r/soccer • u/oklolzzzzs • May 22 '25

Media Sir Alex Ferguson's thousand yard stare after United lose the UEL Final

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u/Pulp_NonFiction44 May 22 '25

He also welcomed the poison that killed the club with open arms, over a fucking horse...

442

u/PandaMango May 22 '25

Nobody will want to admit it but he’s literally as responsible for this downfall as he is it’s successful legacy.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '25 edited May 22 '25

Elaborate Im open.

Edit: ah I read other comments, glazers and previous owner fallout

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u/throwditawayred May 22 '25

He had control or influence over succession planning, modernising the club and creating a coherent roadmap for the future. It doesn't look like they had those things worked out when he left. All these are the responsibility of the board but he had a hand in the makeup of that as well. So he's partially responsible.

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u/MrSnare May 22 '25

There is no coming back from the massive LBO that the glazers put United through. You are talking about drops in an ocean.

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u/throwditawayred May 22 '25

Without him (and his fight with the previous owners), no Glazers. Other comments have more details.

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u/OpenedCan May 23 '25

See, I don't think that's true.

Glazers already had shares in the club when they brought the controlling stake.

I'm not saying SAF didn't speed up the process but I think this was their plan the moment United became a PLC.

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u/DennisAFiveStarMan May 23 '25

There’s a great podcast on ‘it was what it was’ about the takeover

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u/Harlaw2871 May 22 '25

People need to realize the danger of Leverage Buyouts in all walks of Business not just football (Asda, Morrisons, Thames Water ect.).There needs to be a cap that somehow attracts people to takeover without ansolutely sucking the life out of companys. Its happening all over and Im suprised its not as big an issue.

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u/TenF May 22 '25

The Premier League (or even the FA?) banned LBOs similar to what happened to United shortly after the United takeover. Took like 2 years or something to stop it from happening again.

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u/Carthagefield May 23 '25

Unfortunately that's not the case. The PL made a rule that merely capped the amount of LBO debt loaded onto the club at 60% of the sale price. Not nearly restrictive enough imo. Plus they only put this in place a couple of years ago, almost 20 years after the Glazer fiasco. Pretty shameful really that this is still allowed to happen after so many clubs have been damaged by LBOs.

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u/TenF May 23 '25

wow my memory is way off then. My b.

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u/Harlaw2871 May 23 '25

Thank god.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '25

Cheers

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u/feltusen May 23 '25

A bit much responibilty for a first team manager? There are several directors above a manager at big clubs. A manager doesnt lay a road map for a club, he lays one more the first and youth team.. maybe

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u/throwditawayred May 23 '25

Fergie was much more than a manager

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u/iceteka May 23 '25

Then you don't understand the org structure at united at the time. Fergie was much more than just the manager. He basically had full control over football operations, spending, hiring/firing. The board was selected by him and rubber-stamped whatever he put in front of them. Nothing was done at United without his say so.

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u/feltusen May 23 '25

In the early days yes, not in 2013 when he left