Back to the Manchester United Newsfeed

Sir Alex's first words as United manager

In the morning, Ron Atkinson was relieved of his managerial duties, despite delivering two FA Cups in memorable fashion, and the replacement was already lined up.

By around 21:15 GMT, Alex Ferguson had agreed to leave Aberdeen to head south to take on a massive job at Old Trafford.

Some of the press rather unfairly described it as a hotseat, considering Atkinson had spent five years in charge, and images of the badge cracked were splashed across the back pages on the morning after Ferguson being chosen to take over.

How little did they know.

Sir Alex had an incredible body of work on his CV at Pittodrie and experienced leading Scotland into the 1986 World Cup finals, when Jock Stein tragically passed away after suffering a heart-attack during the play-off win over Wales.