please log in to view this image SIR Alex Ferguson will celebrate 25 years as Manchester United manager on Sunday - but life hasn't always been rosy in the Old Trafford garden for one of the greatest football boss's of all time. It's hard to imagine that Ferguson's reign began with a low-key defeat at Oxford United in November 1986. One of the greatest manager's of all-time struggled in his early years at Old Trafford before going on to lift 12 league titles and a whole host of cups. Here's a look back at the landmark matches in Ferguson's time at Old Trafford. GAME 1 - Oxford 2 Manchester United 0 (November 1986) It is a measure of how long Ferguson has been in charge that the Manor Ground no longer exists and Oxford have crashed out of the league and come back again. John Aldridge scored a penalty and Neil Slatter added another in a deserved win for the hosts. GAME 10 - Manchester United 4 Newcastle 1 (January 1987) Peter Jackson gave the Red Devils a fast start with a flying header - past his own goalkeeper. Norman Whiteside added a second and though the Magpies pulled one back, Frank Stapleton and Jesper Olsen completed victory in a match notable for Kevin Moran being forced off after swallowing his tongue. GAME 50 - Manchester United 2 Bury 1 (November 1987) A League Cup fourth-round tie but this was in the days before players were rested. Brian McClair and Norman Whiteside scored in an unconvincing win. United were knocked out in the next round and despite a second-place finish in the league, Ferguson had already decided major changes were needed. GAME 100 - Manchester United 2 Nottingham Forest 0 (December 1988) The pre-glory era was in full swing, with Fergie's Fledglings and Ralph Milne, who scored in this game, added to the mix. Jim Leighton had been installed as keeper, Mark Hughes had been brought back from Barcelona and teenager Lee Sharpe was playing at full-back. GAME 250 - Manchester United 0 Liverpool 0 (October 1991) Two trophies already bagged, Peter Schmeichel in goal, United's first title-winning side beginning to take shape, even if there was some nasty pain to experience at the end of this season as Ferguson's team collected one point from four games in eight days to hand the title to Leeds. GAME 500 - Manchester United 2 Manchester City 1 (February 1996) Now United are on a roll. Title drought over, a double won, the 'Class of 92' about to prove you can win anything with kids and Eric Cantona's ban served. Sharpe on target in this one after the Frenchman had converted a penalty. Another step towards another double. GAME 750 - Manchester United 5 Anderlecht 1 (September 2000) Andy Cole bags a hat-trick as United begin another European odyssey, their thrilling triumph over Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp and the treble it sealed as well still only 16 months old. GAME 1000 - Manchester United 2 Lyon 1 (November 2004) Ferguson's place amongst the managerial greats is already assured, although arguably the best is still to come. He did not know it at the time but United are heading for a fall. Twelve months after Ruud van Nistelrooy headed home the winner in this landmark game, they would be out in the group stages, Roy Keane would be sacked and Vodafone would quit as sponsors. GAME 1250 - Manchester United 1 Everton 0 (January 2009) Somehow fitting Cristiano Ronaldo, who as much as anyone launched United into their present golden era, should score the only goal from the penalty spot. United were on their way to completing another hat-trick of titles but they were about to encounter an improving Barcelona team who would go down as one of the greats. FERGUSON'S FIVE BEST ACHIEVEMENTS AT MANCHESTER UNITED 1990 - The first trophy. Sir Alex Ferguson had come as close as he ever would to getting the sack earlier in the season, and the FA Cup third-round victory over Nottingham Forest is often cited as the turning point in his and Manchester United's fortunes. The club went on to lift the cup, winning a final replay against Crystal Palace. 1993 - The first title. The signing of Eric Cantona, who had just won the league with Leeds, proved inspirational to Manchester United and they went on to win the first Premier League title campaign by 10 points from Aston Villa. 1996 - The phrase 'You'll win nothing with kids' came back to haunt Alan Hansen as Fergie's Fledglings shrugged off a slow start to pip Newcastle to the league title and beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final. 1999 - The treble. The strike partnership between Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke proved unstoppable as United reclaimed the league title from Arsenal, easily beat Newcastle in the FA Cup final and then pulled off the most stunning of last-gasp victories in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. Ferguson was knighted two weeks later. 2008 - A second European Cup and another league title. Ferguson's United piled on the pain for big-spending Chelsea, winning the Premier League and then seeing off Avram Grant's side on penalties in the final of the Champions League in Moscow. please log in to view this image Famous Fergie quotes On Ryan Giggs "I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind." On Gary Neville "If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman." On Paul Ince "I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like." On Italians "When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen." On the 1999 Champions League triumph "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell." On media criticism of Juan Sebastián Verón "On you go. I'm no ****ing talking to you. He's a ****ing great player. Yous are ****ing idiots." On Liverpool "My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their ****ing perch. And you can print that." On the 2003 title race "It's getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it." On kicking a boot into David Beckham's face in 2003 "It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!" On Filippo Inzaghi "That lad must have been born offside." On Arsène Wenger "They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!" On his former charges as managers "It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager. For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager, never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager." On the referee Alan Wiley "The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous." On José Mourinho "He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper." On Rafael BenÃtez, reacting to the Spaniard's infamous 'facts' press conference "I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous." On whether Liverpool would win the title in 2007 "You must be joking. Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?" On Old Trafford "The crowd were dead. It was like a funeral out there." In numbers 37 Major trophies 12 Premier League titles 2 Champions League wins 5 FA Cups 4 League Cups 3 Trophies in the 1998-99 treble 1,408 Manchester United games under Ferguson 1,922 Points in the Premier League 1,798 Premier League goals 45 United's longest unbeaten run in all competitions under Ferguson 9-0 Manchester United's biggest win under Ferguson, against Ipswich Town at Old Trafford in 1995 6-1 Ferguson's heaviest defeat, two weeks ago at home to Manchester City 91st The minute of the equaliser from Teddy Sheringham in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich 93rd The minute of the winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 26 Years Manchester United were waiting for a league title before Ferguson's first in 1993 3 "Years of excuses and it's still crap … TA RA FERGIE", a banner seen at Old Trafford in December 1989 £30.75m Paid to Tottenham Hotspur for the services of Dimitar Berbatov in 2008, a club record fee £80m Received from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo, a world record. £625,000 Spent on Denis Irwin, regarded by Ferguson as his greatest signing "pound for pound" £1.2m Spent on Eric Cantona, who signed from Leeds United in November 1992 £60,000 Ferguson's estimated annual salary when he joined in 1986 £5m His current annual salary 7 Years without giving interviews to the BBC after a controversial Panorama investigation into his son Jason 14 The number of managers to have occupied the Manchester City dugout while Ferguson has been at United 17 Games missed by Ferguson due to touchline bans
I signed the SAF online tribute book last night at www.saf25.com.M.U.S.T are going to do a one off printed bound copy of the book and present it to Sir Alex at the end of the season.My name will be in it.Will yours?
Big Ron would have done just as well but its obvious Bobby Charlton didnt like him and he wanted Ron out of the club. Ron had charisma and style and dont forget Fergie didnt even come close to winning the title until 1992 whereas Ron had come very close a good few times and another season or two and we would have definately won it.
Don't get me wrong, I hate Manchester United as much as the next Liverpool fan, but one thing must be said is that I have HUGE amounts of respect for SAF and what he has done to Manchester United. He's about the only thing related to Manchester United that I don't mind tipping my hat too.
