I would say Moyes is his biggest mistake ever..
Sir Alex’s biggest mistakes
- Thread starter TheReligion
- Start date
That was impossible for the club in 1999.
Leaving behind a weak team. There were multiple mistakes after he left but I definitely think his planning became more short term. He was desperate to win the title back off City even if it meant the squad was ageing and not good enough once he finished.
Yep not signing VDS is 100% on Edwards
Most things were covered perfectly already so I won’t repeat them.
Nothing can really top Moyes, I knew he would be a disaster since the second the rumors started, how the greatest manager of all time didn’t is beyond me.
- The underinvestment in midfield, I think it was a combination of three things.
Glazers
He wanted to leave space for Ravel Morrison and Pogba to make the midfield their own.
The relative failures of most of his midfield signings over the years. Only Keane, Ince and Carrick turned out as fantastic signings whilst Veron, Hargreaves, Anderson, Kleberson, Djemba Djemba, Poborsky turned out not so well for various reasons.
Robson, Ince, Keane, Carrick, Butt, Scholes and Fletcher were United’s best midfielders during our Premier League years of success, you can include Giggs in here as well.
So perhaps he wanted to leave a blank canvas for the next manager to build his own midfield.
- Not replacing Stam in 2001-2002 after investing in RvN and Veron was one of the two reasons why we ended the season trophyless, Blanc was not a replacement he was completely past it.
The other was SAF early announcement of retirement, imo, should’ve waited for the end of the season for that (which is what he had done when he actually retired in 2013, that was the correct way to do it).
Christ, I still have nightmares of Brown/Blanc/Silvestre horror shows in CB.
What an unbalanced team that was, such a brilliant midfield, world class striker, with midtable defence and a disaster in goal, what could go wrong.
- I saw a few posters mentioning Veron as a mistake, well in hindsight it didn’t work out, but he was probably the second best midfielder in Serie A at the time, we really couldn’t have bought a “better” player.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that reason why he was bought were the defeats to Madrid and Bayern, which makes total sense.
SAF wanted to dominate Europe with a midfield 3, it didn’t work out but the idea was there.
We were out thought but they were in no way a better side.
The European Cup was there for the taking at the time, we should have invested more in the team, and at least made another final.
Nothing can really top Moyes, I knew he would be a disaster since the second the rumors started, how the greatest manager of all time didn’t is beyond me.
- The underinvestment in midfield, I think it was a combination of three things.
Glazers
He wanted to leave space for Ravel Morrison and Pogba to make the midfield their own.
The relative failures of most of his midfield signings over the years. Only Keane, Ince and Carrick turned out as fantastic signings whilst Veron, Hargreaves, Anderson, Kleberson, Djemba Djemba, Poborsky turned out not so well for various reasons.
Robson, Ince, Keane, Carrick, Butt, Scholes and Fletcher were United’s best midfielders during our Premier League years of success, you can include Giggs in here as well.
So perhaps he wanted to leave a blank canvas for the next manager to build his own midfield.
- Not replacing Stam in 2001-2002 after investing in RvN and Veron was one of the two reasons why we ended the season trophyless, Blanc was not a replacement he was completely past it.
The other was SAF early announcement of retirement, imo, should’ve waited for the end of the season for that (which is what he had done when he actually retired in 2013, that was the correct way to do it).
Christ, I still have nightmares of Brown/Blanc/Silvestre horror shows in CB.
What an unbalanced team that was, such a brilliant midfield, world class striker, with midtable defence and a disaster in goal, what could go wrong.
- I saw a few posters mentioning Veron as a mistake, well in hindsight it didn’t work out, but he was probably the second best midfielder in Serie A at the time, we really couldn’t have bought a “better” player.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that reason why he was bought were the defeats to Madrid and Bayern, which makes total sense.
SAF wanted to dominate Europe with a midfield 3, it didn’t work out but the idea was there.
Real Madrid were NOT a better side at the time, they literally finished fifth in the league.
We were out thought but they were in no way a better side.
The European Cup was there for the taking at the time, we should have invested more in the team, and at least made another final.
