Erik ten Hag has to overcome Nottingham Forest in the hunt for his first trophy as Manchester United boss, 33 years and a month after Sir Alex Ferguson had to do the same.
United are favourites to see off their opponents in this week’s League Cup semi-final but that wasn’t the case when the Reds travelled to the City Ground on 7 January 1990. Ferguson will always be the club icon of the modern era but his relationship with the United fans was not always harmonious.
After arriving in November 1986, the Scot had failed to clasp hands on silverware and was experiencing heavy turbulence in the league. The date 23 September 1989 marked the day of 'The Massacre of Maine Road' when City thumped United 5-1.
READ MORE: Paul Ince compares Erik ten Hag and Sir Alex Ferguson
The following December, fan disgruntlement at the team’s performances turned audible and visual during a 2-1 home loss to Crystal Palace. The infamous ‘3 Years Of Excuses And It’s Still C***. Ta Ra Fergie’ banner was unfurled.
‘Fergie Out’ chants from the terraces continued in subsequent games and by the turn of the year, United had won just six of their 21 league games. “It was grim,” long-time travelling fan Anthony Murphy told club media this month. “The chants kicked off at the Crystal Palace match on 9 December, when he dropped Mark Hughes.
“That’s when the crowd snapped. It gained momentum at Villa Park on Boxing Day. I wasn’t one of the chanters but, to be perfectly honest, if United had lost to Forest and Ferguson had been sacked, I wouldn’t have been bothered.
“It had been three-and-a-bit years, and pretty dreadful... easily the worst period I can recall watching United.” Attendances had started to reduce with just 34,000 watching United play out a goalless 0-0 with Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day.
There had been 47,000 spectators present at the 0-0 stalemate with Chelsea two months earlier. Ferguson later recounted how he “listened in horror as we drew Nottingham Forest away” in the third round of the FA Cup.
Forest went into the home tie unbeaten in four matches - including a draw with Liverpool in their last outing - having lost just six of their 21 league games. United had failed to win in their last eight games before the encounter - the rumour was that Ferguson was for the can if he lost to Brian Clough’s side.
Ahead of the crunch clash, newspaper headlines read ‘Fergie the flop!’ as the sand timer looked to be on its final grains before running out.
“Every day in the lead up to that game we were picking up the papers and reading that the manager was facing the sack,” former defender Viv Anderson, formerly of Forest, told the Manchester Evening News in 2015. Teammate Mark Robins didn’t quite get the same sense.
“If the manager was under intense pressure at the time, we had no idea,” he said decades later. “If he was, he kept it away from the players.
“He hid it really well, there was no sign he was feeling any strain or that we were under any extra pressure going into the game. He protected us. He was a terrific manager.” Little did he know before the game, he would be the player to turn the tide.
His header saw United to a 1-0 win, which sparked the run that saw Ferguson lift his first piece of silverware at the club. They beat Crystal Palace, of all teams, with the goal assisted by Mark Hughes, of all people, in the replay of the 1990 final.
“[Ferguson] wrote in one of his books that he thought I was going to miss and that I only scored because Stuart Pearce pushed me onto the ball,” Robins noted later.
The goal that won the cup final itself also came about fortunately, according to goalscorer Lee Martin. “Archie Knox was the assistant manager on the bench, probably 20 yards from me, and I heard him shout 'get forward!' so I made my run,” he explained.
“In the dressing room after the game Archie came and sat next to me and said he wasn’t actually shouting at me to get forward he was shouting at someone else. So it shouldn’t have been me that scored that goal!
"But misunderstanding the message meant I found myself in that position and Sir Alex got his first trophy as well which was nice for him and amazing to be a part of.”
Some label that game as the match that saved Ferguson's United tenure, but without Robins’ goal five rounds earlier he may have not been walking out at Wembley at all - not that Ferguson himself seemingly sees as much gravitas in the Forest win.
Robins added: “Every time the FA Cup comes around, I am reminded of that goal, but the truth is that I don’t think Sir Alex likes to be reminded of it. I haven’t spoken to him very often since I left United in 1992.”
Robins has since gone on to forge a respectable managerial career of his own, guiding Coventry City from League Two fodder to a sturdy Championship outfit once again. But looking back at his playing days, his goal against Forest doesn’t necessarily rank among his best.
He admitted: “Whether that goal [against Forest] saved his (Ferguson's) job I don’t know because it was something that was never spoken about inside the club.
“And I thought that the goals I scored later in that cup run were much more important. I scored in the quarter-final win at Newcastle and got the winner against my hometown club Oldham in extra time of a semi-final replay at Maine Road after coming on as a sub.
“They were all crucial goals, but I don’t measure my career by them because I did other things in my career that I am more proud of.” Fair enough.
Speaking to the Telegraph in 2009, Ferguson played down the significance of the goal too, although still gave it its credit. "The goal at Forest was an important goal, don't get me wrong, and who's to say what would have happened without it, but I don't think it saved my job,” he said.
"You never know in football. Who's to say how the club would have reacted if we'd lost and if crowds had tumbled? One thing's for sure though - (then director) Bobby Charlton would not have let it happen.
“He knows better than anyone the heartbeat of this football club. This football club needed the foundation of youth and we were doing some great work on that side of it. Bobby knew we were on the right road."
After lifting 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, five FA Cups, four League Cups, 10 Community Shields, a European Super Cup and a Club World Cup - you can probably count the club hero right.
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