Replacing Sir Alex Ferguson in the Manchester United hot seat is no easy task. Just ask David Moyes.
But United needed a mere mortal to step up to the plate when they faced local rivals Manchester City at Maine Road on November 18, 2000.
Ferguson followed in the footsteps of every Sunday League manager by missing a game due to family commitments.
“I looked at the international fixtures for the season and originally, back in February, November 18 was down as an international date,” Ferguson told the Sunday Express. “My son went for that date for his wedding only for the fixtures to be changed.
“We found out that instead of having a free weekend, we are playing Manchester City – it couldn’t have been any worse for me. The wedding is in Cape Town so there’s nothing I can do.”
While players can briefly move to different clubs on emergency loan deals, the same rule doesn’t apply to managers.
The idea of Ottmar Hitzfeld, Vicente del Bosque, Carlo Ancelotti, Carlos Bianchi or Marcello Lippi managing United for 90 minutes just wasn’t possible.
Ultimately, the man tasked with filling Ferguson’s incredibly large boots was United assistant manager Steve McClaren.
McClaren, who began coaching at Oxford United and Derby County, became Ferguson’s right-hand man midway through the 1998-99 season and was soon helping them win the Treble.
He was also on the bench as United won the Intercontinental Cup and secured another Premier League title the following season.
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READ: Boro, FC Twente & Steve McClaren’s bizarre up-and-down career
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McClaren had proved his coaching credentials and established himself as a brilliant number two, but he knew that managing the team would be an entirely different – and more daunting – prospect.
“Knowing what was happening so early was a bonus in many ways, but it also gave me a good few weeks of sleepless nights,” McClaren later told United’s official website.
The fixture was the first competitive Manchester derby since April 1996 as City had spent the previous four seasons in the lower leagues.
Local bragging rights were at stake and the bitter feud between United’s Roy Keane and City’s Alf-Inge Haaland added to the drama.
OTD 97 – Roy Keane does his cruciate, changing the course of football history, and Alf-Inge Haaland starts something he’s ill-equipped to finish. pic.twitter.com/zliUKPIf5R
— United Rewind (@unitedrewind) September 27,…
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