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The Best and Worst Quotations of the Post-Sir Alex Ferguson Era
- Updated: December 16, 2016
Manchester United’s greatest ever manager had quite a way with words. Think of how he described a young Ryan Giggs: “I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.”
Sir Alex Ferguson was, basically, a poet. He coined the phrase “born offside,” to describe Filippo Inzaghi’s playing style. Both of those quotes are per a list of his greatest hits in the the Guardian, and the entire thing is well worth a read.
Since he left, some very memorable things have been said by the people who have tried in vain to replace him. They have, it is fair to say, not always ascended to the level of poetry. Let’s take a look back on the David Moyes and Louis van Gaal eras through the medium of quotations.
It took until December in his sole season in charge of the Red Devils for Moyes to have his first, “did he really just say that?” moment. It came ahead of the visit of Newcastle United to Old Trafford. The Toon were flying high at the time, managed by Alan Pardew and on the back of a four-game winning streak.
But what Moyes said was still shocking. Even now, three years later, it is hard to conscience that he actually thought it was a reasonable thing to say as manager of United.
He said, per Ed Osmond of Reuters, “Four straight wins is a great record to get… but obviously they are coming to Old Trafford and we are going to make it as hard for them as we possibly can.”
Just got a flashback of when David Moyes was our manager and said we would make it difficult for Newcastle. Scenes 😂
— Conor Kelly (@KellyConorp) August 21, 2016
Manchester United, the champions of England at the time, were aiming to “make it as hard for” Newcastle as they possibly could. Now, in Moyes’ defence, Newcastle were on a good run. However, that defence does not stack up too well against the fact that the Geordies had not won a game at Old Trafford since 1972. That, for those keeping score, is a very long time ago.
Moyes’ men, suitably inspired by their bombastic leader, did an admirable job, keeping Newcastle’s winning margin to a single goal. The record that had stood since 1972 ended in a cloud of defeatism.
Nothing says “Moyes era” better than that defeatism. His other two greatest hits came before and after home games against the club’s most loathed rivals.
‘Liverpool come here a favourites’Wonderful David Moyes memories
— Connor (@Futbol_Connor) January 16, 2016
In March 2014, as title-challenging Liverpool were preparing to head to Old Trafford, Moyes said, per Mike Collett of Reuters, “Their league position suggests they are ahead of us and they possibly …
