Place: Manchester City, date: July 1971, and event: Irishman Frank O'Farrell appointed as coach of Manchester United, succeeding the legendary Matt Busby after the end of his second term in the club, and the hero: In fact, the hero is still Busby, despite his departure.

Beware falling

Ferguson's retirement moment in 2013 was very emotional, but at the same time sober and mature, as English journalist Andy Mitten describes it;

Ferguson told everyone they would "never see him here again", and deliberately avoided appearing at the club for a long time, especially after the death of his sister-in-law, and his desire to spend more time at home with his grieving partner.

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(Ferguson's farewell speech in 2013)

Ferguson was a good reader of history, so he wanted to avoid a repeat of Matt Busby when he left United.

Mitten, who spoke with Busby's successor, Frank O'Farrell, tells us that the man felt powerless after taking charge;

His best players admired Busby, visited him regularly at his house, played golf with him, and most importantly, Busby still came to his office at Carrington Training Center regularly despite the presence of a new coach at the club, and met his guests there, including the players.

"The recent defeat against Liverpool at Old Trafford was the first time that Manchester United had fallen four goals behind after the first half in the history of the Premier League."

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

Matt Busby

Sir Busby had won 5 league titles with United, as well as two Cups and the most expensive European Championship in 1968, but right after, in the final season of his first era at the club, the team slipped to eleventh place in the standings, and Busby left realizing that time had passed. It has come, and that the cycle of this team is over, and he was succeeded by Wilf McGuinness, who lasted for a little more than one season, before Busby returned again and led the team to end the 1970-1971 season in eighth place and without titles, and then O'Farrell came to start a new era.

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The problem is that the new era was not really new, and despite the presence of the likes of George Best and Bobby Charlton, the team entered a cycle of bad results, and with O'Farrell, it achieved eighth place again, and then struggled with relegation the following season, before exiting the first round in the FA Cup. , the second in the League Cup, and actually relegated at the end of the 1973-1974 season, and George Best left him at the age of twenty-eight.

"Manchester United has lost only 7 matches by 4 goals or more in the history of the Premier League, 3 of which occurred during the Solskjaer era."

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

On this day in 1971: Cork man Frank O'Farrell is appointed @ManUtd manager after Sir Matt Busby ends his second spell as manager.

O'Farrells tenure began well with United top of the First Division by Christmas.

@UtdBeforeFergie @TheWillieMorgan pic.twitter.com/jtgiVdGorS

— Red Devil Talk (@RedDevilTalk_) June 8, 2018

A very dark period in the club's history;

From the European champion to the second division in only 6 years, but no one seems to remember this period accurately, or talk about it enough, perhaps because it disturbs the peace of what preceded it, and raises questions that no one wants to answer;

Why is Busby back?

And why did he leave?

And why did O'Farrell come when Busby was somehow still going on?

Did the Scots annihilate every possible possibility of the success of the Irish?

Did his constant overpowering presence destroy the team, perhaps without even realizing it?

slippery space

In these transitional phases, slipping into the past becomes easy;

The common term in game circles to describe the state of mind and psychological state following great success is "Hangover", which refers to a state of headache and disorder that affects a person in the morning after a night of heavy drinking.

This expression is genius for two reasons;

The first is that overcoming this state is through an organic cleansing process in which a person needs to detoxify by drinking coffee, water and plenty of healthy fluids. The second is that alcohol has the same effect as great accomplishments, making us emotional and unbalanced, and most importantly;

Unable to remember exactly what happened.

“13 of the 55 home defeats in the Premier League have come under Solskjaer, with 21% of defeats 7% of the time.”

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

Ferguson succeeded in avoiding Busby syndrome throughout the eras of Moyes and Van Gaal, although the two periods did not end as he wanted them to, but after the failure of Mourinho's third era, at least, relatively, he began talking about the need to enter a "transitional phase" with Solskjaer.

Where will the transition move from, then?

Of course Mourinho's problems and crises.

But what will this stage move to?

this is the problem.

