Ferguson to Ten Hag: How Manchester United’s new managers fared on debut
Previous incumbents in the Old Trafford hotseat have shown that first impressions can often prove misleading
Two days after leaving Aberdeen, Ferguson sent out an XI including Paul McGrath, Jesper Olsen, Peter Davenport, Graeme Hogg and Clayton Blackmore that fell to a 16th-minute John Aldridge penalty and an 89th-minute Neil Slatter strike. “It was a nightmare trying to concentrate with so much media attention and so many cameramen on top of me,” Ferguson said. “They [the players] were a bit uptight and they wanted to do well.” None were in the 1-0 1990 FA Cup final replay triumph over Crystal Palace, Ferguson’s first trophy, though Blackmore was an unused substitute. Twenty-six and a half years after the Oxford reverse Ferguson retired as the UK’s greatest manager and a knight.
