As humans, we only understand the value or magnitude of things when they are put into context. A fact like “Michael Phelps has won 22 gold medals” would mean nothing until it is put into perspective. However, when we realize that Michael Phelps alone won more gold medals in each Olympics he participated than 80% of countries and that he has won more medals in 3 Olympics than many countries ever will, we realize that Michael Phelps is a colossus who might never be surpassed.
Sir Alex Ferguson retired after 26 years at the helm of Manchester United yesterday with 13 English Premier League titles, 2 European Cups, 5 FA Cups, and a whole host of other silverware. He has won more Premier League trophies than all English football clubs except Manchester United and Liverpool. As a fan of the club and the man, my only wish was that he had waited for another European Cup before retiring because he would have put the debate around “Who is the greatest football manager of them all?” to rest forever. Now, there still is room for a bit of debate. But, debate or not, we will likely never see the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson again and the world of football will be lesser for it.
There is fervent debate about who would be the next Manchester United manager. The article that describes the difficulty of the job best is here (please excuse the occasional profanity)
Manchester United have had an aura about them for the past 20 years. As John Nicholson in the article observes, “United were always a huge club with huge support going back to the war. Ferguson didn’t make them huge, his achievement was to deliver a level of success commensurate with their status in football.” In his time as Manchester United manager, he has seen more than a 1000 managers come and go. This stability has undoubtedly been a source of the extraordinary success.
A lot hangs on the next managerial appointment. It remains to be seen whether Manchester United will remain a footballing behemoth or whether it will descend to being another football club with supporters’ ceaseless talk about the “glory years.”
Whatever happens, I guess all that matters is that Sir Alex Ferguson will not be in the famous dugout next season. It’s hard to explain the emotions that accompany that… so I will choose to just finish what he might say.. “Bloody hell.”
A Learning a Day 