6. The Ferguson Factor
The first reason, and perhaps the most obvious one, is the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson is no longer the manager of Manchester United. He had been long established at the club, managing the team for close to 27 years. In that time, United achieved unprecedented success, winning 13 league titles, two European Cups, five F.A. Cups and four League Cups. So for a manager as successful as that, who, more importantly, had the presence he had, to leave the club would have a huge psychological impact on the players. Fergie has the manager was all any of the players knew; They weren't at a club that changed their manager every five minutes and Sir Alex, in many ways, was Manchester United. The players now knew that it wasn't Ferguson on the touchline, they weren't facing Ferguson - famous for his half time 'hairdryer' outbursts - in the dressing room at half time. In some ways, it didn't matter who replaced him as manager, whether it be David Moyes, José Mourinho or whoever, it was always going to be a blow to the team. Whether that be consciously or sub-consciously. Not just the players that might be affected by the lack of Ferguson, either. Perhaps the officials as well, who often were seemingly fearful of the Scot and many point towards that as being the reason for United getting the benefit of many dubious decisions, particularly at Old Trafford.
