Thirty-six of Sir Alex Ferguson’s players from his 27 years at Manchester United have followed him into management, and none of them have won more league titles than David Healy. The Linfield manager is the answer to the quiz question that’s likely to leave most United supporters tapping “who is the most successful Fergie player in management?” into the search engines on their phones. Even Healy himself is surprised by his status.
“When you think of all the great names that have played for Sir Alex and gone into management, I’m a bit surprised by that, to be honest,” Healy told ESPN.
“I wasn’t a big United star. I only played three games for the first team, but I lived and breathed the club for seven years from the age of 14 and my football principles were all forged by my time at United, but still, to be mentioned as the boss’s most successful player in management is very special.”
– Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
– Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
When United were at their peak under Ferguson, it seemed inevitable that players like Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane would take their motivational qualities as United captains into a successful coaching career. The same applied to Mark Hughes, Paul Ince, Ryan Giggs and even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But while all of the above — and many more — have gone from playing under Ferguson at Old Trafford to management only Laurent Blanc, who spent two years at United right at the end of his career, can claim to have won as many league titles as the four achieved by Healy since taking charge of Northern Irish champions Linfield in 2015. Gordon Strachan sits just behind both, with three titles at Celtic.
Blanc, who was fired by Qatari club Al Rayyan last month, won four Ligue 1 titles — one with Bordeaux and three with Paris Saint-Germain — between 2009 and 2016, but with Linfield sitting…
Source : espn

