Context and importance
This week, Manchester United mark 40 years since hiring Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot arrived at Old Trafford on 6 November 1986 from Aberdeen.
The date is an uncomfortable reminder. According to the analysis published by ESPN, that was the last time the club truly got a managerial appointment right.
Since Ferguson retired in 2013, United have lived in a cycle of gambles, sackings and fresh starts. The question every fan asks is simple: why can one of the richest clubs in the world not get it right?
Forty years later, Ferguson's shadow is still bigger than any name that has tried to fill the Old Trafford dugout.
What happened
Ferguson stepped down at the end of the 2012-13 season as English champion. He recommended fellow Scot David Moyes, who signed a six-year contract and did not even finish his first season.
Then came Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Rúben Amorim. In between, interim bosses such as Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick and Ruud van Nistelrooy held things together in times of crisis.
Amorim left in January 2026, little more than a year after arriving from Sporting. Carrick, an idol of the Ferguson era, returned to the centre of the conversation about who leads the team.
Since 2013, United have appointed six different permanent managers. None came close to winning the Premier League.
Impact on the club
The main problem is not any single name. It is the lack of coherence between them. The club jumped from a continuity manager to a possession theorist, then to a pragmatic winner, then to a club legend.
Each change brought new signings to serve a new model. The result was an expensive squad built in layers, with players requested by managers who were no longer there.
That cumulative effect explains why United now live on restarts. With every sacking, the project goes back to square one, and the gap to Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal grows.
Changing profile with every appointment turns the squad into a puzzle of pieces that do not fit.
Reaction from the football world
The English press treats the subject as an open wound. ESPN's analysis sums up a common feeling: United lost their method for choosing managers when Ferguson left.
Among fans, frustration is divided. Some blame the managers, some blame the Glazer family, owners since 2005, and some demand more from the structure led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, who took over football operations in 2024.
In Brazil, where United have many followers, the case has become a recurring example of how money alone does not buy direction. The comparison with clubs that keep one idea for years is inevitable.
Relevant history
It is worth remembering that Ferguson also started badly. He took more than three years to win his first trophy, the 1990 FA Cup, and his first league title only came in 1992-93.
The club was patient because there was a long-term vision. Ferguson rebuilt the academy, shaped the generation of Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and the Neville brothers, and controlled practically the entire football department.
That centralised model worked for 26 years, but it left a void. When he left, the club had no sporting structure able to choose and support a successor.
Before Old Trafford, Ferguson won the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup with Aberdeen, beating Real Madrid in the final.
Numbers and statistics
The Ferguson era is measured in numbers that seem from another planet. There were 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies, in 1999 and 2008, plus five FA Cups.
After him, United won important but isolated trophies: the FA Cup in 2016 and 2024, the League Cup in 2017 and 2023 and the 2017 Europa League under Mourinho.
The harshest picture came in 2024-25. The team finished 15th in the Premier League, their worst campaign since relegation in 1973-74, and also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham.
What comes next
United's next step depends less on the manager's name and more on the structure around him. Ratcliffe's management promised a model with strong sporting directors and integrated decisions.
In practice, that means choosing a manager who fits a style of play defined by the club, not the other way around. That is exactly what has been missing since 2013.
Fans want to see patience and coherence. Without them, the next manager risks becoming just another chapter in a list that is already far too long.
Michael Carrick, mentioned in ESPN's analysis, won the Champions League as a Ferguson player in 2008.
Expert opinion
United's mistake is not hiring bad managers. Van Gaal, Mourinho and Ten Hag arrived with winning CVs. The mistake is hiring without knowing what they want.
Ferguson was manager, director and guardian of the culture at the same time. The club tried to replace a man who did everything with managers who could only do one part of it.
Until United define their identity before choosing the name, they will keep changing course with every crisis.
Manchester United do not need a new Ferguson. They need a club that thinks the way Ferguson thought: with patience, long-term vision and a clear idea of what it wants to be on the pitch. Without that, any manager walks into Old Trafford with an expiry date.
