During Fergusans first 5 yearas at OT he got 4th, 11th, 2nd, 12th and 13th but our weak board kept him on and the rest is history. I suspect if you were around then you may have been carrying the banner 'Fergusan out'. Personally I'm glad the board had the strength to keep him.
That was Ron Atkinson that finished 4th in 86.
If we look at Fergusons first 5 full seasons, because for some reason that seems to be the magic number.
1987-88 League 2nd, FA Cup 5th Round, League Cup 5th round.
1988-89 League 11th, FA Cup 6th Round, League Cup 3rd round.
1989-90 League 13th, FA Cup Winners, League Cup 3rd round.
1990-91 League 6th, FA Cup 5th Round, League Cup Runners up. Cup Winners Cup Winners.
1991-92 League 2nd, FA Cup 4th Round, League Cup Winners. Cup Winners Cup 2nd round. Super Cup Winners.
Though I have no idea what all the posts on here harking back to the 80's achieves. It's reductive, by this logic we should give every manager or in fact any manager 5 years no matter how badly they perform, because Ferguson got 5 years and went on to be successful. It's blind faith hoping for the same outcome. (Not accusing you specifically of this mate)
It's like those people on that South Pacific Island that ended up worshipping planes because the US Army landed on their Island and distributed food during WW2. So they built runways hoping the planes would come back.