Manchester United - The Fergie Years Quiz

Answer: Ron Atkinson

Ron Atkinson spent five years at Manchester United from 1981-1986. Despite two FA Cup wins and some respectable finishes in the league, a poor start to the 1986-87 season saw him fired.

Sir Alex was notable in the early 1980s for breaking the dominance of Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish league while managing Aberdeen. During his eight years with Aberdeen, he led the club to the Scottish league championship three times and finished runners-up twice. They also won the Scottish cup four times and in 1983 they beat the mighty Real Madrid to claim the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Answer: Gordon Strachan

Gordon Strachan played for Aberdeen from 1977-1984, before joining Manchester United, despite having signed a pre-contract agreement with German side FC Cologne. Strachan had arguably been Aberdeen's best player under Ferguson, but Fergie had apparently claimed that Strachan's form had been negatively affected by the move to Manchester where he was no longer the star.

As a result, United were happy to move Strachan on in 1989. Sheffield Wednesday, now being led by Ron Atkinson, had a bid accepted by United, but Strachan instead moved to Leeds United. Strachan and Ferguson had a long running feud that saw Fergie claim in his autobiography that Strachan "could not be trusted an inch - I would not want to expose my back to him in a hurry." All other players listed played under Fergie at Aberdeen. Leighton would go on to join Manchester United in 1988.

Answer: True

Manchester United won the FA Cup in 1990. It has been reported that had United not won this tournament then Sir Alex is likely to have been dismissed from his position due to lack of success. As it turned out, this trophy was just one of many United would go on to win under Sir Alex.

Answer: Barcelona

Sir Alex had previously won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 with Aberdeen, having defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the final. The 1991 final saw Fergie face Spanish opposition again, this time in the shape of Barcelona. United won the game 2-1, thanks to two goals from Mark Hughes, who had previously played for Barcelona in between his two spells at Manchester United (1980-1986 & 1988-1995).

Answer: 26

Before Sir Alex joined Manchester United, the club had been champions of England seven times, the seventh being in 1967 under Sir Matt Busby. The intervening years saw them relegated from the English top flight in 1974, although they won promotion again the next year. They also had to endure domestic dominance from their arch rivals, Liverpool.

Answer: Lee Sharpe

Lee Sharpe went on to play for United for one more season before joining Leeds United.

Rather than buy replacements, Ferguson instead decided to give some of his younger players a chance - the infamous "Class of '92", which included Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt. Another of the Class of '92, Ryan Giggs, was already an established member of the first team by this point.

Answer: Alan Hansen

United, fielding many young players, lost 3-1 on the opening day of the 1995-96 season to Aston Villa, prompting the quote from former Liverpool and Scotland defender Hansen, a pundit on "Match of the Day". Despite this defeat, United would go on to win the league that season.

Answer: Dwight Yorke

United ended the 1998-99 season with three pivotal games which would go on to make club history. The first of these was the final league game on Sunday 16 May, at home to Tottenham Hotspur. United had to win to guarantee the league championship. Despite falling behind, goals from David Beckham and Andy Cole secured a 2-1 victory.

Less than a week later, on Saturday 22 May, United faced Newcastle United in the FA Cup final, a relatively comfortable 2-0 victory. Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes scored the goals that day.

On Wednesday 26 May, United faced Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final, held in Barcelona. United were 1-0 down but turned the game around with two goals in stoppage time at the end of the game. The goals came from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Despite being the only recognised striker not to score in any of these games, Dwight Yorke still finished the season as United's top scorer that season, with 29 goals in all competitions.

Answer: Mark Bosnich

Although Fergie signed all four goalkeepers for Manchester United, it was Mark Bosnich who was brought in to replace Peter Schmeichel. He would go on to play just 23 league games in the 1999-2000 season before falling down the pecking order following the acquisition of French World Cup and European Championship winner Barthez in 2000.

Answer: Lazio

Stam, at the age of 29, was just coming back from an Achilles injury when Lazio approached United about taking him to Rome. Ferguson felt at the time that the money on offer was too good to refuse, although he would later go on record by saying that letting Stam go was his biggest mistake. Stam went on to play for Lazio, AC Milan and Ajax at a consistent level until retiring from playing in 2007.

Answer: False

It was actually a football boot! The incident happened following an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal on 15 February 2003, when Fergie either threw or kicked a boot which hit Beckham just above his eye, causing the player to require stitches. Although Ferguson apologised for the incident, Beckham was transferred to Real Madrid at the end of the season.

Answer: Yes

During a period of squad rebuilding, United saw Arsenal's "invincibles" win the league championship in 2003-04 without losing a game, before the emergence of Chelsea under the guidance of Jose Mourinho. United did manage to claim the FA Cup in 2004, with a 3-0 win against Millwall. The also won the League Cup in 2006, defeating Wigan Athletic 4-0 in the final.

Answer: Chelsea

United had already won the English Premiership by a narrow two point margin over Chelsea before the two teams met in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final in Moscow. This was the first time the final of Europe's top club competition had featured two teams from England. With the score tied a 1-1 after extra time, United won 6-5 on penalties.

Answer: Yes

United faced Barcelona in Rome in the final of the 2009 UEFA Champions League final. Barcelona went on to win the match 2-0, with goals from Samiel Eto'o and Lionel Messi. The two teams would meet for a rematch two years later at Wembley Stadium in London. Barcelona again went on to win, 3-1.

Answer: West Bromwich Albion

Sir Alex's last game in charge at United was on 19 May 2013, the final day of the league season. United were away to West Bromwich Albion. A remarkable game saw the score finish 5-5, with United having led 3-0 and 5-2. The result was of little importance, as United had already won the league championship, their 13th under Sir Alex.