Alex Ferguson, Oxford 2-0 Manchester United, 8 Nov 1986
Two days after leaving Aberdeen, Ferguson sent out an XI including Paul McGrath, Jesper Olsen, Peter Davenport, Graeme Hogg and Clayton Blackmore that fell to a 16th-minute John Aldridge penalty and an 89th-minute Neil Slatter strike. “It was a nightmare trying to concentrate with so much media attention and so many cameramen on top of me,” Ferguson said. “They [the players] were a bit uptight and they wanted to do well.” None were in the 1-0 1990 FA Cup final replay triumph over Crystal Palace, Ferguson’s first trophy, though Blackmore was an unused substitute. Twenty-six and a half years after the Oxford reverse Ferguson retired as the UK’s greatest manager and a knight.
