Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t make too many mistakes in his 27-year reign at Manchester United .
But the one clanger he did drop towards the end was a big one that Jose Mourinho , Ed Woodward and the United board must be certain not to repeat, writes Stan Collymore in the Sunday People .
Fergie had the chance to bring the Class of 92 on to his coaching staff two or three years before his departure.
He could have educated them, groomed them, let them take the odd League Cup or FA Cup game and fully opened up his management mine so he could say, ‘There you go, these people are now ready to run this club’, when it was time for him to leave.
Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt would all have had five or so years’ experience by now and United would have stayed true to their core values and principles of loyalty and promoting from within.
But Fergie was all about Fergie, and so selfish and paranoid about not wanting to be anything other than top dog that he failed to prepare the club for his exit as he should have.
That led to the appointment of David Moyes and subsequently Louis van Gaal, and United have stuttered and stumbled ever since.
Mourinho’s arrival on a three-year deal means they now have the right man at the right time.
