5 of the greatest challenges overcome by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United

#4 Dealing with mutinous players

Ferguson was never afraid to jettison players - even greats like David Beckham and Roy Keane

Despite overseeing multiple generations of players at Old Trafford, Ferguson never “lost the dressing room” – something that has happened to even great managers like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Part of this was down to his tremendous man-management skills, but perhaps the biggest factor in avoiding a situation like that was his sheer ruthlessness.

Under Ferguson, no matter how talented a player, they were simply never bigger than the club and thus were never given the chance to mutiny. Anyone seen as not towing the line was either quickly forced to change their tune, or simply drummed out of the club as quickly as possible, often in shocking fashion.

Some of United’s true greats weren’t above this treatment – inspirational captain Roy Keane was jettisoned in 2005 following an interview in which he criticised his teammates and a bust-up with assistant manager Carlos Queiroz; key defender Jaap Stam was sold to Lazio when it was revealed that he’d criticised United players in his autobiography; David Beckham went to Real Madrid when Ferguson began to believe his wife was having too much of an influence over him, and the list goes on.

By being so ruthless with even his best players, Ferguson kept a healthy culture of both respect and a needed fear at United, and it meant that he never lost control of the dressing room even for a split second. Other managers would’ve wilted under the challenge of such talented players but Ferguson was unrelenting – a factor that undoubtedly helped him to succeed.