Ta-ra Fergie
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 666 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2024
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Overlap’s brand-new football history podcast, It Was What It Was.
Hosted by journalists Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper, we kick off our series with the story behind one of the greatest managers of all time – Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex Ferguson won 38 major trophies in 26 years as Manchester United boss, including 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues and five FA Cups during an unprecedented era of success.
But his period of dominance at Old Trafford followed a time of struggles, shocks and setbacks with many fans calling for the Scottish manager to be sacked before he won his first trophy four years into his reign.
Jonathan and Rob delve into how Sir Alex rejuvenated Manchester United, explaining how his arrival from Aberdeen transformed the club’s culture, why his forward-thinking approach for the youth team structure was so essential and which moments were vital in laying the foundations of footballing superiority that transformed the English game.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the first episode of our brand new podcast, It Was What It Was, |
| 0:04.6 | a show in which we'll be discussing the best stories from football's past, giving insights |
| 0:08.7 | into the personalised involved, providing details from behind the scenes, and offering vital |
| 0:12.9 | historical context. I'm Jonathan Wilson. I'll be joined by Rob Draper, and each week we'll be |
| 0:18.1 | talking through the episodes that have shaped football today, from Uruguayans of the 1920s to legends of the Premier League, |
| 0:24.6 | from match-fixing scandals to World Cup finals, from famous goals to tactical theory. |
| 0:29.6 | We look at the origins of Pep Guardiola, Juergen Klopp and Anshbostokli, |
| 0:33.4 | but there'll also be plenty of time for obscure, but frankly important, Hungarians. |
| 0:38.7 | We hope you enjoy this first episode, which will kick off with one of the greatest managers of all time, |
| 0:42.9 | Sir Alex Ferguson, and how it very nearly all went wrong for him at Manchester United |
| 0:46.8 | before he'd won a single trophy. |
| 0:59.5 | What really hurts, Alex, is that under you, we've had shit football, shit atmosphere, |
| 1:03.6 | shit border and shenanigans, and our support is drifting away. |
| 1:09.5 | Well, welcome to it was what it was with that rather abrupt introduction. |
| 1:12.2 | I'm Rob Draper. I'm here of Jonathan Wilson. |
| 1:15.8 | That was Red News, one of the Manchester United fans. |
| 1:18.1 | He's writing in December 8, 1989. |
| 1:25.3 | And today on it was what it was, we are examining what I regard as just one of the great moments in football history. |
| 1:27.9 | One of the great sliding doors moments, a what if moment. |
| 1:34.8 | What if Manchester United hands out, Alex Ferguson, when after four years of really, |
| 1:40.8 | three and a half years, I guess, a really turgid, bad football, mediocre stuff, |
| 1:45.3 | they really probably should have sacked him, but they stuck with him. |
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