Last edited:
Quite a long list people have accrued here 
I guess it's impossible not to make a host of mistakes in a job like this.
Rock of Gibraltar by order of magnitude the biggest. Maybe getting on board the Glazer train as an non-executive board member the second, instead of being a critical voice holding them to account the second. No value in the market the third, in a roundabout way excusing the debt riddled takeover. Moyes the fourth.
I guess it's impossible not to make a host of mistakes in a job like this.Rock of Gibraltar by order of magnitude the biggest. Maybe getting on board the Glazer train as an non-executive board member the second, instead of being a critical voice holding them to account the second. No value in the market the third, in a roundabout way excusing the debt riddled takeover. Moyes the fourth.
Thank you.
Even before this thread was created. There was no doubt in my mind this was the biggest mistake Ferguson committed. I can make excuses for any of his other errors as they all made a pale comparison to this.
This however, a fallout over a silly racehorse dispute, that presented the Glazers the perfect opportunity to slid in and purchase our club. That marks the start of the decline of our club.
There is absolutely no chance we are this badly run in the present due if it weren't for those parasites and leeches.
Just as well he did change his mind though, as we won another european cup and tonne of titles after.
Across the tie they were the better team and deserved the win, we didn't play horrendously at home but they took their chances and we didn't take ours. I don't dispute we could have done better but if we are looking at the 5 years following 99, I look at 02 and 04 as years we lost out to teams that were definitely not as good as us and in also at 03 with us freezing in the away leg before I look back at 00.
1.Selling Stam, and then replacing him with Blanc
Stam was an utter don, and the most disappointing sale I can remember bar Ronaldo.
You do wonder about the truth of it though. There were rumours about his book cheesing him off, and we dressed it up as him "losing" a bit of pace/ability etc. But you always wonder if we'd seen the drug ban looming, and got rid quick smart.
Bringing Blanc in about 5 years too late was woeful.
2. Trying to take major shareholders on regarding that bloody race horse.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/hors...ferguson-glazer-rock-of-gibraltar-cheltenham/
3. Doing things on the cheap, post Ronaldo.
We were still competitive, but we went from the best in Europe to dropping a major gear.
4. The "no value in the market" phase.
Whether covering for the Glazers, we seemed to refuse to buy players in certain positions, and make the best of what we had, rather than really asserting dominance with major recruitment.
5. Moyes
Laughably spinning it that he was the "chosen one", and then later on it emerging he was probably about 6th choice.
He shouldn't even have been on anyone's long list, let alone short list.
Unlike many, I don't think he left us particularly weak at all.
The Da Silva twins, Jones, Smalling and Evans were all rated as having high potential, it's not his fault they didn't develop as hoped for.
Cleverley was another who was affected by injury etc.
Van Persie dropping a gear so soon was unexpected too, though I put most of the season post Fergie drop off down to Moyes.
Stam was an utter don, and the most disappointing sale I can remember bar Ronaldo.
You do wonder about the truth of it though. There were rumours about his book cheesing him off, and we dressed it up as him "losing" a bit of pace/ability etc. But you always wonder if we'd seen the drug ban looming, and got rid quick smart.
Bringing Blanc in about 5 years too late was woeful.
2. Trying to take major shareholders on regarding that bloody race horse.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/hors...ferguson-glazer-rock-of-gibraltar-cheltenham/
3. Doing things on the cheap, post Ronaldo.
We were still competitive, but we went from the best in Europe to dropping a major gear.
4. The "no value in the market" phase.
Whether covering for the Glazers, we seemed to refuse to buy players in certain positions, and make the best of what we had, rather than really asserting dominance with major recruitment.
5. Moyes
Laughably spinning it that he was the "chosen one", and then later on it emerging he was probably about 6th choice.
He shouldn't even have been on anyone's long list, let alone short list.
Unlike many, I don't think he left us particularly weak at all.
The Da Silva twins, Jones, Smalling and Evans were all rated as having high potential, it's not his fault they didn't develop as hoped for.
Cleverley was another who was affected by injury etc.
Van Persie dropping a gear so soon was unexpected too, though I put most of the season post Fergie drop off down to Moyes.
