Sir Alex Ferguson gives up on dream of beating Rugby

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ALEX Ferguson may be the most successful manager in the history of British football – with 13 league titles, two Champions League trophies, five FA Cups and four League Cups to his name – but VS Rugby proved a step too far for him.

Sir Alex has called time on his 26 years in charge of Manchester United having won every domestic honour in the game, and beaten every major team several times along the way, from Madrid to Milan.

But his record against VS Rugby - the former name of Rugby Town - is not so impressive. It reads played one, lost one.

Sir Alex brought a strong Manchester United side to Butlin Road on August 14, 1991 - featuring stars such as Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister.

United had a couple of months earlier beaten Barcelona 2-1 in the European Cup Winners' Cup Final in Rotterdam, but he was unable to mastermind victory over VS.

In a testimonial match to commemorate Valley boss Jimmy Knox's ten years in charge - the highlight of which was the FA Vase victory at Wembley in 1983 - VS ran out winners 1-0 in front of a bumper crowd on a lovely summer's evening.

Plain old Mr Ferguson as he was then, honoured a long standing verbal agreement made through Jimmy's brother Archie, who was United’s assistant manager and Fergie's right hand man for many years, before his move to Glasgow Rangers.

It was rumoured Sir Alex may attend the funeral of Jimmy Knox held at St Andrew's Church in January. However heavy snow made travelling all but impossible.

Manchester United reserves did beat VS 4-1 in a friendly at Butlin Road in July 1987, but Fergie was not in charge of that team, meaning VS are one of, if not the only club, who can claim to have got the better of Sir Alex Ferguson on a football pitch.

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