So, Fergie is retiring, allowing Sky Sports to go into overdrive the past 5 days. We've had statistics galore ever since outlining what most of us knew already (begrudgingly or not), that Sir Alex is the most successful football manager the British Isles (and probably the World) has ever seen.
The stat (image above) struck me the most, in net spend Fergie spent 226.5 million on players, that figure divided by the number of trophies he won for United (38), means each trophy won cost United just under 6 million (although take out the 10 community shield wins and it makes it just over 8 million), considering the legacy he's created in his time there, that's not a big spend in modern day top tier football. Obviously it's hard to calculate exactly, due to inflation, an eight million spend in 1986 would be unthinkable in football terms, but nowadays you could spend that on an average midfielder in the Premiership or in Europe, 226.5 million has been a figure spent by the super rich likes of Man City and PSG in a matter of a few years, let alone over 20 years. United have always had money there to spend, but have never stopped making profits because of their spending, it's quite a good model admittedly.
The question on everyone's lips is, will David Moyes step in and be better in any way, shape or form? Only time will tell of course, Moyes has certainly had a lot less cash flow to use on players, and has propelled Everton back from the brink of relegation when he took over, in to a team knocking on the Champions League qualification door with a budget far inferior to the teams around them.
To sum it all up, yes it is an end of an era, Fergie departs with a 60% win percentage over 1500 games in charge but like in life and very much so in football, nothing lasts forever and it's now down to Moyes to try to continue the success that the millions of United fans are used to.
On a side note, it also means my beloved Crystal Palace are listed in the last 10 teams to beat Fergie's United at Old Trafford, and also the last team not from the top tier to do so, a night as I've posted before I will always remember, another Palace connection is obviously Wilfried Zaha, who will go down in history as Fergie's last signing, but will never play under his tenure as manager, due to being loaned back to Palace for the rest of the season, I hope Wilf still flourishes under David Moyes leadership.
Congratulations Sir Alex, enjoy retirement and fittingly winning your last game at fortress Old Trafford.
David Moyes, good luck, despite proving you can run a club successfully, this is a huge step and all eyes are on you!
Are we all ready for next season already? Simply YES!
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