Chapter 1 Rebuilding Confidence

Ever since losing to Liverpool at their home stadium last season, Ferguson had been doing one thing – rebuilding the confidence of Manchester United players, telling them that losing a game wasn't a big deal, and that Manchester United would definitely make a comeback next season. To compare for the Premier League title, Liverpool had only won one, what right did they have to show off in front of Manchester United? Therefore, Manchester United players had to have this awareness when facing Liverpool.

What he said was right, but unfortunately, his luck was very bad this time because the media was always working against him…

He had finally managed to instill in everyone the idea that "In the Premier League, Liverpool's history isn't as glorious as ours, so we don't need to be overly concerned about the outcome of a single game."

But the media then flocked to hype up the idea that "The game at Old Trafford was a watershed moment between the future and the past of the Premier League. Manchester United had a glorious past, but they are now on the decline. Although Liverpool has won fewer league titles, they represent the future."

The morale and confidence that had finally been built up was extinguished by the media's overwhelming "watershed" narrative. How could Ferguson not be angry?

Ferguson was simply furious, wishing he could ban all the media outlets that said this.

But this time, there were just too many media outlets saying this… If he were to ban them all, the press conference scene at Manchester United would be deserted. Although Ferguson was very strong and had a strong personality, he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't do something that only an idiot would do.

When the transfer window opened, Liverpool made frequent moves in the transfer market, signing Pepe and Gotze, and the media had even more fuel to炒作 (chao zuo – hype) this "watershed" narrative. They said that Liverpool's big spending showed that the future belonged to them, while Manchester United hadn't made any moves yet, indicating that the era belonging to Manchester United was over, and that the current Manchester United was a setting sun…

This made Ferguson feel particularly passive.

He had no choice but to go to Glazer, using both soft and hard tactics, to finally get money to buy a few players, especially snatching Modrić from Real Madrid, which somewhat salvaged the situation.

However, this also made his animosity towards Liverpool even stronger – all of this indicated one thing: Liverpool was truly Manchester United's nemesis. If it were any other opponent, they probably wouldn't be able to push Manchester United into such an embarrassing situation. If it weren't for Liverpool, he wouldn't even bother with what the media said.

After the new season started, Liverpool advanced triumphantly, with an eight-game winning streak and a nine-game unbeaten run, which further highlighted Manchester United's apparent failure. Although they were ranked second in the league, the first place was Liverpool! And they were five points behind.

At this time, those noisy media outlets were still constantly mentioning nonsense like "The Manchester United dynasty is declining, and Liverpool is making a comeback."

This caused Ferguson a lot of headaches.

In his twenty-eight years of coaching Manchester United, he had only felt this way once before.

That was during the 1989-1990 season. The previous season, Manchester United, under Ferguson's leadership, had fallen into a slump, finishing only eleventh in the league at the end of the season, and had not performed well in the English League Cup and FA Cup. Anxious fans didn't see any amazing moves from Ferguson. On the day he completed three years as Manchester United's head coach, a fan held up a sign that read: "Three years is enough excuses, Fergie should be sacked."

It was conceivable how much pressure Ferguson was under at that time.

In such circumstances, the 1989-1990 season became his most crucial season. The poor results of the previous season had caused his reputation to decline, and the continued poor performance in the league this season led Manchester United to consider firing Ferguson. In early 1990, Ferguson faced the most difficult moment at Manchester United. At this moment, Ferguson faced Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.

At that time, Nottingham Forest, although no longer as glorious as in the early 1980s, was still a strong team in England that could not be ignored. Under the leadership of legendary coach Brian Clough, they were enough to make Manchester United stumble.

In the FA Cup quarter-finals, Manchester United challenged Nottingham Forest away from home. Before that game, rumors had been spreading that if they lost this game, Manchester United would fire Ferguson.

In fact, Manchester United played very hard in that game. For a while, Ferguson was even ready to accept his fate and pack his bags and get out of Old Trafford. But Mark Robbins' goal saved Ferguson, and Manchester United eliminated Nottingham Forest with a score of 1:0. After passing the Nottingham Forest hurdle, Manchester United went all the way to the FA Cup final. In the English FA Cup final, Manchester United drew 3:3 with Crystal Palace, and then won 1:0 in the replay, winning the FA Cup.

At that time, the Premier League had not yet been established. As the oldest event in history, the FA Cup was very important in the hearts of English fans and teams. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was comparable to the Champions League.

