Ferguson and the 10-year hitch

It Was 9 December 1989, on what Alex Ferguson recalls as a "dirty black Manchester afternoon". United had lost 2-1 at home to a Crystal Palace team beaten 9-0 at Liverpool earlier in the season and for the first time in his three years as manager, with silver lining looking remote amid the dark clouds, Ferguson felt the Old Trafford crowd begin to turn against him.

That same day the third round of the FA Cup was drawn and it did not look encouraging for United: Nottingham Forest away. United were in the middle of an 11-game run without a win and were 15th, just above the relegation zone. Forest were embarking on a nine-match unbeaten run that would lift them to third place in the old First Division.

Against all odds, however, United won 1-0 at the City Ground and went on to take the trophy, the first of the seven major ones lifted in the manager's 10-year tenure, which he celebrates on Wednesday. He cites it as a turning point after the shaping-up period that almost became a shipping-out experience.

There was clearly another, one which elevated United from a classy Cup team to consistent champions. It occurred on 26 November 1992, when Ferguson signed Eric Cantona from Leeds United. The rest has been hysteria. "Certainly my most significant signing," said Ferguson last week. "Simply because of what has transpired. I think we were getting there but it would have taken longer than it did. He could produce a pass that we didn't have, a goal, and he had a presence that helped also."

The sober reality for Ferguson now is whether there will be a third phase that sees United make the great leap forward from domestic dominance to European fulfilment. Yesterday's defeat by Chelsea, an unheard of third in succession in the Premiership, capped an unfortunate period in which to celebrate his anniversary but Ferguson is sure to be more anxious about the defeat by Fenerbahce which ended the 40-year unbeaten home record in European competition and, more importantly, put on hold their quarter- final aspirations in the Champions' League.

The burning question, petrol poured on by the four defeats in a fortnight, asks what is wrong with United. Central to it is the one that concerns an out-of-sorts Cantona and whther he is capable of lifting the team at the highest level.

Several factors are involved in United's recent failings: a back four pining for the encouragement of steady Steve Bruce and missing the experience of Gary Pallister; injuries to other important players, notably Ryan Giggs; and a lightweight attack only fitfully menacing.

Such has been the vivid and vital effect of Cantona in the past four years that his modified profile in the changing dynamics of the team is probably the most important. The gesticulating signs are that the adjustment for him is proving frustrating, with United misfiring as a result.

As captain, his is an influence by example to reverential team-mates, unlike Bruce's louder command. As player, he appears ill at ease in the role of carrying the attack rather than exploding from within its framework. It may be within Cantona's capability to lead the line - in the Premiership if not in Europe - but that might subdue his more subtle attributes of vision and timing of run. Ferguson probably agrees, though circumstances are forcing his hand. Recently he indicated that it was to Cantona that prospective crossers of the ball looked; after the Fenerbahce match, during which crosses were sometimes going into an empty penalty area with Cantona dropping deeper to seek possession, he said: "It's knowing your players. With certain players, he's better withdrawn."

With Andy Cole injured, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Paul Scholes still in formative stages, the burden falls on Cantona. Though the emergence of David Beckham has eased the responsibility of creativity - or perhaps even because of it - the blue-touchpaper signs concealed since Selhurst Park have resurfaced.

There was a lunge at Jason McAteer against Liverpool for which he was fortunate to escape punishment on a day when the first murmurs of discontent with Cantona could be heard around Old Trafford. Then came the baulking of Philippe Albert as United were losing 5-0 at Newcastle - as well as treading on Alan Shearer's ankles and baring studs against Peter Beardsley - and the tussle with Ulrich Van Gobbel in the 6-3 defeat at Southampton. All went unpunished. Referees tread on eggshells around Cantona, though sparing the rod may do him a disservice. One hopes that a career pattern of one quiet season followed by one that witnesses a serious incident will be interrupted.

Though Ferguson often defends errant players publicly, the manager insists he is privately firm and will not ignore the warning signs. The task he is undoubtedly addressing is to curb Cantona's dark side and empower anew the light fantastic. His own history, although intertwined with Cantona's, shows that he has grasped nettles and rarely been stung.

Despite the current mini- crisis, Ferguson deserves at this time a pause for reflection and appreciation. He turned up at Old Trafford on Thursday morning to talk about his 10 years in brighter mood than had been anticipated after the previous night's events - "which hit you like a tax demand" - of Turks defeating young Turks. But though a more mellow man, with his place in the pantheon assured, his passion, at 54, remains undimmed.

"You are driving to work and you see kids going to school laughing and you think, 'Why are they bloody laughing? We got beat last night'," he said. He wasn't that one-eyed any more, he added quickly, but it didn't fool many. Low points? "I'm still here because we have had plenty of high points," he said. Regrets? Not signing John Barnes and Paul Gascoigne before they went to Liverpool and Lazio respectively. "But the thing about this club is that if one doesn't come, another does. We didn't get Gascoigne but we got Paul Ince. We didn't get Alan Shearer before he went to Blackburn but we got Eric."

There were regrets, too, that the 1993-94 Double-winning team could not all play in the Champions' League because of the foreigner rules. "It was the right mix. That team played 23 games together and didn't lose one, didn't draw one. The power in that team ... Bryan Robson couldn't get in it."

Trophies aside, the pleasure has come, Ferguson said, in his working environment and gazing out from his office at the Cliff training ground on the development of young players. Giggs, also 10 years with the club, makes him positively purr. "At 13 years of age he just floated across the ground, like a wee cocker spaniel chasing a bit of silver paper in the wind."

He had, he said, been offered three other jobs a year ago, including one in Milan with Internazionale. "But I don't want to leave here. If you want challenges, this is the place to be." It is clear that when the current contract expires in four years, a senior role within the club appeals; perhaps overseeing Brian Kidd and Cantona as coaches?

"I think a manager will be judged by what they have left," Ferguson accepted. "What they have achieved, what the character and style and behaviour of the club is. I will always want this club to win." In particular, the Champions' Cup, and an achievement to emulate Sir Matt Busby's. It is too consuming for him to ignore the recent defects and the Cantona question, of how best to get the best from him again.

"The current team has a lot of developing to do," Ferguson conceded. "But it has really good ingredients. The younger players have a good skill level and they have got the right attitude. These give them a really good chance."

And it will not be for want of effort. "The most important thing is the work ethic," said the Glasgow shipbuilder's son. "If you have that, it transcends a lot of things. How many times have you heard a supporter say, 'Ah, he's a trier'? That's a fantastic thing to say about a player and that's what was said about me as a player. That's something you take right through your life."