CREDIT: THE GUARDIAN
Former manager Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement is being felt at Old Trafford.

As a lifelong Liverpool supporter, it pains me to write this sentence, but when Sir Alex Ferguson retired as the manager of Manchester United this past summer, world football lost the presence of a manager the likes of which will probably not be seen again.

When Ferguson took charge of Manchester United in 1986, the club was a shadow of its former self, never truly recovering from the Munich plane crash in 1958 that claimed the lives of eight players and the retirement of manager Sir Matt Busby in 1971. In the decade that followed, English football was dominated by Liverpool, as they spread their success to the European stage, winning the European Cup four times. Manchester United limped along, suffering relegation in 1974 and made its way back up to the top league, only to stagnate and hover in the middle-ranked places.

The hiring of a young Alex Ferguson, then a fiery tempered young manager in Scotland, began the change of Manchester United into the most widely supported sports team on the planet, but more importantly, the most successful club in the history of English football, and a major contender on the European stage. When hired, Ferguson made the infamous declaration that he was brought in to “knock Liverpool off their fuckin' perch,” and that is exactly what he did, winning title after title as their rivals stagnated after 1990, allowing him to officially surpass Liverpool's record of 18 league titles in 2009, and capping it off with another in his final season last year.

Following in the footsteps of a man with these achievements to his name would be one of the most thankless tasks in the history of football management, as the entire sports world's eye would land on you and focus there, glaring with an angry intensity at every perceived false move. This is precisely the situation that is now facing David Moyes, Ferguson's compatriot and hand-picked successor for the job, and the former Everton manager has experienced a difficult transition to life at the top of the world football pyramid.

A similar (if softer) personality than his predecessor, Moyes shares a large number of characteristics with Ferguson at the beginning of his Manchester United career, yet the entire football world is in a totally different universe than it was in 1986. Information travels faster and fans are more vocal, but most importantly the owners of football clubs are more impatient than ever before, with one manager already being fired this year, and an average of three per season in the last five years, the times of giving a manager time to build his own team seem to be ending in England.

Sitting in eighth place at the time of writing, it would seem that the shadow of Alex Fergsuon is still hanging over the club and its new manager, as Moyes is working with effectively the same team that ran away with the title less than a year ago. During his time at Everton, he made a name for himself working with a shoestring budget, yet being able to consistently challenge the Champions League places, and managing to qualify once in 2005.When he was finally awarded a team with money, he was unable to bring in the world class players who Ferguson would have been able to convince to join. Local fans have expressed concerns ranging from Moyes being out of his depth to the fact that top players may not want to play for him, and certain sections of the fanbase have begun to voice their displeasure in the stands of Old Trafford.

Only time will tell what will happen if the club does not reach the Champions League places that they are so used to, the new manager seems to have the support of his superiors, and will be expecting their financial backing when the transfer window reopens in January. If the team does continue to fail, it would be the largest drop by a defending champion in decades, and perhaps a final validation of the effect that one manager can have on a club.