Sir Alex Ferguson’s worst 11

Sir Alex Ferguson has made some amazing signings down the years but for every Solksjaer there’s a Barthez.

Since Sir Alex announced his retirement, I have seen so many people give their opinion on what his best starting 11 would be out of every player that has played for him.

I have decided to take a different approach and give you what I think would be his worst starting 11. Sir Alex Ferguson is a footballing great, he will probably go down as the greatest manager of all time but we all make mistakes and here are his biggest 11 in a 3-4-3 formation…

 

 

Massimo Taibi

Italian goalkeeper Massimo Taibi was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson for a fee of £4.4million from Venezia in 1999. ‘Great Dane’ Peter Schemichel retired after completing the treble with United in the 1998/99 season. You could argue that Manchester United only managed to regain stability between the goals when Edwin Van Der Sar was purchased in June 2005 and Taibi was just one of the keepers that failed to succeed at Old Trafford.

Taibi’s Old Trafford career did start on a possitive note as he helped United secure a 3-2 win over Liverpool at Anfield. Although he flapped at a free kick, allowing Sami Hyypiä to score, Taibi still put in a strong performance – making an array of good saves to keep Liverpool out and winning the man of the match award.

After the game against Liverpool, Massimo Taibi seemed to be winning the fight for the number one spot with Marc Bosnic and Raimond Van Der Gouw. This all changed when United entertained Southampton at Old Trafford. In a close game United were just infront with a 2-1 lead when Matt Le Tissier scuffed a shot from 25-yards out. With the ball seemingly rolling into the hands of the Italian, Taibi allowed the ball to roll straight through his hands and legs and into the goal. The game ended 3-3 with all eyes on United’s new goal keeper.

Taibi only played four matches in a United shirt, with one of them being a 5-0 defeat at Chelsea. He never really recovered from the embarrasing blunder against Southampton – a mistake that makes pretty much every football bloopers compilation.

Taibi was sent out on loan to Reggina in January 2000 and joined the Italian club on a permanent transfer for a fee of £2.5million in July 2000.

David May

The amount of silverware this guy won with Manchester United is crazy when you consider how many games he played. In nine years with United he made just 85 appearances and picked up two Premier League winners medals, two FA Cup winners medals, two Charity Shield winners medals and a Champion League winners medal.

With centre-back and captain Steve Bruce coming to the end of his career Sir Alex Ferguson needed to add to his defense. He landed David May in July 1994 for a fee of £1.2million from Blackburn.

With first choice right-back Paul Parker suffering a series of injuries, Mays first season with the reds saw him being played at right-back. The central defensive unit of Bruce and Pallister was too strong for May to break up and he very rarely got the chance to play in his prefered position.

With a string of poor performances David May was replaced at right-back by youngster Gary Neville. As we all know Neville then held onto that right-back spot for the rest of his long career.

David May did however manage to play his way back into the team in the 1996-97 season in which he made over 40 appearances (nearly half of his overall United appearances). Manchester United retained the Premier League title that year and it’s safe to say that it was Mays best season as a United player.

Injuries in the next two seasons kept May out of the team and he never played his way back in with the signings of Jaap Stam, Ronny Johnsen and Henning Berg as well as the emergence of Wes Brown standing in his way.

William Prunier

This is a player that most fans will not remember as he never actually signed for United. The French centre-back was brought in on trial because of a defensive injury crisis at Old Trafford in the Christmas of 1995.

He was thrown straight into is debut which came against QPR in a scrappy 2-1 win. Prunier then played his second game which came against Spurs as Manchester United were taught a lesson in a 4-1 defeat at White Heart Lane. Fingers were pointed at William Prunier with many saying that he was partly to blame for the loss. That was to be the Frenchman’s last game as he turned down an extention of his trial at United to complete a move to FC Copenhagen.

Pat McGibbon

Poor Pat McGibbon, that’s all I can say. He was signed by Manchester UNited for a fee of £100,000 from Irish Premier League side Portadown.

Although Sir Alex Ferguson did not sign McGibbon he did manage him when he took over. Pat McGibbon story is probably the worst of the lot. He made his debut in the league cup against York City in September 1995. McGibbon was sent off and United lost 3-0. He never played for United again. He was loaned out to Swansea City in 1996 and then Wigan Athletic in 1997 before moving there permanently.

Kleberson

Kleberson who had recently won the World Cup with Brazil was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson for a fee of £6.5million in August 2003. He was described as the driving force behind the Brazilian World Cup winning team by manager Luis Phillipe Scolari and was tipped for great things.

What is often talked about when Kleberson is mentioned is that he almost signed for Leeds United but turned their offer down to remain in Brazil with his 15-year-old fiance until she was 16 and old enough to marry.

Kleberson picked up an injury in his second game for United and after then made just 20 appearances in 2 years for the reds. For a young player that was being tipped to reach the top, Kleberson was a very disappointing signing.

Kleberson now plays for American club Philadelphia Union.

Eric Djemba-Djemba

With Kleberson being seen as a replacement for Veron, Eric Djemba Djemba was brought in to replace United legend Roy Keane. It is fair to say that both players were a huge flop.

Cameroonian midfielder Djemba Djemba was purchased from French side Nantes for £6.5 million in the summer of 2003. This signing baffled United fans and as no one had really heard of him before and when they finally saw him play, were baffled further.

There was only one attribute that Djemba Djemba shared with Roy Keane – the willingness to hurt people. The only real difference is that Keane intended to inflict pain on the oposition whereas Djemba Djemba just simply couldn’t time his challenges.

