Good you included the key point there. What SAF spends over the course of a decade, Maureen spends over the course of a month. And outspent everyone in the 90s? Yeah, we spent so much on Giggs, Scholes, Beckham et al to replace players like Ince, Kanchelskis and Sharpe who were all sold for pennies
As has been pointed out, Mourinho outclassed your three £30m signings and co in the CL with a fraction of the expenditure Ferguson had. You spent bucket-loads there is no denying that. You simply did what Chelsea and City have done over a longer period of time but Sky and the other pro-United media have successfully managed to convince football fans otherwise. The issue that remains is whether the money spent was "earnt legitimately" or not. United fans say their money is earnt and City's/Chelsea's isn't I'd say the opposite as would City/Chelsea fans. Only thing is the media side with United over Chelsea/City. There's a reason they're called the red-tops
Everybody knows what self-pompous dickheads "a lot of" United fans are though. I've heard many a story which now isn't the time or place discuss but I think you know Drogs. There is a reason why Stoke and Sunderland fans celebrated jubilantly along with the UK when Chelsea and City won the PL on the last day respectively.
One of my points is Fergie was lucky to inherit so many good youngsters at once, and your comment just emphasises that really. No one else in the P.L era has been able to sell so many established stars and replace them with players as good if not better from the youth team. Fergie done well to trust them and intergrate them but I bet he had very little to do with them all ariving at once - which happens to 1 or 2 sides in a generation.
Fergie is the luckiest manager ever for all the reasons stated by King Ossie and co. His 2 CL's came from an opponent slipping during a penalty kick and the biggest fluke ever seen in CL history having been comprehensively outplayed and out-thought in the final by Bayern. When he's really had to try and use tactics he's failed miserably, as emphasised by the humiliations in CL finals by Barca in Rome and London. Carlos Queiroz was the brains behind their success from 06-08. It's no surprise to me (nor should it be to anyone else) that United defensively and as a team in general have declined since his departure. Fergie does little (if any work) on the tactical side of the game, he leaves that to his number 2.
So to sum up: - He was lucky the board gave him time to overhaul the club from nearly men to winners..Luck He was lucky that he revolutionised the youth team set up..Luck He was lucky that Terry slipped(Oh how I laughed.Couldn't have happened to a nicer man)...Luck(I'll give you that one) He was'nt unlucky that he came up against a side that was considered best in the world with the worlds best player at the time..No he was just ****. He was lucky that Carlos was his number 2...Considering he was the brains of the outfit you'd have thought he would have gone on to be one of your "top 10 " managers...Oh wait Please also explain the other successes gained without Carlos Also.Check the irony.The guy in your avatar respects him as one of,if not, the best. I suppose that's luck as well. how the **** are you a moderator?
Seeing as this has now been made about ferguson. Ask yourselves this. Do you think fergue could do what he has done for United at any other club. Indeed win numerous consecutive titles at consecutive clubs? Nobody doubts he's a great manager, but only for united. We as football fans like to judge the greatness of a player based on their ability to win things with different sides at both club and national level. For example, every one knows Messi is a brilliant player but could he reach the same heights at Stoke? The point people are making is that ferguson has had a lifetime at one club to mould how he sees fit, create a team of winners from less than sparkling individuals and dominate a league he knows well. He has never been tested elsewhere and therefore lacks credentials to be named as a true great of managing. Lets see him win La Liga, Seria A and the Bundesliga 3 years on the trot with 3 different teams and then we'll decide.
When Mourinho is Fergie's age he will be the undoubted best of all time as he will have won more trophies than anyone else. Fergie even said this himself.
Mourinho is just a better, more pragmatic, sane, non-bitter, more tactically apt manager than Fergie. No surprise that to this day Fergie has only ever beaten Jose once as manager of both Porto or Chelsea in about 10 attempts. And even that was a fluke, we totally battered them but Van Der Sar had the game of his life.
Even as a Chelsea fan I dislike Fergie but Sir Alex Ferguson has to be right up there in the top 10 because of the amount of success he has had is unreal but he has not managed anywhere else. For me Mourinho is the greatest manager of all-time because Jose has managed in different leagues such as the Primeira Liga, Premier League, Serie A and Spanish La Liga, and won them all and also he's won the Champions League twice with FC Porto and Inter Milan.
Why would he have to manage elsewhere to prove himself as a great? Like you said he has created a team of winners but he's also rebuilt winning UTD teams numerous times(Luck?). It's all well throwing in the argument that he's only been successful in the Prem, but look at Wenger and Arsenal to realize how hard it is to maintain.
Chelsea fans seem to be upset that Fergie didn't roll over like every other manager when Roman came along and splashed the roubles. No doubt they expected their club to dominate the league but Fergie has won more titles than Chelsea and seen off numerous managers, including Mourinho, during Roman's tenure. Fair play to old red nose.
On a smaller budget he built a team to grind a dominant Chelsea back into a position of inferiority which resulted in Roman sacking Jose.
You don't know how happy I was when Jose left Chelsea. He would have been able to have built a dynasty if it weren't for the mad Russian.
I might be wrong but wasn't Alex Ferguson the last manager to win a European trophy with a scottish team and also the last manager of a team that wasn't Celtic or Rangers to win the title in Scotland? (i realise I may be wrong and it could have been Dundee united but if that's the case then so be it).