Who is whinging? There’s actually been some interesting discussions
I think both SAF/Gill could see the way the wind was blowing with the Glazers/Woodwards way of running the club and got out. Moyes was an after thought, there was no succession planning because maybe the owners didn't see it coming or had some 'Moyes smoke' blown their way by SAF and Gill as cover, so they could get out? Guess we will never know for certain.
There have been very few and most of them have already been mentioned already.
Someone mentioned how we should've parked the bus against Barca in both the finals, absolutely spot on.
Especially in 11, we were taken apart in the first half, but somehow still went in at HT level 1-1. He absolutely should've added another midfielder and played for pens.
Someone mentioned how we should've parked the bus against Barca in both the finals, absolutely spot on.
Especially in 11, we were taken apart in the first half, but somehow still went in at HT level 1-1. He absolutely should've added another midfielder and played for pens.
Regularly on this forum there are posts about how SAF failed to do this and failed to do that, it’s ridiculous.
Nobody is perfect, but nobody got as much right as SAF either.
Before he retired, he did not build a team for the future. All that no value in the market nonsense to save fecking glazer's cash.
The choice of Moyes as his successor was like asking a boy racer to drive a Formula 1 car. Completely out of depth.
The failure to build on the treble success meant we waited another 9 years for a champions league title.
Other than these mistakes, can't complain. Was an absolute genius at bringing the best out of his players and marked an era in the history of the Premier league that is never going to be replicated.
The choice of Moyes as his successor was like asking a boy racer to drive a Formula 1 car. Completely out of depth.
The failure to build on the treble success meant we waited another 9 years for a champions league title.
Other than these mistakes, can't complain. Was an absolute genius at bringing the best out of his players and marked an era in the history of the Premier league that is never going to be replicated.
Yet again not reading what I said.
I did not say we wouldn't or couldn't have won, we could 100%. I said we should not say it should have happened or that we would have won at least 1 more. The competition was strong.
You can argue that City should have won a CL by now, but they completely failed, they chocked, and deserve a lot of criticism for it for the team they had.
I do not think its fair to say that SAF deserves a lot of criticism for it, the competition was tighter, we would be one of the favorites.
The transfer strategy at times after periods of success in Europe was lacking, though that might be more down to the structure of the club than Sir Alex. Irwin, Johnson and Schmiechal needed world class replacements post 99, there was no challenger to Becks or Giggs for the wide positions when either was off form, and Keane was often tasked with holding the midfield together all by himself at times. The summer of 09 was even more depressing. Going from Ronaldo and Tevez to Owen, Obertan and Valencia (who was pretty decent tbf) was such an obvious drop in quality.
I remember reading an article after our defeat to Barcelona in 2011 asking whether buying Ashley Young, DDG and Phil Jones was really enough in closing the gulf between the two clubs. The article said those players were fine btw, nothing against them, but was there a real statement of intent to try and match that Barca team? We then got dumped out of the Champions League in the group stage that season too.
I remember reading an article after our defeat to Barcelona in 2011 asking whether buying Ashley Young, DDG and Phil Jones was really enough in closing the gulf between the two clubs. The article said those players were fine btw, nothing against them, but was there a real statement of intent to try and match that Barca team? We then got dumped out of the Champions League in the group stage that season too.
Not signing a central midfielder in his later years. We ended up with such dross there
Selling Stam, not replacing Schmeichel and Irwin and not playing Veron as a #10.
From 01-05, we could have had some variation of van der Sar/LB/Stam/Ferdinand/Neville/Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham/Veron/van Nistelrooy with Rooney and Ronaldo coming in to replace Keane (shift Veron back) and Beckham. Another UCL for sure.
From 01-05, we could have had some variation of van der Sar/LB/Stam/Ferdinand/Neville/Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham/Veron/van Nistelrooy with Rooney and Ronaldo coming in to replace Keane (shift Veron back) and Beckham. Another UCL for sure.
Those 2 outlined by op come to mind but we definitely should have broke our wage structure to get some major talent in, it really handicapped us in hindsight, imagine having Batistuta or Shearer upfront, both could have had us winning another European cup or two.
