Former Manchester United chairman explains how the club lured Ferguson from Aberdeen in 1986 – a move that changed history
(Image credit: Getty Images)
When Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed Manchester United manager in 1986, even the most optimistic of fans couldn’t have foreseen quite how successful he would be – for chairman Martin Edwards though, there was little doubt the Scot was the man for the job.
Ferguson would go on to win 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues during an incredible 27-year reign at Old Trafford, having been lured to the club following success north of the border.
The manager had led Aberdeen to three Scottish titles and the European Cup Winners’ Cup, beating Real Madrid in the final in 1983, understandably attracting plenty of attention in England.
Tottenham, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Sheffield United and Wolves all made failed attempts to hire him during his time at Aberdeen, before Manchester United made their move when they were ready to fire Ron Atkinson in 1986.
“I made up my mind fairly quickly that he was the one,” Edwards told FourFourTwo. “I’d met him when we were trying to buy Gordon Strachan in 1984, and was impressed with the way he went about his work.
“When I put his name to the other directors, there was no one in disagreement. Mike Edelson suggested we should perhaps consider Terry Venables, but I’d made up my mind on Alex and was backed by the board.”
Ron Atkinson managed Manchester United before Sir Alex Ferguson (Image credit: Getty Images)
Edwards had to be careful about how he established whether Ferguson actually wanted the job – managing to do it without either Aberdeen or Atkinson discovering what was happening.
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“We had to contact him to find out if he wanted to come, before we made the official approach,” Edwards said.
“If I just rang Aberdeen up and said, ‘It’s Martin Edwards from Manchester United’, we thought they might not put me through to him. So our director Mike Edelson spoke to Aberdeen’s switchboard, pretending to be Gordon Strachan’s agent. They put him on.”
Edelson then passed the phone to Edwards, who enquired whether Ferguson might be willing to meet to discuss the job.
“He agreed, so we travelled up by car, the whole of the board, and met at a motorway service station,” the former chairman explained.
“Once we met him and he indicated that he was prepared to come, it was just a question of negotiation.
“Maurice Watkins and I flew north the next day to speak to the Aberdeen chairman, and see Alex to agree terms.”
Soon, Ferguson replaced Atkinson as Manchester United, and the rest is history.
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Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from more than 20 countries, in places as varied as Ivory Coast and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, AFCON and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.
