Back 3]

Who do you support? Looking through your posts not convinced.

Btw he won two leagues after Ronaldo left, lost one on goal difference and the other due to Martin Atkinson’s incompetence.

And I need to convince you why?

SAF is the greatest manager but he got out of the league at the right time to leave in a great positive manner.

Football is different these days and whilst no doubt SAF would have been better for us than all the other managers we had - to think he would be as consistent is merely guess work.

Look at wolves now. Look at Everton team. Look at City's team. Look at their manager and the way they play football. Look at Klopp and the way he has them playing football. Look at what conte had done in one season only to leave in the next.

All the whilst - we sold arguably the greatest footballer of all time to replace him with the likes of Valencia, young Owen and Obertan. Now SAF was experienced and great enough to win a title with his tactics and by going after arsenal's best player - but I honestly don't see football being easy for someone who was already old and had extended his career from his initial retirement dates.

 

[2mufc0]

Of course and I would back him to come out on top in the long run. Why is a United fan asking this question?

 

[Cloud7]

At the very least, we would have spent the money we spent in the last 5 years much better under him. The old man loved a winger, CB and a striker, ironically the positions that we’re currently weakest in.

 

[Bojan11]

I’m convinced @Aloysius's Back 3 is a Liverpool fan on a wind up too.

Drools all over their players in their individual threads. Ok, so do some of our fans but he goes a bit over the top. Says we should never have sold Mkhitaryan and says he misses Van Gaal. Posts he wants us to sign Bale because everyone else on the forum doesn’t. Also got found out by @dirkey when he claimed he told everyone how wrong we were about getting rid of LVG for Mourinho despite joining in 2018. @KM you usually good at spotting this. I just have that hunch on this guy. Last thing we need is Liverpool fans with WUM accounts.

I’m sure there are other gems.

 

[Canagel]

Replaced Ronaldo with Valencia & Young.

. SAF was able to keep these players in and around the squad and still win because the core of the team was quality. Once the core had retired or been sold they got exposed.
Only because of poor recruiting by 3 managers we have suddenly found ourself relying on these players starting week in week out. Smalling, Jones, young etc is the real Japanese knotweeds in the squad.

 

[Giggs86]

If age wasn't the issue, and having the financial backing LVG/Mourinho had, we would probably have another 2007-2011 stretch right about now.

Best football manager of all time, by far.

 

[redIndianDevil]

I don't think so. We were brutalized by the new age Barca twice. We were not buying very well near the end of SAF's tenure. This is no slight in the great man, he was the boss for 20+ years, I don't think the likes of Klopp and Guardiola would last another 10 years.

 

[Kopral Jono]

Without a shadow of doubt, Fergie would thrive on the challenge.

 

[Eric7C]

Who do you support? Looking through your posts not convinced.

Btw he won two leagues after Ronaldo left, lost one on goal difference and the other due to Martin Atkinson’s incompetence.

And also got to a Champions League final..

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Fergie would beat the rest of the PL - that's the secret to winning the PL.

 

[reddevil702]

Yes, the biggest thing that’s missing from this team is character and mental strength. That would never be the case under SAF. We may not have had the most talented squad but there was never a doubt the team was ready for a fight.

 

[Bojan11]

I don't think so. We were brutalized by the new age Barca twice. We were not buying very well near the end of SAF's tenure. This is no slight in the great man, he was the boss for 20+ years, I don't think the likes of Klopp and Guardiola would last another 10 years.

Who wasn’t brutalised by that Barca team? They were probably one of the greatest team in history. We lost 2-0 and 3-1 in finals to them. We didn’t get embarrassed and even Mourinho found a way of winning a league against them. So there’s no doubt Fergie would have found a way eventually. We’d probably lose at Anfield and Emptihad. But we’d probably beat them at home and beat the rest of the teams.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Who wasn’t brutalised by that Barca team? They were probably one of the greatest team in history. We lost 2-0 and 3-1 in finals to them. We didn’t get embarrassed and even Mourinho found a way of winning a league against them. So there’s no doubt Fergie would have found a way eventually. We’d probably lose at Anfield and Emptihad. But we’d probably beat them at home and beat the rest of the teams.

But will that be enough? Liverpool has lost one game all season and still are a point below City, this is all hypothetical by the way so it's just a matter of opinions.

 

[Bojan11]

But will that be enough? Liverpool has lost one game all season and still are a point below City, this is all hypothetical by the way so it's just a matter of opinions.

This thread isn’t just about one season.

He probably wouldn’t have challenged them this season. But you damn sure he would have challenged them the next season and seen them off just like he did with Wenger and Mourinho. Both of those were revolutionary managers and changed the prem when they arrived. Yet Fergie eventually got the better of them.

 

[scholesyboy18]

Possibly an unpopular opinion, but I think he got out at the right time.

United 06-07. Best attacking football that I have seen from united, that's when we had a mean Chelsea defense and a good Liverpool/Arsenal team.
SAF adapts better than anybody else.

 

[Charlie Yu]

No, his incredible magic means that the board will give him even less money to spend than LVG/Jose and there is only so much he can do before the squad quality is simply too bad to grind some results.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Have you forgotten how bad we were under fergie for a few seasons - winning with that team in 2013 was a miracle

Was it though, in reality?

I said this a few weeks ago but we won the league with ease in 2013, getting points at every single one of our rivals in the top 6.

The team needed tweaking (especially in the midfield) but wasn’t a million miles off. We fell miles behind between August 2013 and May 2016. The money wasted on garbage whilst City planned for the Pep revolution.

 

[Adisa]

I'm not sure. Liverpool are going to finish second on 97 points. How many times did Fergie get close to that?

 

[Acheron]

No way, he retired at the right time as his brand of football was already getting outdated back then so it's something difficult for me to imagine, specially with the obscene amounts of money Manchester City has spent on their squad and infrastructure.

 

[Treble]

I've written on here that Fergies' greatest achievement was to see off Jose's Chelsea.

But if you think for a moment, Jose is prone to destruct himself after 2 years at a club. United 06-09 never came close to 95 pts, let alone 100 pts.

If the objective of the competition is to win a title and come on top 5 years from the start, Fergie might stand a chance against Guardiola. Over 3 years he can't beat Guardiola as the latter's intensity of coaching and tactical nous is on another level.

 

[The Nani]

All of you who are seriously asking this question can go support City.

 

[Treble]

I don't think Guardiola has the mentality to go through shit in the manner Fergie and Klopp have shown once and again. Guardiola might have failed at United 86-90. That's the drawback of his high-intensity approach to coaching.

 

[Isotope]

If he's allowed to spend a half billion with the top three highest paid players, I'm sure he'd make us competing year after year.

 

[Chabon]

United 06-09 never came close to 95 pts, let alone 100 pts.

It's no coincidence that four of the five highest points totals in PL history have come in the last three seasons. Regardless of people getting the vapours about mediocre Watford and Wolves sides, the league is more financially divided now than ever.

Christ, City basically have two first teams, whereas arguably our best ever team had Kieron Richardson and Alan Smith on the bench most weeks. Give Sir Alex the chance to spend the money we've wasted since he left and I don't see any reason to believe he wouldn't be smashing PL records. We were even on the way to doing so in his last season (first team to win 25 of their first 30 matches, for example) until we won the league early and downed tools.