Another one that comes to mind is veron, he was such a classy player but Fergie never got the hang of using him and perhaps he was just over the hill considering his career afterwards.
Overall I genuinely don't know how much of it is his fault to be honest as we were kinda limited in the market compared to the other European heavyweights like the Italians and Spanish and considering most of the regret comes from our unfortunate European outings who knows how much it would have mattered.
Going year by year:
I don't hold the early failures against him due to bosman and the general inexperience following haysel.
1997: lost to bvb in one of the most anguish inducing games ever, perhaps a Batistuta or a shearer would have put some of those away.
1998:lost to Monaco in a tie we probably shouldn't have due to losing our nerves from an early trezeguet goal but that year was a disaster although it did seem Fergie had targeted Europe that season and to be fair we had impeccable form beforehand, we also had beaten Juventus quite convincingly so we probably would have had the upper hand in the semi's (final is anyone guess but real was a bit weak that year to be honest, wasn't their goal in the final offside? But then again a midfield of peak Redondo and seedorf is terrifying prospect), again kinda hard to tie our exit to one mistakes by Fergie, that team was perhaps not ready.
2000: we enter what if territory, and to be honest with ya i just think the players bottled this one, a better keeper would have certainly helped but it was mostly mental, Madrid were kinda shit that season and our players too full of themselves after being in impeccable form, perhaps you could chalk that up to a lapse in Fergie' man management but those things happen.
2001: bayern had their revenge and I don't really remember much of that game, I thought we were uncharacteristically out of it but oh well,the striker situation was becoming apparent which prompted Fergie to go for rudd,who despite his excellence was rather limited even for his time so perhaps that was a mistake by Fergie but then I don't know which striker we should have gone for.
2002: we bottled this one as well, watch the game it was infuriating , Madrid were there for the taking as well , we did get revenge next season but it didn't assuage much.
2003: this one is up to Fergie perhaps, we should have already ditched barthez and his sidelining of beckham was childish, even if throwing him out of the team was the right long term decision he shouldn't have bunched him for the Madrid game, veron was of no use either and he kinda insisted on him, we shouldn't have gone out the way we did.
2004: team needed a revamp, and got extremely unlucky as well, we might have just gone out to lyon the next round who knows, the mentality was off.
Going through those it's clear that most of them were decided by very fine margins, perhaps in alternative Timeline we gone on to win 7 in 8 instead of the single one we got and set a record (97,98,99,00,02,03,04) but we didn't so what went wrong is anyone's guess but something else that people seldom bring up is Fergie's tactics during that time, del Bosque called it chaos football ( I think) and he was kinda right, we simply were too undisciplined for those big European nights , it certainly worked against the weaker sides and in the league but it left too much to chance against your madrid's and bayern's of this world, I always attributed it to Fergie’s outdated mindset which he did rectify later on but we didn't have the players to make more use of it by then , for example looking at the possession stats its clear that our midfield had no problem going toe to to toe with the European giants unlike our later form so I'm sure a more positionally disciplined, careful and clinical approach would made a ton of difference but he did learn from those mistakes.
That wraps up what most have qualms with, later mistakes in my opinion would be his neglect of midfield for long durations of time later on, not trying our hardest to tie down Ronaldo or at least going for him when it became apparent that he's on less than stellar terms with mou in around 2013(though this may not be his fault), having some very questionable transfers like Owen and djemba, having a overly cautious attitude towards big games later on which possibly cost us 2012 and of course probably the most major one, his utter disaster of a choice for a successor.
Edit: del bosque called it tactical anarchy (though he was being too snobbish considering he had some major luck going his way alongside iker's heroics), nonetheless there was a degree of truth to his words.
The first part of this Guardian piece has a nice recap of what happened if you're interested.
Another one that comes to mind is veron, he was such a classy player but Fergie never got the hang of using him and perhaps he was just over the hill considering his career afterwards.
Overall I genuinely don't know how much of it is his fault to be honest as we were kinda limited in the market compared to the other European heavyweights like the Italians and Spanish and considering most of the regret comes from our unfortunate European outings who knows how much it would have mattered.
