Page 136 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

twenty-one

IN the build-up to us winning our 19th English League title, there was this constant question about us
beating Liverpool’s record. My view was that we would pass their haul of 18 championships at some
point anyway, so there was no need to make a fuss about it in that particular season. I wanted our
attention focused on the campaign itself. But it was something I always felt we needed to achieve.

The Souness–Dalglish Liverpool teams were the benchmark for English football in the 1980s,
when I made my first foray into management south of the border. Those Liverpool sides were
formidable. I had suffered against them with Aberdeen and brought those memories with me to
Manchester. In one European tie we had lost 1–0 at Pittodrie, played really well for the first 20
minutes at Anfield, but still ended up 2–0 down at half-time. I did my usual thing in the dressing room
and, as the players were leaving, one, Drew Jarvie, said, ‘Come on, lads, two quick goals and we’re
back in it.’

We were 3–0 down on aggregate, at Anfield, and he was talking about two quick goals as if they
were ours to take. I looked at Drew and said: ‘God bless you, son.’ Later the players would hammer
Drew with the quote. They would say, ‘We weren’t playing Forfar, you know.’
When that great Liverpool side were 1–0 up against you, it was impossible to get the ball off them.
It would be boomp-boomp around the park. Souness would spread the play. Hansen, Lawrenson,
Thompson: whatever the combination at the back, they were comfortable on the ball. When I moved to

United, they still had Ian Rush, John Aldridge, that calibre of player. Buying John Barnes and Peter
Beardsley just elevated them again.
I said at the time: ‘I want to knock them off their perch.’ I can’t actually remember saying that, but
the line is attributed to me. Anyway, it was a representation of how I felt, so I have no objection to it
being in the newspaper cuttings. Manchester United’s greatest rival, though it changed towards the
end, was Liverpool – historically, industrially and football-wise. The games were always
emotionally intense events.

Our League success in 1993 opened the door, and by the turn of the century we had added a further
five championships. In 2000 I looked at Liverpool and knew there was no easy way back for them.
They were in for a long haul. Youth development was spasmodic. You had no feeling that Liverpool
were a threat again. The impetus was all with us. On the day we reached 18 titles to match their
record, I knew fine well we were going to pass them, the way our club was operating.
The weekend of our 19th coronation was an extraordinary one for the city of Manchester. City won

their first trophy since the 1976 League Cup, with a 1–0 win over Stoke in the FA Cup final, and we
drew 1–1 at Blackburn with a 73rd-minute penalty by Rooney. In 1986, when I arrived, Liverpool led
United 16–7 in League titles won. This was the season in which Chelsea had spent £50 million on
Fernando Torres and City had invested £27 million in Edin Džeko while Javier Hernández turned out