Alternative Football History Part V – Fergie fired by Manchester United!

Manchester United fans are currently seeing what it is like to go through a barren spell without winning silverware following years of success under Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Scot retired in 2013 following a hugely successful tenure at Old Trafford. In all, Manchester United won 38 trophies with Ferguson at the helm, including 13 league titles, 5 FA Cups and 2 Champions Leagues.
Ferguson was also knighted for his services in sport in 1999, the year that he led Manchester United to the league, FA Cup and Champions League in one season or what was to become known as the Treble .

It was not always a successful time for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and there was a very real chance that he would get fired at one stage in his time at the club.
In early 1990, many Manchester United fans were calling for his head. Having left Aberdeen in 1986, where he had a successful time to take over from Ron Atkinson at Old Trafford, Ferguson had yet to win a trophy. Excuses were wearing thin and fans and ex-players were voicing their discontent. Manchester United were considered a great club that had been under-achieving for a long time and this needed to change, and fast.

United had started the 1989/90 season with a resounding 4-1 hammering of champions Arsenal but would then only win one of their next five games, including three consecutive defeats.
Their last league match of September was the first Manchester derby of the season and was played at Maine Road. Their arch rivals Manchester City thumped United 5-1, their biggest victory in the derby for nearly 64 years. Alex Ferguson’s hold on his job was looking very precarious indeed.

United’s league form picked up in October and November but December brought along more misery for their fans.
In the six league matches that they played, United didn’t win a single game, with four of the matches ending in defeat.

At the turn of the year, rumours had circulated that the vultures were gathering and a defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup could cost Ferguson his job.
Forest were doing quite well in the league and were fifth in the table. They had reached the FA Cup in the last two seasons and were playing some great football under enigmatic manager Brian Clough.

This game is now considered a landmark game as if Manchester United had lost, Alex Ferguson would have been shown the door. As it was, United’s Mark Robins scored the only goal of the game and it was the visitors who progressed to the next round.
United went on to win the FA Cup that season and there was never any talks of Ferguson being fired again. He stayed on as manager for the next 23 years before retiring as the most successful manager in English football.

But what if Mark Robins missed and Manchester United lost the game? Let’s find out….

The score is still 0-0 at the City Ground and Manchester United Mark Hughes has the ball 30 yards from goal. He hits a through-ball to Mark Robins with the outside of his right foot.
The young forward ran through and connected with Hughes’s pass with a header but his effort flew past the near post.

With five minutes of the game remaining, Nottingham Forest got a free kick at the edge of the box after Lee Martin tripped Nigel Clough.
Stuart Pearce raced up and smashed the ball hard and flew past the United wall and into the top corner of the net. Nigel Clough scored a second in injury time to send Nottingham Forest through to the Fourth Round.

The next morning Alex Ferguson was called in to meet Martin Edwards and the rest of the Manchester United board and was dismissed with immediate effect.
Numerous managers were linked with the role but in a move that shocked the footballing world, George Graham left Arsenal and became the next Manchester United manager.
Graham had won the league title in the previous season at Arsenal and had slowly been changing things around at the North London club. Nobody could ever have seen Graham leaving Arsenal and for Manchester United it was considered a massive coup.

In a bizarre twist, Alex Ferguson took over from Graham at Highbury. George Graham wasted no time and brought in two players from Arsenal. David Rocastle and Tony Adams were signed together for a combined total of £6 million.

Manchester United’s form picked up and without the distraction of the FA Cup, they were able to put a run of wins together.
Rocastle offered some much-needed skill in midfield. Tony Adams took the captain’s armband and formed a great partnership in the centre of the United defence with Gary Pallister.

Ferguson was finding it slightly harder to adjust to life at Arsenal. He was initially reluctant to sell Tony Adams but was promised some of the funds gained from his sale. Sadly for Arsenal, he was unable to find a new centre back in time to replace their captain and 31 year old David O’Leary partnered Steve Bould in the centre of defence.
Arsenal finished tenth at the end of the season and Manchester United ended their league campaign in sixth.

In the summer of 1990, Ferguson only brought in one new signing to Highbury. It was his former golkeeper Jim Leighton who had played for Ferguson at Aberdeen and Manchester United. He took the number one jersey from John Lukic who moved to Leeds United.

Paul Merson became the fourth player to follow their manager to their new club following the managerial swap as he completed a record £2.75 million move.
David Seaman joined Merson at Old Trafford from QPR as a replacement for Jim Leighton who was reunited with Alex Ferguson at Arsenal.
Martin Edwards announced in the press that he was giving George Graham all the funds that were needed to make Manchester United great again.
Graham was able to open the chequebook one more time before the start of the season and this was to be a signing of monumental proportions.
Rudi Voller was signed from Roma for £4 million after the West German scored three goals in the World Cup in the summer.

Voller was one of the only foreign players in the English game and he took the English First Division by storm.
1990/91 season was the best season in Manchester United’s season. They won the league by 4 points.
With David Seaman in goal and the centre back partnership of Tony Adams and Gary Pallister, United only conceded 21 goals.
Up front Rudi Voller scored an incredible 31 goals in the league and his strike partner Mark Hughes scored 22. Many of those goals were set up by ex-Arsenal stars Paul Merson and David Rocastle, who chipped in with 18 goals between them.

Down in North London, Arsenal’s title win of 1989 seemed like a distant memory. They finished the 1990/91 season in a disappointing 9th position and the following season they ended their league season in 15th.
Alex Ferguson resigned at the end of the season and returned to Aberdeen where he had been very successful in the early 80’s.
George Graham won the League and Cup Double in 1991/92 with his Manchester United team, just as he had in 1970/71 as a player with Arsenal. Sadly four days after he lifted the FA Cup in a 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, Graham made the news but for all the wrong reasons.

The Sun ran a story alleging that Graham had taken a bung when signing Pal Lydersen for United four months previously.
Lydersen’s agent Rune Hauge gave Graham a cash payment of £30,000 when the Norway international moved to Old Trafford in January 1992.

George Graham left Manchester United in disgrace three days after the story was printed and never managed again. Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen went on to win every trophy in the Scottish domestic game.

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