After he Retires: Sir Alex as Director of Football? No Thanks...
Around the same time that Sir Alex Ferguson's career as a manager was just beginning the last great dynasty at Manchester United was coming to an end when Sir Matt Busby's 24 year career with the Red Devils came to an end.
One year after United's famous triumph in the 13th European Cup Final over Benfica at Wembley, Sir Matt Busby decided to call it a day. He moved upstairs into a Director of Football-type role and handed the reigns to Wilf McGuinness, who had been promoted from within.
When Busby announced that he was going to retire in January 1969, the footballing world shook and speculation immediately arose as to who was going to replace him. Names like Don Revie, Jock Stein, Jimmy Adamson and Dave Sexton were all mentioned as potential candidates.
Busby immediately ruled out Revie, feeling that the Leeds United manager was the complete opposite to everything he stood for in the game. The United manager then inquired about Sexton at Chelsea, but the Pensioners manager turned him down as his young family had just settled in London and he did not want to move again so quickly.
Faced with going for a manager he did not know, Busby decided to look inwards and briefly considered Johnny Carey, Noel Cantwell and Paddy Crerard but decided that their lack of coaching experience went against them so he promoted Wilf McGuinness to first team affairs.
McGuinness, a player of some repute before his career was ended at just 22-years of age, was an outstanding youth coach, was Manchester United through and through and had progressed steadily through the coaching ranks of the club. The Busby Babes had been nurtured by McGuinness before Busby ever got his hands on them and so it was that McGuinness became first team manager.
However, while McGuinness was perfectly suited to being a coach, being a manager was something else entirely. McGuinness was a straight shooter and lacked the cunning and guile needed to be a manager. He wasn't interested in the political minefield of the dressing room as a coach and never tried to understand it. But as a manager he now had to control it.
Behind the scenes though a different story soon emerged as McGuinness soon found that he was only the "Chief Coach" with Busby attending board meetings in his place and negotiating contracts with his staff and potential signings behind his back.
Add that to Busby vetoing moves for players like Malcolm McDonald, Mick Mills, and Colin Todd and all of sudden McGuinness began to feel the world at Old Trafford moving against him. All the responsibility was his, but all the power rested with the Director of Football.
McGuinness failed because he couldn't stand up to Busby, he was just too powerful and figure and still made the room tremble when he entered it. To no surprise he was sacked one year into his "three-year deal" with Busby taking over as manager until the end of the season while a shocked McGuinness stayed on until the end of the season before leaving football in England.
Within days of being removed as United's manager, Bolton Wanderers approached McGuinness about taking over as Chief Coach with Nat Lofthouse as his Director of Football. Needless to say, Wilf turned it down.
The following manager, Frank O'Farrell suffered a similar fate under Busby. O'Farrell found a United team in serious disarray and tried to rebuild it in his image but found his requests turned down by the "board" more often that not.
The ex-Leicester boss suffered the same fate as his predecessor. Except this time there was a major blood letting at the club with a number of coaches and even George Best being told to pack their bags when all the while Busby was pulling the strings on the board.
O'Farrell said, "I thought, if Matt Busby and Manchester United are the good guys, what are the bad guys like?"
Just like McGuinness, O'Farrell was put off professional football after his poor relationship with Busby.
There are enough lessons to be learnt from McGuinness' and O'Farrell's succession to Busby as manager. The club should know all about the pit-falls of a legend taking over as Director of Football and his new manager to avoid the same avenue again.
Ferguson should also recognise the dangers of taking on such a role and if he is to take on such a task then some years should be put between his retirement and return to allow the new manager time to settle and run things his way.
Whoever gets the task of replacing Ferguson will be in the toughest job in football. They will not only have to be mentally strong enough to handle a club like Manchester United and everything that goes with it but they will have to deal with the fact that they are replacing the greatest manager in English football history.
In short; Ferguson’s replacement will have to be a “special one.”
აბა მოვიყვანოთ ბრუსი, ჰიუზი ან გუარდიოლა და შესაბამისად არ ვუღალატოთ "პრინციპებს"?
This post has been edited by Hounddog on 22 Nov 2010, 13:36 
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Manchester United Supporters' Association, We Are United ! [vol.43]
