IT’S HARD TO believe that things could easily have been so different but there was a genuine possibility thirty years ago that Alex Ferguson would be sacrificed as Manchester United manager in favour of a Howard Kendall/Bryan Robson double-act.

In December 1989, Kendall dusted himself down after being sacked by Athletic Club a few weeks previously and did subsequently arrive in Manchester. But to replace Mel Machin at Maine Road instead.   

But Ferguson could still not shake the rumours regarding his job. It had been in jeopardy even before the campaign begun but a resounding opening day victory over Arsenal papered the cracks, while it was Michael Knighton’s proposed takeover that dominated the early-season headlines even when United’s results quickly began to nosedive. By mid-September, Ferguson had also spent over £8m on five new players and the huge outlay, inevitably, had been greeted with much excitement. Supporters and critics understood the acquisitions would require some time to find their feet and Ferguson was given a wide berth.      

But the humiliating 5-1 derby hammering was a fourth defeat in seven league games and with a three-year contract still on the table from the previous May, Ferguson thought against playing hardball and gleefully agreed to the terms. At least it would give him some protection when the hammer fell. When they went to Charlton and lost 2-0, they were described as ‘directionless’ by The Times while their opponent’s uncompromising defender Colin Pates offered up a pertinent perspective on United’s form. 

‘They may individually be worth a lot of money”, he said.

“But they have yet to knit together. I think that they will eventually, but how much time has their manager got?”

Ferguson later spoke of one moment during a ‘black December’ when he genuinely felt the jig was up.  At home to Crystal Palace early in the month, he decided to drop Mark Hughes and it looked like a good decision too when Russell Beardsmore headed United into the lead after just nine minutes. But Mark Bright scored either side of the interval and Palace recorded a memorable victory with relentless booing from the home fans at full-time sending a firm message. Hughes, who had scored eight times including a hat-trick against Millwall and who had been re-signed 18 months earlier for £1.8m, had graduated from trainee to legend and was one of the rare positives in the side. For the supporters, it was just another sign of how frenzied the manager’s decisions were becoming.

Manchester United's 1989/90 season began with businessman Michael Knighton juggling a ball and blowing kisses to the crowd at Old Trafford as he attempted a £20m takeover of the club. Neal Simpson Neal Simpson

And it was that same afternoon when Pete Molyneaux unfurled his now-infamous, Bet Lynch-inspired bed sheet he’d daubed with black paint.

“3 YEARS OF EXCUSES AND IT’S STILL CRAP… TA RA FERGIE”, was the message.      

Afterwards, Ferguson went back to his house and waited for the Third Round draw for the FA Cup to be made. He badly needed a break. He didn’t get one. 

Nottingham Forest. Away.

He was prepared for that to be it. 

But, he could easily have gone before that. On Boxing Day, United were thumped 3-0 by Aston Villa as the visiting fans chanted ‘What a load of rubbish’ and booed mercilessly as Ferguson trudged along the touchline to the tunnel. He’d spent £13m assembling a team that had been undone by both Paul McGrath, who he’d deemed uncontrollable and sold in the summer, and David Platt, who’d been let go by United as a kid four years earlier.  

And even the new year brought old failings. At home to QPR on the first day of 1990, fans stayed away and attendance was down 6,000 on the season’s average. And it proved a smart decision. At a sodden Old Trafford, the home side failed to score for the tenth time in their 21st league fixture.

But it wasn’t just the performances on the pitch fuelling fans’ discontent. At the annual shareholders’ meeting, they vented to chairman Martin Edwards for the collapsed Knighton plan, his overall handling of the club and how United were now a laughing stock.

One after another, they unleashed a collection of furious volleys.   

“You have abused the commitment and passion of the supporters of this club for too long”, another supporter told Edwards.

“If you cannot do anything about it then make way for someone who can”.

Moments later, in a bizarre development, the meeting was interrupted after police warned of a potential bomb threat. But the fans weren’t going anywhere. So Ferguson stood and spoke, eloquently and assuredly, about the mistakes that had been made and why so much money had been spent. He pointed to the brilliant young players he’d signed, namely Gary Pallister and Paul Ince, and labelled them outstanding prospects. For a few minutes, the manager – under-fire and stressed – held the room in the palm of his hand. When he sat back down, it was to a soundtrack of extensive applause.

Gary Pallister had been an expensive summer signing for Alex Ferguson. Neal Simpson Neal Simpson

There still seemed enough support to see him through.  

For a midweek feature article, The Independent’s Derek Hodgson went to canvass the mood of locals based around Old Trafford.

“I think Alex Ferguson should have another couple of seasons at least, otherwise we’ll have another new man coming in wanting to change the coaches, wanting his own players and we’ll be starting all over again”, said Len Wilcock, who saw his first game in 1934. But he felt Ferguson’s side was uninspiring and longed for the days of a more cavalier approach.   

“I’m not happy with the team”, he added. 

“They lack motivation. The best manager we had since Matt (Busby) was Tommy Docherty. He should never have been sacked.” 

Hodgson also spoke to 22-year-old Peter Woodhouse, who’d had enough of United’s limp and lifeless performances.  

“Fergie hasn’t done a bad job – he’s brought in some good players – but he doesn’t seem to understand what the fans want at Old Trafford”, he said. 

“We would put up with not having won the Championship for 20 years if United were playing real attacking football. I would cut our losses and start again. The boardroom antics disgusted me. Why was it the fans were the last to hear about it? Martin Edwards may think the club belongs to him. It doesn’t.”

United belongs to those of us who go every bloody week and not to people with big bank balances. I don’t care much who holds the bits of paper as long as they have the club at heart and are not there just to make money. It’s time the fans had more say in what goes on at their club.”

The club finished 13th at the end of the season. From 38 games, they lost 16 of them and ended up with a goal difference of minus one. They were five points from relegation. 

Mark Robins celebrates his winner against Nottingham Forest in January 1990. * Steve Etherington * Steve Etherington

But, they did make it past Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in January thanks to a Mark Robins’ header. After that, they sneaked past Hereford United by a goal. They sneaked past Newcastle too. And they sneaked past Sheffield United in the quarter-finals. They needed two games to sneak past Oldham. And they even needed two games to beat Crystal Palace in the decider.

Perhaps the resurgence that followed had more to do with Ferguson having experienced the relentless anxiety of what directly preceded it. The stomach knots, the stress, the strain, the pressure. There was concern for his health during the semi-final battle against Oldham and he later commented that the second game was ‘the most draining I’ve ever been part of’.

“The pressure got to me mercilessly”, Ferguson said later. 

Never have I been so overcome, even at Aberdeen with the European cups. At Aberdeen I was in control, on top of everything. Manchester United is a different thing altogether, a totally different mythology if you like. But the great challenge of managing a football club, especially one as great as this one, is to have confidence in your ability to weather the storms, to know that you have faith in your own discipline and your own patience under pressure.”

“If I wilt under the pressure, then what will the players do? I must be strong. I firmly believe that self-discipline is the key factor in the realisation of any great sportsman, or man who has been chosen to manage or lead them.”

Ferguson got out of the mire because he was Ferguson. And as much as it’s the facts and figures from 30 years ago – the volume of losses and the winless runs – that have been continuously referenced throughout this United campaign, the biggest similarity is the atmosphere, the sense of hopelessness and anger with those ultimately responsible for having made a catalogue of disastrous decisions.

During that shareholders’ meeting at the end of 1989, one 80-year old man named William Humphreys – who proudly told the room he’d seen his first United game in 1914 –  stood up and addressed Martin Edwards.

“The state of the club is worse than even the most pessimistic of us could have foreseen.”

Sound familiar?

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