More Special Than Fergie? Not!

Even the Special One can't hope to match Fergie feat at Manchester United

by Martin Samuel

Just five numbers at the bottom of a page of nostalgia, but they showed why nobody, not even Jose Mourinho, can ever hope to emulate what Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved at Manchester United.
The report concerned the day Tottenham Hotspur last won a league game at Old Trafford, December 16, 1989. A fruitless series of visits has followed, fast approaching a third decade after Saturday's 3-1 defeat. Terry Venables was the manager for that most recent Tottenham win, Gary Lineker scored the only goal. Friday's Mail set out the rest of the team and there, introduced almost as a footnote, was the attendance: 36,230.
I admit, I thought it was a misprint. I thought 36 should have read 56. That was how I remembered Manchester United. They got crowds of 50,000 at Old Trafford, even in the fallow years, a fraction under if it was a lousy game. So I checked.

In season 1989-90, yes, Manchester United were still the best supported team in England with an average attendance of - wait for it - 39,331. I know. It passed me by, too. Memory plays tricks on you, I guess. I always remember Old Trafford as packed, the biggest gate in the country by 10 or 20 thousand; the only crowd that compared to the figures we read about in Milan or Madrid.
In fact, that season, they averaged less than six thousand more than Liverpool and Arsenal and only 11,356 more than Manchester City. And, yes, this was a team who limped to 13th place, looking up at Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers, but even so I thought Ferguson had more to work with: Manchester United finished second 18 months earlier, for heaven's sake.
And what that figure underlined is that no successor can ever come close to Ferguson, not really, because he has built a modern football club. That is what can never be matched. The incredible success, the outsized trophy cabinet, appears unattainable, too, but in sport records tumble all the time.
If Ferguson did the treble, his successor might do the quadruple. If Ferguson won the Champions League, the new man could win then retain it. If Ferguson won three or four titles in succession, another manager might win four or five (or 20 if United ever start negotiating their own television deal).
Somebody will run faster than Usain Bolt one day, somebody will topple Jack Nicklaus. What cannot be bettered, however, is the way that Ferguson has fashioned the biggest football club in England. These days, United look to Madrid, Milan and Barcelona for their economic rivalry; the home front is secure.
Ferguson's legacy in this instance must be daunting, even for Mourinho. No manager can trump the size of this creation, and Mourinho moulds dynasties as well as teams. He turned Porto into the greatest force in Portuguese football (frittered away in his absence), made Chelsea Manchester United's only viable opponents and should leave Inter Milan as a force in Europe once again. Clubs invariably become greater and more powerful for his presence, but what can he bring to Manchester United?
There is an outside chance of Mourinho achieving a milestone that has been beyond Ferguson on the pitch, but not a prayer of him matching his achievement as an empire builder. On Saturday, more than twice as many people were drawn to Old Trafford than attended the match against Tottenham in 1989.
United's attendance is on average 15,000 more than that of Arsenal, 29,000 greater than Manchester City and 31,000 ahead of Liverpool. The crowd that watched the Tottenham game 21 years ago is roughly what Everton get now. Yes, other clubs would attract larger crowds with a ground the size of Old Trafford, but the stadium was raised only on Ferguson's success. It is not the theatre of dreams, as cliche has it, it is one man's reality, and it is unmatched.
Mourinho cannot make Real Madrid more famous, either, but he can bring them success again. A downscaling of ambition compared to what Ferguson has constructed at United, but as a champion in Spain, Italy, England and Portugal, it would be an achievement all of his own.
At Old Trafford, yes, there will always be new worlds to conquer, and that is what keeps Ferguson going, but the greatest job is done. Ferguson has created a giant of the modern game, so mighty we can no longer remember a time when it was not this way. That is some act to follow, no matter how special you are.