Loyal to the last

Mark McGhee: "I think he would feel he is proving himself to his father more than anything else. I think he would want to prove his father that he could maintain his standards. Everyone who gets close to him feels that, if you are performing badly, you are letting him down and I think he doesn't want to let his family down. It's a very working-class ethic."
If a thing's worth doing it's worth doing well, said Alexander Ferguson Senior. Sir Alex Ferguson has done football management so extraordinarily well for so long that his life in the game is not only unprecedented but, in near-certainty, unrepeatable.
Discipline and good manners were also in the family tradition. Along with something else. And if Alexander Ferguson Senior were here to be asked what he felt of his elder son's life, he would express nothing but pride.
The Fergusons always did believe in loyalty.

The most important man at Manchester United

This situation was especially acute with Edwin van der Sar due to retire at the end of the season, Gary Neville displaying form that would lead him to follow suit, along with Paul Scholes, and Giggs also ageing and not to mention Rio Ferdinand's problems with his back. The future rested on Rooney's shoulders. It seemed to be worse season for United.
Ferguson went in mid-November to an audience in Qatar, where he was attending a conference.
Ferguson said: "You must always remember that the most important man at Manchester United is the manager. The minute a footballer becomes more important than the manager, your club is dead. The history of this club goes right down the drain. Sir Matt Busby, under whom United won their first European title, was the most important man and I am the most important man at Manchester United and it has to be that way because no player could jeopardize his control of the dressing room."

Ronaldo goes, the debt grows

By the start of 2010, ManU's debts had grown to more than £700 million and it looked as if much of what would otherwise have been Ferguson's transfer budget was being diverted by Glazers to pay their interest bill.
After ManU won the CL over Chelsea in Moscow 2008, Ferguson swears that they would keep Cristiano Ronaldo out of Real Madrid's clutches for at least two years and maybe a lot longer, which proved hopelessly optimistic. Within one year, a world record offer of £81 million had proved irresistible.
Now Ferguson's United, who used to break records as buyers, were sellers and Real, whom Gerguson had come to detest. appeared to be using them almost as a feeder club.

Beaten by Barça

The CL-final 2009. Manchester United vs. FC Barcelona.

In the first minute, Ronaldo struck a free-kick with such power that Victor Valdes could only parry. Park tried to pounce but was thwarted by Pique.

Far another nine minutes, Barcelona were embarrassingly nervous. Unforced errors sent the ball out of the play, Touré and Puyol ran into each other.

But football is like when a great boxer gets knocked down. It doesn't mean he won't win the fight. But for the rest of the three minutes, until he hears the bell, he's going to struggle. In football, unfortunately, there's no bell.

After the significant tactical change of Guardiola, starting with Samuel Eto'o rather than Messi to the right of the front trio so that Messi could link with Iniesta in the middle, the things worked again for Barcelona. Barcelona won the CL.

Arsenal on top

The morning after the end of the 1996/97 season, Cantona requested a meeting with Ferguson. He didn't waste time in confirming his decision to leave football. Ferguson wash't very surprised.
Cantona was gone, but Old Trafford continued to echo to the 'Marseilleise'. The music would never die. Cantona was immortal.
Ferguson tried to replace him with Teddy Sheringham, who cam from Tottenham for £3.5 million.
Sheringham scored 14 goals that first season and Cole 26, but the team could not dominate at home. Arsenal were the team of that season. It was Arsenal who won the Double, and Arsenal who had the manager everyone was talking about: Arsène Wenger.

Eric Cantona

Martin Edwards asked Ferguson about Cantona's reputation for tempestuousness, which had been fostered by reports of fights with team-mates as well as angry gestures to fans and, ably eleven months earlier, insults delivered to the faces of the French Football Federation officials who had disciplined him, after which he had announced his retirement from the game at the age of 25. Ferguson replied that Gérard Houllier, the French national team manager at the time, had recently tipped him off about Cantona, stressing that he was a far easier professional to handle than those reports might suggest, and a talent worth making allowances for.
Houllier's word was good enough for Ferguson. The deal was on. The transfer costed £1.3 million.
Cantona was to make United champions that very season.
He was to help them claim four titles in five seasons.

Beating Barcelona

Ferguson's United followed in Aberdeen's footsteps by beating one of the Spanish giant, in this case Barcelona, in the final of de Cup-Winner's Cup.

It was not the greatest of matches and the poor turnout by Barcelona supporters did nothing for the atmosphere. But United deserved to beat Johan Cruyff's team.

Robson slipped Hughes through and, although in evading the sprawl of Barcelona's goalkeeper, Carlos Busquets, the Welshman appeared to give himself too demanding an angle for a shot, the force and accuracy with which he struck it left helpless the two defenders striving to cover. 

Robson swigged champagne and Koeman swallowed disappointment, thats football.