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How the empires crumbled: Liverpool, Arsenal, Leeds, Forest... and even United (so, is Moyes in charge of another sinking ship?)
By Laura Williamson
PUBLISHED: 10:30 EST, 8 January 2014 | UPDATED: 10:30 EST, 8 January 2014
Sir Alex Ferguson's great strength was his ability to build a great team, dismantle parts of it and then build another one.
That is the main tenement of sporting greatness, after all; the ability to win big, then come back and do it again. Few get the chance to try it, even fewer achieve it.
In 2008, after winning his second Champions League title, Ferguson spoke of the need to 'phase out' players such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes because 'you have to do that in life'.
Arguably, however, the former United boss did not manage to do that at the final time of asking, leaving his successor David Moyes to inherit one of the weakest, oldest United squads for the last 20 years.
History, however, shows this to be a common theme: think of the age of the title-winning Leeds players who scowled at Brian Clough when he took over from Don Revie in 1974, or the Liverpool squad Graeme Souness inherited from Kenny Dalglish.
It is not just the age of the players that matters, either: it is the way they have been schooled by the previous manager. They have bought into his philosophy, celebrated his success and they largely remain 'his' players, however much they protest otherwise. It does not help if the former boss moves upstairs, lurking in the stands and watching his old players' demise, either.
Successful managers like Sir Matt Busby, Ferguson and Revie also earned the right to go out at the top, leaving the memories strong, pure and untarnished by what followed. It made life incredibly difficult for their successors.
Clough, though, was different: he stayed, but his powers had waned considerably by the team he left Forest in 1993 after seeing them finish bottom of the first Premier League table.
Arsene Wenger has stayed at Arsenal too, despite eight years without a trophy, and no league title since the glorious days of the Invincibles. Wenger's success, though, earned him the opportunity to try and rebuild, to do it all again, and this remains very much a work in progress.
If, however, there is a lesson for Moyes' Manchester United to learn from the great teams of the past that have slipped into decline - some dramatic, others more relative - then this is it: you have to wholeheartedly embrace change on and off the pitch, however painful that might be initially.
1. Manchester United, 1968
By 1974, the winners of the 1968 European Cup had been relegated to the second division. United won the 1977 FA Cup but the 1967 champions would have to wait another 26 years before they could again claim to be the best team in England. The decline was swift; the rebuilding painfully slow.
In January 1969 United manager Sir Matt Busby announced his retirement but, like Sir Alex Ferguson, remained omnipresent at Old Trafford. He served as a director for another 11 years and retook the managerial reins briefly in 1970. Busby's continued close links with United, however, brought not positive continuity but demise as his successor, Wilf McGuinness, was undermined by the great man upstairs.
There was decline on the pitch, too, as players who had served United so brilliantly reached the twilight of their careers. Two of the survivors of the Munich air crash, Bill Folkes and Bobby Charlton, were 36 and 30 by the time they tasted European glory in 1968. Folkes had to be persuaded to stay on for a few more years before retiring officially, in 1970, while Charlton, then 35, left at the end of the 1973 season.
Denis Law had also missed the second leg of the European Cup semi-final against Real Madrid, and the final against Benfica, with knee injuries. He stayed at United until 1973, but his latter years were greatly disrupted by injury.
And then there was George Best. Without Busby's direct influence, this immense talent became uncontrollable. There were well-documented away days with Miss Great Britain and much-publicised partying and drinking sprees in London. Best last played for United in January 1974, but his contribution had ceased years earlier.
2. Liverpool, 1980s
Liverpool won six of the 10 League titles the 1980s had to offer, as well as two FA Cups, four League Cups - in a row, and two European Cups. Bob Paisley was replaced by Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish followed and the trophies kept on coming: the house that Shankly built was certainly in good order.
Liverpool's last League victory, however, came in 1990. Dalglish left, for the first time, in 1991 after leading Liverpool through the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster and the club's dominance ended, too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...king-ship.html
By Laura Williamson
PUBLISHED: 10:30 EST, 8 January 2014 | UPDATED: 10:30 EST, 8 January 2014
Sir Alex Ferguson's great strength was his ability to build a great team, dismantle parts of it and then build another one.
That is the main tenement of sporting greatness, after all; the ability to win big, then come back and do it again. Few get the chance to try it, even fewer achieve it.
In 2008, after winning his second Champions League title, Ferguson spoke of the need to 'phase out' players such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes because 'you have to do that in life'.
Arguably, however, the former United boss did not manage to do that at the final time of asking, leaving his successor David Moyes to inherit one of the weakest, oldest United squads for the last 20 years.
History, however, shows this to be a common theme: think of the age of the title-winning Leeds players who scowled at Brian Clough when he took over from Don Revie in 1974, or the Liverpool squad Graeme Souness inherited from Kenny Dalglish.
It is not just the age of the players that matters, either: it is the way they have been schooled by the previous manager. They have bought into his philosophy, celebrated his success and they largely remain 'his' players, however much they protest otherwise. It does not help if the former boss moves upstairs, lurking in the stands and watching his old players' demise, either.
Successful managers like Sir Matt Busby, Ferguson and Revie also earned the right to go out at the top, leaving the memories strong, pure and untarnished by what followed. It made life incredibly difficult for their successors.
Clough, though, was different: he stayed, but his powers had waned considerably by the team he left Forest in 1993 after seeing them finish bottom of the first Premier League table.
Arsene Wenger has stayed at Arsenal too, despite eight years without a trophy, and no league title since the glorious days of the Invincibles. Wenger's success, though, earned him the opportunity to try and rebuild, to do it all again, and this remains very much a work in progress.
If, however, there is a lesson for Moyes' Manchester United to learn from the great teams of the past that have slipped into decline - some dramatic, others more relative - then this is it: you have to wholeheartedly embrace change on and off the pitch, however painful that might be initially.
1. Manchester United, 1968
By 1974, the winners of the 1968 European Cup had been relegated to the second division. United won the 1977 FA Cup but the 1967 champions would have to wait another 26 years before they could again claim to be the best team in England. The decline was swift; the rebuilding painfully slow.
In January 1969 United manager Sir Matt Busby announced his retirement but, like Sir Alex Ferguson, remained omnipresent at Old Trafford. He served as a director for another 11 years and retook the managerial reins briefly in 1970. Busby's continued close links with United, however, brought not positive continuity but demise as his successor, Wilf McGuinness, was undermined by the great man upstairs.
There was decline on the pitch, too, as players who had served United so brilliantly reached the twilight of their careers. Two of the survivors of the Munich air crash, Bill Folkes and Bobby Charlton, were 36 and 30 by the time they tasted European glory in 1968. Folkes had to be persuaded to stay on for a few more years before retiring officially, in 1970, while Charlton, then 35, left at the end of the 1973 season.
Denis Law had also missed the second leg of the European Cup semi-final against Real Madrid, and the final against Benfica, with knee injuries. He stayed at United until 1973, but his latter years were greatly disrupted by injury.
And then there was George Best. Without Busby's direct influence, this immense talent became uncontrollable. There were well-documented away days with Miss Great Britain and much-publicised partying and drinking sprees in London. Best last played for United in January 1974, but his contribution had ceased years earlier.
2. Liverpool, 1980s
Liverpool won six of the 10 League titles the 1980s had to offer, as well as two FA Cups, four League Cups - in a row, and two European Cups. Bob Paisley was replaced by Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish followed and the trophies kept on coming: the house that Shankly built was certainly in good order.
Liverpool's last League victory, however, came in 1990. Dalglish left, for the first time, in 1991 after leading Liverpool through the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster and the club's dominance ended, too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...king-ship.html