After a disappointing one and a half season spell at Old Trafford -making 20 appearances-  Djemba Djemba was sold in January 2005 to Aston Villa for a fee of £1.5million.

You can now find Djemba Djemba playing forIsraeli side Bnei Sakhni.

Luke Chadwick

Above you can see heart throb Luke Chadwick. Coming into the senior squad through the youth team, Chadwick was given a platform to perform on by Ferguson but all the platform did was highlight the fact that he wasn’t good enough.

He made 25 appearances for the Red Devils from 1999-2004 inbetween loan spell at Royal Antwerp, Reading and Burnley before joining West Ham on a free transfer in 2004.

Chadwicks blistering pace out wide was tipped to push David Beckham into a central midfield role, this was not the case as Chadwick proved not to be good enough for United.

He now plays in League One for Milton Keynes Dons.

Juan Sebastián Verón

Manchester United signed Argentinian midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón for £28million in 2001 – which was a British transfer record at the time.

Veron was key to Lazio winning a domestic treble before he left and was instrumental in almost every game. He was a very highly rated playerand although he came with a price tag it looked like it would be worth it as he scored and created goals for fun in Italy.

Although he seemed to excell in Europe for Manchester United, Veron did not prove his worth in the Premier League with most people suggesting that he struggled to adapt to the pace of the Premier League.

The tempo that Keane and Scholes liked to play at did not suit the layed back, Argentinian Play-maker. The reason for my inclusion of Veron in this list is slightly different to the rest, Veron is there in relation to the transfer fee. He was bought as someone that would be the main man, a superstar but he just blended into the background and £28million is a lot of money for someone that doesn’t stand out.

Veron was sold to Chelsea for £15million in 2003.

Bebe

Just five weeks after he signed for Vitória de Guimarães, Manchester United purchased Bebe from the Portuguese club for a fee of around £7.4 million in August 2010.

Not many people had heard of Bebe before United announced his signature but rumour has it that former Manchester United Assistant Manager Carlos Queiroz suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson sign him. A practical joke on an old friend perhaps?

With the amount of money being paid for Bebe and also with him being an unheard of talent (much like Javier Hernandez, who was signed in the same window) his début was widely anticipated.

 He came on for Park Ji-Sung ion the second half of a 5-2 win over Scunthorpe United in the League Cup. He then came on late against Sunderland and couldn’t prevent the Reds from only managing to draw 0-0, on 2nd October 2010.  Bebe was the selected in the starting 11 for the League Cup clash with Wolverhampton Wonderer’s on 26 October 2010. Bebe scored his first United goal and United scored a 3-2 win. Bebe also went on to score on his Champions League début – coming against Bursaspor.

Now I know what you’re thinking, from reading what I’ve written above, you are wondering why I’ve put him in Fergies Worst 11. It’s simple really, Bebe was given more chances to play than most would because his transfer fee was so high. On paper the start to his United career doesn’t appear to be that bad but I watched those games and let me assure you from his first kick of a ball in a United shirt I could tell he wasn’t good enough. He stood out for all of the wrong reasons, he was clumsy, out of position and just looked out of place in the games he played.

Yes he scored on his Champions League début but with the likes of Carrick and Scholes in the centre of the park, most would.

Bebe has up until now made 7 appearances for United in 3 years. He still remains a United player but has recently been loaned out to Beşiktaş and Rio Ave.

This guy is in my team mainly because of the size of his transfer fee and because of just how obvious it is that he isn’t good enough.

David Bellion

Here he is everyone: Manchester Uniteds answer to Thierry Henry at least that’s what they told us.

David Bellion made a bit of a name for himself at Sunderland and when he ran out his contract there, he signed for United on a free transfer. Sunderland however took United to court over the matter claiming ‘Tapping Up’ which resulted in United paying Sunderland £2million in compensation.

It is safe to say that the French striker was not a success at Old Trafford, scoring just 4 goals in 3 years at the club. After an unsuccessful 3 seasons, Bellion was loaned out to West Ham where he failed to score in the 8 games he played in. He was then loaned out to French side Nice in 2006 before securing a permanent move there.

After a spell at Bordeaux between 2007-2010, Bellion returned to Nice where he finds it much easier to score.

Dong Fangzhuo

This is another player that most won’t recognise due to the simple fact that he made just one appearance for Manchester United.

United splashed out £500,000 for the Chinese striker in 2004 which could have potentially risen to £3.5million in appearances fees, this however would not be a problem…because he wasn’t allowed to play.

Dong Fangzhuo was rejected a work permit to play professional football in England and was subsequently loaned out to Belgian side Royal Antwerp from 2004-2006 – where he impressively scored 34 goals in 71 games.

In December 2006 – nearly 3 years after originally signing for United Dong Fangzhuo was finally granted a work permit after playing enough times for the Chinese national team.

Dong made his competitive début against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 9th May 2007. He then came on as a substitute for Wayne Rooney  against Roma in the Champions League and played a full 90 minutes in the League-Cup defeat to Coventry City.

Dong’s contract was terminated before the 2007/08 season and he moved back to China to play for Dalian Shide where he was hugely disappointing and was relegated to the reserves.

You can now find him not scoring for Chinese second tier club, Hunan Billows.

To sum up…

Massimo Taibi, David May, William Prunier, Pat McGibbon, Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Luke Chadwick, Juan Sebastian Veron, Bebe, David Bellion, Dong Fangzhuo

and here are some more for the bench:

Jordi Cruyff, Liam Miller, Marc Bosnic, Fabien Barthez, Gabriel Obertan, Ralph Milne

Are there any more you can think of?