Going year by year:
I don't hold the early failures against him due to bosman and the general inexperience following haysel.
1997: lost to bvb in one of the most anguish inducing games ever, perhaps a Batistuta or a shearer would have put some of those away.
1998:lost to Monaco in a tie we probably shouldn't have due to losing our nerves from an early trezeguet goal but that year was a disaster although it did seem Fergie had targeted Europe that season and to be fair we had impeccable form beforehand, we also had beaten Juventus quite convincingly so we probably would have had the upper hand in the semi's (final is anyone guess but real was a bit weak that year to be honest, wasn't their goal in the final offside? But then again a midfield of peak Redondo and seedorf is terrifying prospect), again kinda hard to tie our exit to one mistakes by Fergie, that team was perhaps not ready.
2000: we enter what if territory, and to be honest with ya i just think the players bottled this one, a better keeper would have certainly helped but it was mostly mental, Madrid were kinda shit that season and our players too full of themselves after being in impeccable form, perhaps you could chalk that up to a lapse in Fergie' man management but those things happen.
2001: bayern had their revenge and I don't really remember much of that game, I thought we were uncharacteristically out of it but oh well,the striker situation was becoming apparent which prompted Fergie to go for rudd,who despite his excellence was rather limited even for his time so perhaps that was a mistake by Fergie but then I don't know which striker we should have gone for.
2002: we bottled this one as well, watch the game it was infuriating , Madrid were there for the taking as well , we did get revenge next season but it didn't assuage much.
2003: this one is up to Fergie perhaps, we should have already ditched barthez and his sidelining of beckham was childish, even if throwing him out of the team was the right long term decision he shouldn't have bunched him for the Madrid game, veron was of no use either and he kinda insisted on him, we shouldn't have gone out the way we did.
2004: team needed a revamp, and got extremely unlucky as well, we might have just gone out to lyon the next round who knows, the mentality was off.
Going through those it's clear that most of them were decided by very fine margins, perhaps in alternative Timeline we gone on to win 7 in 8 instead of the single one we got and set a record (97,98,99,00,02,03,04) but we didn't so what went wrong is anyone's guess but something else that people seldom bring up is Fergie's tactics during that time, del Bosque called it chaos football ( I think) and he was kinda right, we simply were too undisciplined for those big European nights , it certainly worked against the weaker sides and in the league but it left too much to chance against your madrid's and bayern's of this world, I always attributed it to Fergie’s outdated mindset which he did rectify later on but we didn't have the players to make more use of it by then , for example looking at the possession stats its clear that our midfield had no problem going toe to to toe with the European giants unlike our later form so I'm sure a more positionally disciplined, careful and clinical approach would made a ton of difference but he did learn from those mistakes.
That wraps up what most have qualms with, later mistakes in my opinion would be his neglect of midfield for long durations of time later on, not trying our hardest to tie down Ronaldo or at least going for him when it became apparent that he's on less than stellar terms with mou in around 2013(though this may not be his fault), having some very questionable transfers like Owen and djemba, having a overly cautious attitude towards big games later on which possibly cost us 2012 and of course probably the most major one, his utter disaster of a choice for a successor.
Edit: del bosque called it tactical anarchy (though he was being too snobbish considering he had some major luck going his way alongside iker's heroics), nonetheless there was a degree of truth to his words.
The first part of this Guardian piece has a nice recap of what happened if you're interested.
Last edited:
This. A disaster.
I read exactly what you said, which was "We barely won one and you think we should have at least won another?"
I think it is reasonable to suggest we probably should have won it at least once in the five years following, yes. Certainly had we not made the mistakes that were stated as errors in the OP of not replacing Schmeichel properly and selling Stam prematurely. I explained why I think those errors led to us being knocked out in three of the five seasons.
Disagreeing with your post doesn't mean people aren't reading your post.
I agree with most of the already mentioned mistakes. However the conclusion seems to be if those mistakes hadn’t been made we would have most likely won 1 more CL and maybe the league in 2012.
Well not that much a difference after all at the end, is it?
