The butterfly effect - 10 events that defined Sir Alex Ferguson's destiny

6) July 2006 – Ronaldo stays.

Ronaldo became a villain in England overnight when he influenced referee Horacio Elizondo to brandish a red card for Wayne Rooney’s stamp on Ricardo Carvalho in their quarter-final meeting in 2006 World Cup.

If that alone was not enough, he followed it by a conspiratorial wink to team-mates that appeared to suggest that it was a case of “job done”, as his Old Trafford team-mate took the long walk in Gelsenkirchen.

This almost drew the curtain on his Old Trafford career as he could not have returned to England and play in the same team with Rooney. Sir Alex Ferguson, however, had different view on this. He went to see Ronaldo personally in Portugal and used his man-management skills to persuade him to stay at United.

Ronaldo became the darling of Old Trafford in the seasons to follow and became the world’s best player by winning the Ballon d’Or in 2008, and also helped United win a European Cup and three successive league titles during the process.

7) April 2007 – Tim Howard’s loan move to Everton.

Tim Howard, who was loaned out to Everton in 2006/07 season, displayed some fantastic performances between the sticks for the Merseyside club that boasted one of the most impressive defences during the season. The American international, however, couldn’t play against United due to the conditions of the loan move (He played every other league fixture in 2006/07 season). As a result, Everton conceded more goals to Manchester United than they had conceded to any other team in the league during the season.

Everton were 2-0 up in second half and were looking to put a serious dent on United’s title challenge. This was until Everton’s stand-in keeper Iain Turner fumbled the ball that fell to John O’ Shea, who scored first of the United’s four goals that completed a tremendous comeback, and also helped them to stay clear from Chelsea. A week later, they had secured their first league title in four years.

Jose Mourinho, whose impact at Chelsea had challenged Ferguson, lost his job at Stamford Bridge five months later.

8) May 2008 – Terry’s Moscow slip

On a rainy night in Moscow at the 2008 European Cup final, United and Chelsea couldn’t be separated even after extra time and the match went into penalties. John Terry stepped up to take the final penalty for Chelsea, after Cristiano Ronaldo of all people, had missed for United. Terry, however, slipped at the vital moment and scuffed his penalty on to the post and the match went into sudden death.

The penalty miss allowed the inevitability of United’s name on the trophy to creep into Chelsea’s mind, who couldn’t score their final penalty after United, who had grown into renewed belief and confidence after the penalty miss, had scored theirs.

The result was a second European cup triumph for Sir Alex Ferguson.

9) April 2009 – Macheda Magic.

United had lost successive matches to Liverpool and Fulham before they faced a determined Aston Villa team at Old Trafford. Brave play from the Villains saw United go 1-2 down ten minutes into the second half and stared at a third successive league defeat that would have allowed Liverpool to leapfrog United to the first place.

Sir Alex threw a 17-year-old, relatively unknown, Kiko Macheda into the mix when there were other big names available on the bench. What happened in the stoppage time was a stuff made of dreams. Macheda turned a defender inside the box and curled the ball into the bottom right corner to win the match for United.

That goal set the platform for United pipping Liverpool to their 18th league title.

10) July 2012 – Phone call to Arsene Wenger.

United had lost the league title to their bitter rivals Manchester City in the most gut-wrenching fashion by losing on goal difference. Sir Alex promised that it won’t ever happen again. And to keep up to that promise, he required that his team scored more goals.

Meanwhile, Robin van Persie, golden boot winner, refused to sign a new contract at Arsenal and it was believed that he was moving to Manchester City for a mega deal, until Sir Alex intervened. Ferguson made a personal call to Arsene Wenger, and also had a chat with Van Persie to persuade him to join United for a guaranteed Premier League winner’s medal.

Van Persie couldn’t refuse the offer and joined United within a couple of weeks. He became a phenomenon in his debut season at United, where he won the Premier League’s golden boot and his maiden Premier League title.