|
The History of Manchester United F.C. (1986–2013) covers the period following the appointment of Alex Ferguson in November 1986, to the day of his retirement, in May 2013. Ferguson joined the club from Aberdeen on the same day that Ron Atkinson was dismissed,〔Barnes et al. (2001), p. 21〕 and guided the club to a 12th-place finish in the league.〔Barnes et al. (2001), p. 148〕 Despite a second-place finish in 1987–88, the club was back in 11th place the following season.〔Barnes et al. (2001), pp. 148–9〕 Reportedly on the verge of being dismissed, victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final replay (after a 3–3 draw) saved Ferguson's career. The following season, Manchester United claimed its first Cup Winners' Cup title and competed in the 1991 UEFA Super Cup, beating European Cup holders Red Star Belgrade 1–0 in the final at Old Trafford. A second consecutive League Cup final appearance followed in 1992, in which the team beat Nottingham Forest 1–0 at Wembley Stadium.〔Barnes et al. (2001), pp. 20–1〕 In 1993, the club won its first league title since 1967, and a year later, for the first time since 1957, it won a second consecutive title – alongside the FA Cup – to complete the first "Double" in the club's history.〔 Manchester United's 1998–99 season was the most successful in English club football history as they became the first team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League – "The Treble" – in the same season. Losing 1–0 going into injury time in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored late goals to claim a dramatic victory over Bayern Munich, in what is considered one of the greatest comebacks of all time. The club also won the Intercontinental Cup after beating Palmeiras 1–0 in Tokyo. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football. In 2000, Manchester United competed in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil, and won the league again in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons. The team finished third in 2001–02, before regaining the title in 2002–03. They won the 2003–04 FA Cup, beating Millwall 3–0 in the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In the 2005–06 season, Manchester United failed to qualify for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over a decade, but recovered to secure a second-place league finish and victory over Wigan Athletic in the 2006 Football League Cup Final. The club regained the Premier League title in the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons, and completed the European double by beating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties in the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Ryan Giggs made a record 759th appearance for the club in this game, overtaking previous record holder, Bobby Charlton. In December 2008, the club won the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup and followed this with the 2008–09 Football League Cup, and a third successive Premier League title, the first time any team had won three successive league titles more than once. That summer, Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for a world record £80 million. In 2010, Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 at Wembley to retain the League Cup, their first successful defence of a knockout cup competition. ==Arrival of Alex Ferguson: 1986–1992== Alex Ferguson joined Manchester United from Aberdeen on 6 November 1986, the same day that previous manager Ron Atkinson was dismissed, and immediately set about rebuilding the club's youth system.〔〔Barnes et al. (2001), p. 56〕 In Ferguson's first game in charge, the team lost 2–0 to Oxford United; his first victory came on 22 November 1986, a 1–0 defeat of Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford. Over the next few weeks, results continued to improve, and on Boxing Day 1986, the team beat Liverpool 1–0 at Anfield – the club's only away league win of the season, and the only home defeat of the season for their hosts. United's improvement continued throughout the season, despite no new signings being made, and they finished 11th in a First Division where Everton finished champions and Liverpool runners-up, representing the Merseyside dominance of English football which had lasted across two decades with Liverpool and over the last four seasons with Everton. That summer, Ferguson made his first signings: defender Viv Anderson from Arsenal, and striker Brian McClair from Celtic. Ferguson also made bids to sign Stuart Pearce from Nottingham Forest and Peter Beardsley from Newcastle United, but both offers were rejected.〔 The following season, Manchester United finished runners-up in the league, nine points behind champions Liverpool, giving supporters cause to be optimistic for next season. These hopes were strengthened by the return of Mark Hughes two years after his departure to Barcelona; his £1.8 million fee that took him back to Old Trafford was United's record signing. United also signed Scottish goalkeeper Jim Leighton from Aberdeen and 17-year-old winger Lee Sharpe from Torquay United, but were pipped to midfielder Paul Gascoigne by Tottenham Hotspur in the first £2 million signing by a British club.