Being able to win the FA Cup meant that Ferguson had completed a reversal from sinner to hero. Therefore, although Manchester United only finished thirteenth in the league after that season, even worse than the previous season, no one mentioned letting Ferguson滚蛋 (gun dan - get lost) anymore.

Ferguson was lucky, and Manchester United was lucky. It was because of that 1:0 victory that Manchester United had its subsequent glory in the Premier League era.

Now, Ferguson was under as much pressure as he was then. Although no fans were hanging banners in the stadium asking him to get lost, he knew that the media was炒作 (chao zuo –hyping up) the news of his successor.

The only difference from last time was that this time they didn't think Ferguson's strength was not enough, but they felt that Ferguson should accept his age, should go home to retire, and leave this position to younger people.

Last time, when he encountered this kind of pressure, he was still young. After surviving that crisis, he had time to lead Manchester United to prove himself. But this time… even if he survived, so what? How many years could his body allow him to stay in this position? He would almost certainly not be able to lead Manchester United to reproduce the glory of the last time.

This was precisely the reason why many people were not optimistic about Ferguson – age.

Time, this was a ruthless sword that no great hero could withstand.

Ferguson was old, how could he compete with O'Neill and Chen Hero's Liverpool?

If Ferguson were ten years younger, maybe the public opinion would now be reversed, supporting him, Ferguson.

Just because he was old, Ferguson had rediscovered the fickleness of human relationships.

But this did not defeat him, but instead inspired his infinite fighting spirit.

Ferguson's life had always been like this – when others questioned him, he would slap them in the face.

In Aberdeen, no one would have thought that this young combination coach could create any achievements that would be remembered by later generations. He led Aberdeen to break the "Glasgow Double Heroes" Rangers and Celtic's fifteen-year monopoly on domestic championships. In eight years, he won three Scottish Premier League titles, four Scottish FA Cup titles, and one Scottish League Cup title. The most prominent achievement was defeating Real Madrid in 1983 to win the European Cup Winners' Cup.

The story in Manchester United goes without saying, it had been mentioned before.

This time, Ferguson would not easily admit defeat either. He was going to compete with "common sense" and "rules." He was going to let everyone know – an old dog still has some teeth!

So even though Liverpool was now five points ahead, he didn't give up. He was determined to give Liverpool a fatal blow at Anfield.

His idea was very simple – since you Liverpool can rely on defeating us at Old Trafford to build momentum and reverse public opinion and the situation, why can't we replicate it? Let us also defeat you at Anfield, and then reverse the situation!

He even wanted to see what the贱人 (jian ren – bitches) who had previously promoted the idea that "Manchester United is declining" would have to say when his team defeated Manchester United on the road.

He had been preparing for this game for a long time.

He even had to let Sunderland force his Manchester United to a draw at Old Trafford. The purpose was to create an illusion for the outside world – Manchester United was indeed declining, was indeed going downhill, not only was it unable to face teams like Liverpool, but even teams like Sunderland could come and bully them.

A tiger falls in Pingyang and is bullied by dogs, and the current Manchester United is not even as good as a dog.

If Liverpool underestimated them because of this, Ferguson's goal would be achieved.

In fact, he believed that Liverpool would definitely underestimate them. If it was still unlikely last season, it would almost certainly happen this season. Because the current public opinion overwhelmingly supported Liverpool, tending to believe that Liverpool had already pressed Manchester United under them.

This argument was so marketable that Ferguson didn't believe it wouldn't affect Liverpool. Even if Liverpool's coach, Martin O'Neill, was wise and calm and didn't fall for it, could he guarantee that his subordinates wouldn't overthink it? Players all have their own thoughts, and coaches can't control their thoughts.

As long as half of Liverpool's starting players underestimated the enemy, Manchester United would have a chance.

On the other hand, Ferguson was constantly instilling the belief in Manchester United players that "This is a revenge battle, this is a crucial revenge battle," in order to stimulate the anger of Manchester United players when facing Liverpool players. He didn't mind turning this game into a Shura hell, as long as he could defeat Liverpool, he would use any means.

If Manchester United was compared to an empire, this game was a key battle related to the fate of the country.

If they lost, the collapse of the empire would probably only be a matter of time…

Of course, Manchester United still had a home game, and they could still get one back at home. But the opponent had already won against them once at their home, and if they couldn't win back at the opponent's home, they would lose momentum. Even if they returned to their home and won, so what?

Momentum!

In the competition between strong players, what is being compared is not skills and tactics. What often determines the outcome is momentum.

Chen Hero had a good saying.

I can lose anything, but I must never lose momentum!

This sentence is equally appropriate for Manchester United coach Ferguson.