‘The match-going fans will not turn on Ole’: Manchester United fan who held up famous banner calling for ‘crap’ Sir Alex Ferguson to QUIT 30 years ago says fans will give Solskjaer more time
- Manchester United lost at home to Crystal Palace for the first time in 30 years
- Loyal fan Pete Molyneux called for Sir Alex Ferguson to quit United back in 1989
- Ferguson’s first three years at United were unsuccessful and tensions were rising
- Molyneux compares Ferguson’s start to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure
- He believes fans will be patient with Solskjaer if he can instill an attacking style
Manchester United‘s home defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday was their first at the hands of the south London club for thirty years, invoking feelings of both pain and nostalgia for one of their supporters.
As the Red Devils fell to defeat on December 9, 1989, United fan Pete Molyneux unfurled a bed sheet displaying a message in black paint which read: ‘Three years of excuses and it’s still crap… Ta ra Fergie’.
United were at a low point during a three-year fallow period after Sir Alex Ferguson’s appointment in November 1986, and tensions were rising in the stands after a Mark Bright brace earned Palace a 2-1 victory.
Pete Molyneux held this banner during Manchester United’s loss to Crystal Palace in 1989
Ferguson got his revenge by leading his team to a FA Cup final replay win over the Eagles in May 1990; the catalyst for 13 Premier League and two Champions League title triumphs in the following 23 seasons.
In an interview with The Athletic, Molyneux said: ‘Fergie made me look like the biggest fool in Christendom.’
‘He had spent around £7 million, buying players like Neil Webb, Danny Wallace, Gary Pallister, Paul Ince. We were going down the league. We were awful to watch and the attendance for that Palace game was about 33,000. The crowds were ebbing away. People agreed with the banner.
Tough times: Ferguson did not enjoy success at United in his first three years as manager
‘The taunts came as time went on, as Fergie won title after title. People would introduce me as, ‘Pete’s the daft sod who wanted Fergie to go!’ After he won the Premier League for the first time, I wrote him a letter to say well done. I went from a Fergie atheist to a Fergie evangelist. We both wanted the same thing: for Manchester United to be successful.’
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has endured a similarly turbulent start to life in the dugout at Old Trafford, dealing with a complex dressing room and some disappointing results.
However, Molyneux believes the Norwegian has potential to emulate his former boss. ‘I certainly won’t be going to the shed for the black paint,’ he quips.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer applauds the Manchester United fans after defeat by Crystal Palace
‘I have a season ticket and it is a tough time. All I really want to see is United return to an attacking style and be entertained when I travel away.
‘We like what Ole says about power and pace, shock and awe. We saw some of that against Chelsea and Wolves but none of that against Palace. We were like Arsenal on Saturday, passing it one way and the next. You need urgency.
‘United will recover eventually and we all hope it will be Ole. Listen to him talk. He understands what it means to all of us. Van Gaal was starting to get it, I thought, but he was cheesing us all off too much. Mourinho is into his own history rather than that of United. But the match-going fans will not turn on Ole.’
The start of something special: Ferguson celebrates with the FA Cup after in 1990