〔 After suffering a number of injuries to first-team players in the 1988–89 season, Ferguson introduced some of his youth team players such as Sharpe into the team. A six-match winning run beginning in January saw the club in third place in February, but it finished the season in 11th. The champions this time were Arsenal, who had re-emerged as a leading force in the English game since the appointment of former United player George Graham as manager, while Liverpool finished runners-up in the league but won the FA Cup, and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest finished third and won the League Cup after a few seasons of mediocrity. Ferguson responded that summer by strengthening his squad with expensive signings in the shape of midfielders Neil Webb and Mike Phelan, followed by a club record £2.3 million signing of defender Gary Pallister and lower fees for winger Danny Wallace and midfielder Paul Ince in the early stages of the 1989–90 season. The continuing changes in the United squad had just seen the sale of two players who had been the centerpiece of the Atkinson era – Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside. While McGrath would continue playing top-flight football into the late 1990s, Whiteside would play for just two more years before continuing injury problems finally forced him to hang up his boots at the age of just 26. In September 1989, the club received a takeover bid by Michael Knighton; Chairman Martin Edwards agreed to sell the club to Knighton for £20 million, but the deal fell through when his financial backers pulled out. It was rumoured that Ferguson was on the verge of being sacked, but victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final replay (after a 3–3 draw) saved his career.〔〔 However, the club finished 13th, their lowest league placing since returning to the top-flight in 1975; just five points separated them from the relegation zone. Liverpool were league champions that season for an English record 18th time. The FA Cup success qualified the team to compete in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup; Manchester United reached the final, in which the club beat Barcelona 2–1 at De Kuip in Rotterdam, becoming the first English club to win a European trophy since the Heysel disaster had forced English clubs into a five-year ban from European competition. Despite this success, the team finished 6th in the First Division and their defence of the FA Cup ended in the fifth round, with a 2–1 loss against Norwich City. The club reached the 1991 League Cup Final, but lost to Sheffield Wednesday. Their league form improved, but inconsistent performances prevented them from mounting a title challenge and they finished sixth in a table headed by Arsenal, who lost just once all season. In June 1991, Manchester United floated on the London Stock Exchange, with a valuation of £18 million, raising £6.7 million.〔Dobson & Goddard (2004), p. 191〕 New to the United squad for the 1991–92 season were goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and defender Paul Parker, but the big news of the season was the breakthrough of teenage winger Ryan Giggs, who had made his debut the previous season and was a regular player from September 1991. Strong performances from Schmeichel, Parker, Giggs and established players like Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Mark Hughes, Brian McClair and the veteran Bryan Robson helped United take an early lead in the title race, and by Christmas the title race was looking increasingly like a two-horse race between Manchester United and a resurgent Leeds United, with pre-season favourites Arsenal and Liverpool failing to impress. United ended 1991 with just one league defeat of the season to their name, but then lost 4–1 at home to unfashionable Queens Park Rangers on New Year's Day, and over the next three months goals dried up and United dropped points against the likes of Coventry City, Wimbledon, Notts County and Luton Town – teams they had been widely expected to beat. United were constantly linked with the signature of 21-year-old Southampton striker Alan Shearer, but the player refused to consider a transfer from the South Coast club until the end of the season, and so United went into the final stages of the title race with a tough battle on their hands, although a few disappointing results for Leeds United meant that the race was still wide open with just two weeks of the season remaining. With three games to go, United were one point behind league leaders Leeds United, but the West Yorkshire club had played a game more. United then travelled to a West Ham United side heading for relegation and knew that a victory would put the title race in their hands and the end of the 25-year wait potentially just four days away. But United lost 1–0. On 26 April 1992, the team lost 2–0 to Liverpool at Anfield and Leeds secured the league title. However, the team had won the League Cup two weeks earlier, defeating Nottingham Forest 1–0 in the final. At the end of the season, 18-year-old Welsh winger Ryan Giggs was voted PFA Young Player of the Year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Manchester United F.C. (1986–2013)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|