Sir Alex Ferguson

In fact, Solskjaer managed to restore stability to the dressing room, and he knew how the club operated internally, there is no doubt about all of that, but his appointment did not give the media or the public any additional promises, except perhaps for his dreamy statements about “re-establishing Manchester United’s identity” and “ball” Sir Alex Ferguson's fierce offensive", in short, Solskjaer's most important promise was less exciting headlines and a "nostalgic" journey into the past.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, says Dante, and so suddenly the fear of Matt Busby's syndrome turns into a full embrace of it;

Manchester United went out to the world after Ferguson, and asked himself questions he had stopped asking a long time ago because he had their answers in the Scottish experience, but the new answers did not appeal to him, so he did not find an escape from returning to the past.

Zlatan rudeness

One of those answers was what Zlatan Ibrahimovic said days before the renewal of Solskjaer's contract and turning him into a permanent technical director.

The Swede was frank as usual, and in an interview with the English "The Daily Mirror" he decided to say the last thing he wanted Manchester United to hear at that moment;

The obsession with Ferguson's past successes is holding back the club's development.

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"Sheffield won their first victory at Old Trafford since 1973, Burnley achieved their first victory at Old Trafford since 1962, and for the first time in history Crystal Palace beat United at Old Trafford in two consecutive seasons."

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

Of course, that answer was not new, but Zlatan's statement came in an upward moment for the team with Solskjaer, and this is what made him more important than others, but no one cared about Zlatan's opinion because he is one of Mourinho's men, and is expected to defend him and take him against those behind him.

The problem is that he was right.

Solskjaer

It was at that moment that Solskjaer was the man who turned the internet off the red side of Manchester, gathered the world's Manchester United fans into one room, and decided to replay the Ferguson era on nonstop videotapes;

He brought back old lieutenants like Mike Phelan and Mark Dempsey, welcomed Ferguson back to the picture, and even stated that he met him regularly in his Carrington office, and began building a network of relationships bringing together legends of his era such as Nicky Butt at the Academy, Ryan Giggs in Wales, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand on satellite TV. ;

A net that helped persuade some players to join the club, such as Daniel James, Maguire and Bissaka, provided him with a degree of protection in difficult moments.

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“13 of the 55 home defeats in the Premier League have come under Solskjaer, with 21% of defeats 7% of the time.”

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

What happened with O'Farrell was repeated again, and the difference here is that the problem was not with the players, but with the coaching staff themselves, who still use the word "Gaffer" - the manager or president - when they talk about Ferguson or to him, and the irony here is that Ferguson was the first He has won the league with United since Busby's departure, and between the two incidents there was a time difference of 26 years.

89-90

Well, Ferguson's return to the picture in full swing since his retirement in 2013 has rekindled old theories about his career;

Ferdinand, Neville and Solskjaer kept talking about the excitement of his matches, the prolific goals scored by his successive teams, and his love of risk in crises.

But the truth is that everyone was still in the "Hangover" stage, and they don't remember exactly what happened, but perhaps pull the best moments of the man's entire career, in which there were many pragmatic periods, unimpressive victories, and even titles that can be traced back to the management The psychological factor was successful, and it was not an era of exciting, fierce and offensive football all the time, which is expected, even inevitable, for a career that lasted a quarter of a century.

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United have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 14 home matches in all competitions, the longest period since 1959.

(13 negative numbers unique to Solskjaer with United)

The disadvantages of nostalgia - and emotional nostalgia - have been researched, and they are not absent from the minds of the 1992 myths nor from Ferguson himself, but the problem with nostalgia is that it is a very deceptive trap, simply because realizing its disadvantages is not certain of falling into it, but in most cases it does not exceed these disadvantages It is just a clarification that is said at the beginning of the conversation, to deny the accusation only.

The result is that we are in front of a group of journalists and old players who liken the current moment to Ferguson’s 89-90 moment, when mass protests escalated against him after his fourth season without achieving the league title, and there are those who sincerely believe that there is room for comparison between that moment and the current moment in which United lives with Solshire, And they wonder what would have happened if the club's management had responded to the fans at the time and sacked the Scot before he achieved his greatest achievement.