It’s also easy to say we would have won the CL. Look at City or Liverpool. Great managers and players and they still have „only“ won the CL a grand total of zero and one times since Pep and Klopp.
The same way we could also have had a great squad and at the end still lost out to some team on away goals, pens, red cards, etc.
Well not that much a difference after all at the end, is it?
It’s also easy to say we would have won the CL. Look at City or Liverpool. Great managers and players and they still have „only“ won the CL a grand total of zero and one times since Pep and Klopp.
The same way we could also have had a great squad and at the end still lost out to some team on away goals, pens, red cards, etc.
Bolded is the only correct answer as far as I'm concerned. And we're very much still living with the consequences today.
Do you guys really think the race horse dispute was the only reason the Glazers got in? And that there was no other way they could have purchased the club? Sounds like a rather simplistic way of looking at it, and grosdlty underestimating Malcolm Glazer. IMO it might have made it easier for him, but as a publicly listed company we were always vulnerable.
Suing John Magnier.
I do get were people are coming from in terms of the side he left behind. There was certainly work to be done
But it wasnt exactly the worst squad ever. They were champions. Compare this to vast majority of clubs when a new manager comes in that would be in far worse a state than Utd was in 2013.
But it wasnt exactly the worst squad ever. They were champions. Compare this to vast majority of clubs when a new manager comes in that would be in far worse a state than Utd was in 2013.
IRT to Magnier and the horse issue with SAF, surely Magnier would have still cashed in his shares at some point? He was a business man looking to make profit.
I think so but I'd imagine he's a sick as anyone that he sold for so little when you look at the value of the club now. That thought makes me very happy.
Same thinking. De Gea was also added as the best young goalkeeper 2 years before. And he saw Zaha as a bright potential (don't agree with it, but he did think about the future)
If you add on top of that deals for Thiago and Herrera (who on paper were a cracking pair) he would have won at least another title in the next 2 seasons leaving us with a proper midfield and probably functioning attack as he always hit the jackpot there. For example, Rooney would be out and he would add the right replacement.
So, it's Moyes decision mostly for me. 6th choice spin is especially laughable as you said.
Feels like I've seen this thread recycled thread on here every 6 months and it's always the same things being stated.
Definitely should have signed Mick Harford in the 91-92 season.
Fergie left a team that won the league at a canter in 2013 and a fat pile of cash for his successor to spend and a backroom team well versed in winning. Im unsure what else he was mean tot o do as a departing manager? If he had stayed that team would have won more titles.
With what is happening at the club at this time the last thing I want to read about is Sir Alex"s stuff ups. Enjoy the moment.
Then don't
Agreed.
The thing is you cant just say "if we had signed players X and Y" we would have been better when so much of our success was built on how the squad fitted together. Change that and you lose elements that were instrumental what won us league titles. There are better midfield players than Fletcher, Park etc, but these guys coming in and "doing a job" led to countless victories where a flashier player with lower work ethic or team spirit may have seen us drop points.
Yeah it also did well against RM in the CL until Nani‘s red card. Almost same RM (albeit with a better manager) went on to win the CL the following season.
Obviously 2013 wasn’t among SAF‘s best teams and it did have some very mediocre players but it was still among the best squads in the league and hardly even close to being as bad as Moyes made it look and claim.
yeah your're right.Then don't
The rock of gilbatar or whatever gets over rated here, it probably would have happened either way.
Still embarrassing though.
Still embarrassing though.
I think there might be some truth to the tactical side and you could see from 2006 onward how much more disciplined and structured Utd were in Europe. They also had a vastly stronger squad and this created the best European consistency in the clubs history.
The game changed though, a lot of younger supporters don't understand what football was like before the superclub era, talent was spread, squads were weaker, much harder to dominate.
Another key point for me is that outside of the Vidic/Rio years Utd never had a world class defense at European level. The 99 team had Stam, but Schmeichel and Irwin were in serious decline, Johnsen was good but brittle, Berg was a solid Pl player but not much else and Gary Neville would peak years later. Pallister and Bruce were not going to get it done at that level either for as much as I admire them.
Last edited: