Manchester United legend

Chapter 238
The hustle and bustle of Manchester United does not exist only in the dressing room of the team, and it does not exist only in the coming and going of players in the summer.The bigger news comes from the top of the club.

The biggest news about Manchester United this summer is actually Ferguson himself.

As early as the end of last season, he vaguely revealed to the media that he will retire after the contract expires, that is, two years later, and will no longer coach Manchester United.

At that time, Manchester United had gained enough advantage in the league and had locked the Premier League championship trophy. Many media began to inquire and find out the reasons for Ferguson's retirement, and began to predict in advance the candidate for Manchester United's new coach.

Why did Ferguson retire?
Will Manchester United keep Ferguson?Will it be successful?
Who will take Ferguson's place?Who are the candidates?Has Manchester United started the selection process?
Who would Ferguson hope to succeed him?What will happen to Manchester United after Ferguson?
In fact, since Ferguson decided not to renew his contract with Manchester United to extend his coaching career, Manchester United's top management has indeed begun to prepare for a successor.

Of course, at that time, the club's main energy was still to retain Ferguson to continue coaching. The club had already stated, "I hope Ferguson will change his mind. As long as he wants to renew his contract, the club will agree anytime, anywhere and under any conditions."

People close to the club have revealed that United's board members have a long list of names on their hands.

Among them, the popular candidates that Manchester United prefer to take over include the team's meritorious player Brian Robson, Eriksson who coached the Italian Lazio team at the time, and Van Gaal who coached Barcelona.

At that time, Eriksson was already a well-known head coach in continental Europe. He once led Lazio to defeat Ferguson's Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup. Ferguson also expressed his appreciation for the Swedish coach after the game.

As a coach who led the team to win the UEFA Cup and the Serie A championship, Eriksson has a good reputation.

Eriksson made his debut very early. He first attracted attention when he was coaching at the Swedish Daigofus Club. He soon got the opportunity to coach the Gothenburg team and led this Swedish strong team to achieve unimaginable achievements. He led the team to win the UEFA Cup in 1982!
After 1982, he coached the Portuguese giants Benfica and won the league championship for two consecutive years.

Beginning in 1984, he came to Serie A, which was known as the "Little World Cup" at the time, and began to coach in some second-rate teams.He has coached Rome, Fiorentina and Sampdoria, and won two Coppa Italia titles when Italian football was under the rule of the Milan duo + Juventus.

During this period, Eriksson also returned to Benfica to coach, and led the team to win the Portuguese League Championship again in 1991.

In 1997, Eriksson coached the "Blue Eagle" Lazio team, and then achieved the most brilliant achievement in his coaching experience. Under his leadership, Lazio broke through the siege of the traditional Italian Big Three and played well in Europe.

Eriksson won the Italian Cup in 1998 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1999. In the summer of 2000, he led the team to the Serie A championship!This is the first time in the club's 25 years!
At that time, under Eriksson's command, there were many star players. Although they were not superstars like Ronaldo and Baggio, the famous players in the team, such as Mancini, Mihajnovic, Alessandro Nesta, Marcelo Salas, Pavel Nedved, etc., were of extraordinary strength.

In the 1999-2000 season, they once played a storm-like super offensive firepower, just like Manchester United raging in the Premier League, their attack power also surpassed Italy.

Not only that, Eriksson contributed a lot to the listing of the team in 2000, which improved Lazio's financial situation.This is also an important factor that impresses Manchester United's top management.

In addition to Eriksson, Van Gaal, who was the coach of Barcelona at the time, was also a candidate for Manchester United.

Van Gaal is much younger than Eriksson, and the key is that his reputation is much louder than Eriksson.

Van Gaal's brilliance was established in the Ajax club in the Netherlands. In 1992, Van Gaal became the head coach of Ajax, and since then Ajax has started the process of dominating Europe.

Van Gaal made Ajax the most successful youth training system in Europe. He boldly promoted youth players to enter the first team, was brave enough to attack tactically, and inherited the tactical thinking of total attack and defense.

Van Gaal won the UEFA Cup in the first season of coaching in 1992, and then led the team to win three consecutive Eredivisie championships and the Super Cup (Cruyff Cup), achieving three consecutive dominance.

In the 1994-95 season, Van Gaal commanded Ajax to continue to dominate the league and to emerge in the European Champions Cup.In the Eredivisie, Van Gaal's team won the championship with an astonishing record of 27 wins, 7 draws and 106 goals. The team finally created a record of 52 consecutive unbeaten league games.

Not only that, Ajax is also surprising in the European arena. From the Champions League group stage to the final, they defeated AC Milan three times, ended the Milan dynasty, won the Champions League, and reached the top of Europe!

To some extent, the dominance of the Ajax team in Europe in 1995 is likely to be higher than that of Manchester United in 1999! In the 1995-1996 season, Ajax entered the Champions League final for the second consecutive year. In the end, they narrowly lost to Juventus on penalties and finished second, but no one dared to doubt that Ajax was still the strongest team in Europe.

Subsequently, Van Gaal's career faced serious challenges. The Ajax team was hit hardest by the "Bosman Act". Almost all the famous stars in the team were divided up by European powers represented by Serie A giants.

But in such a difficult situation, Van Gaal still achieved three consecutive league titles in 1997, and led the seriously damaged Ajax to break into the semi-finals of the Champions League again.

Van Gaal went to Spain to coach Barcelona in 1997.In the first season of coaching, Van Gaal led the team to win the La Liga championship and the King's Cup championship.

In the 1998-99 season, Barcelona once again won the league title and successfully defended it.At the end of the 1999-2000 season, Barcelona unfortunately won the runner-up in La Liga, and the Champions League also regrettably stopped in the top four, and the championship was taken away by Real Madrid.

This season, Van Gaal had conflicts with the club's top management and the team's locker room, and the relationship with the Barcelona club management and fans has been poor.In the summer of 2000, Van Gaal left the championship and served as the coach of the Dutch national team.

The reporters following Manchester United naturally linked the topic of Van Gaal and Ferguson's successor. Van Gaal's tenure as coach of the Dutch national team just happened to end at the end of the 2002 World Cup. If there is no accident, Ferguson will retire at that time.

Van Gaal advocates offense, and his tactical style is fundamentally unified with Manchester United, which is welcomed and supported by many Manchester United fans.And he attaches great importance to youth training, is good at discovering young players, and the characteristics of being good at being a Bole are in line with Manchester United's tradition.

Therefore, to some extent, Van Gaal is simply the perfect successor to Ferguson.

(End of this chapter)