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"The Norwegian is the only coach in United's history who lost a European match at home by more than one goal."

(13 negative numbers alone with Solskjaer with United) (3)

All of this is nothing compared to the fact that Ferguson himself was Solskjaer's biggest supporter after the resounding Liverpool scandal. According to press reports, the legendary coach was one of the most important influencers in the decision to keep him, along with the current CEO, Ed Woodward, and Richard Arnold, who will succeed him.

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Sir Alex Ferguson is still backing Solskjær #mulive [@alex_crook]

— utdreport (@utdreport) October 25, 2021

In fact, Matt Busby's involvement in the club's affairs, after his departure, never reached this degree.

Just imagine that it all started with a full awareness of the Buzzy moment and a sincere desire to avoid a repetition of it.

This is how nostalgia can deceive us.

chasing the past

The problem here is that all this is not only a candidate for continuity, but may also worsen.

Psychology tells us that nostalgia may turn into an addictive behavior that locks its owner in a vicious circle. Crises that strike us emotionally and morally often prompt us to remember the glorious moments of the past and try to emulate them again, and these attempts are often incomplete, unrealistic, and based on selective memory, and therefore often cause In new frustrations that push us more towards the past, towards more memories, and so on.

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This is what you can notice in the ascending pattern in which the past is reproduced at United, which reached its climax when Ferguson intervened to return Ronaldo in the summer, but the objective opposite of this theory remains permissible and bears a measure of validity, as it is likely that Ferguson will not be It is he who chases the past, and perhaps the past is what haunts Ferguson.

"United only managed to touch the ball inside the opponent's penalty area during the last defeat to City at Old Trafford only 4 times, their lowest number ever since Opta began recording the statistic in the 2008-2009 season."

(13 negative numbers unique to Solskjaer with United)

Some theories suggest that Ferguson still feels guilt over his pivotal role in bringing the Glazers to power at United, and his total silence and betrayal of the club's fans during the parasitic takeover that enabled American investors to siphon hundreds of millions out of Manchester into US banks, and obtain numerous loans to finance their other projects. .

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Perhaps that is why the man feels that his presence and that of Solskjaer reduces the effects of their unwise management of the club, and perhaps that is why he supports Solskjaer so strongly despite everything that happened, because he stands before two options, both very bitter, either leave the club to the likes of Malcolm Glazer completely, or fight to keep the past, Who would, for the moment, be the only hope for Manchester United to come back one day, and maintain some kind of connection to the club's glories before the Glazers wipe them out completely, at least from his point of view.

Ferguson's view may be that with the likes of Conte, and the succession of coaches who have no real loyalty to Manchester United, his castle may turn into a club like any other, and lose the magic of the legacy he made with so many over a quarter of a century or more, which has put United in a different position from the Clubs like Chelsea or Tottenham, for example, even if the present sometimes says the opposite.

It is an emotional viewpoint, and it is bound to find a lot of support among the fans, but the eternal problem in such situations is that it often turns into a zero-sum equation, and after a certain level of crises and frustrations, United and Ferguson may become threatened with losing everything;

The present, of course, and the past that kept him safe until he fell with him.

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Sources:

  • Does the presence of Sir Alex Ferguson help Manchester United or disrupt it?

    - The Athletic UK

  • Sir Alex Ferguson retires as Manchester United manager - The Guardian

  • 13 negative numbers that Solskjaer singled out as coach of Manchester United – One Football

  • Sir Matt Busby: The Man Who Built Modern Manchester United - Sports Illustrated

  • Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 'Sir Alex Ferguson is disrupting Manchester United's career' - The Independent

  • Doesn't he appreciate it enough or doesn't he know what he's doing?

    The limits of Solskjaer's role at United - The Athletic

  • Manchester United need to stop living in the past - Manchester Evening News

  • Solskjaer will continue to lead United after backing Ferguson, Woodward and Arnold - The Guardian

  • Psychology Today

  • Is Sir Alex Ferguson to blame for United's decline?

    - HITC

  • About the great battles of Roy Keane - Part One - Al Jazeera