January 7, 1990: A dark day in English football. Manchester United, managed by Alex Ferguson, were playing Nottingham Forest, managed by the legendary Brian Clough, in a 3rd round FA Cup tie, at the City Ground in Nottingham.
Born in Glasgow on New Year's Eve, 1941, Ferguson led the Scottish Football League in scoring in the 1965-66 season, playing for Dunfermline Athletic. Turning to management, he was successful at Aberdeen F.C.: Between 1980 and 1986, he won 3 Scottish Premier Division titles, 4 Scottish Cups (including both trophies, a "Double," in 1984), a Scottish League Cup, and the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup.
In 1986, "Fergie" was hired to succeed Ron Atkinson at Man United. "Big Ron" had led them to the FA Cup in 1983 and 1985. Tommy Docherty had taken them to the FA Cup in 1977. But they hadn't won England's Football League since Sir Matt Busby was still managing them in 1967, or the European Cup (the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League) since 1968, when they became the 1st English team to win it. (The year before, Glasgow team Celtic became the 1st British team to win it.)
By this point, United were in trouble. They were coming off an 11th place season in the Football League. On September 23, 1989, United lost 5-1 to crosstown Manchester City, a game known, for City's stadium, as "The Massacre of Maine Road." On December 9, 1989, United lost 2-1 to Southeast London team Crystal Palace. United were 12th place. A group of fans unveiled a banner reading, "3 YEARS OF EXCUSES AND IT'S STILL CRAP. TA RA FERGIE." ("Ta ra" meaning, "Goodbye.")
It was widely speculated in the media (but perennially denied by then-Chairman Martin Edwards) that Fergie, under heavy pressure, would be fired if United lost and went out of the Cup, as they were 15th in the league by this stage, and had already been eliminated from the League Cup. And, this being the last season of the Heysel ban, there was no European tournament in which the Red Devils could redeem themselves. This time, the FA Cup was it, or nothing.
In this game, Mark Robins came off the bench late, and scored the winning goal from a Mark Hughes cross. Ferguson would keep his job, and the rest is history. Ill-gotten history. (Cloughie, you had one job… )
On April 11, 1990, United beat neighbors Oldham Athletic 2–1 after extra time in an FA Cup semi–final replay. The game, however, was marred by controversy: Referee Joe Worrall failed to award Oldham an early goal, after Nick Henry's shot clearly crossed the line.
This may have been the first example in the Ferguson era of Man United getting an obvious gift from the officials. There would be more. Many, many more.
On May 12, at Wembley Stadium in London, United would be held to a 3-3 draw in the Final, by South London team Crystal Palace. But United won the replay, 1-0 on May 17.
Like many of Ferguson's players, Robins went into management, though his only real success is having led Midlands team Coventry City to promotions in 2018 and 2020.
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January 7, 1990 was a Sunday. Most games of the FA Cup 3rd Round were played the day before. This was 1 of 3 that weren't. Port Vale and Derby County played to a 1-1 draw at Vale Park in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. And Charlton Athletic and Bradford City played to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in South-East London. In 1985, Charlton began "groundsharing" there with Crystal Palace, who owned it, because it was felt that their usual home, the nearby stadium known as The Valley, had become rundown and unsafe. It would be reopened in 1992.
Both of these games were replaced on January 10. Port Vale went to Derbyshire and beat Derby, while Charlton went to Yorkshire, and beat Bradford.
Baseball was out of season. There were 2 NFL Playoff games on this day. The Los Angeles Rams beat the New York Giants, 19-13 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. This was "The Flipper Anderson Game," won by a 30-yard touchdown pass from Jim Everett to Willie "Flipper" Anderson, just 1:06 into overtime, with the Giants never even getting a possession. And the Denver Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-23 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
There were 3 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 110-109 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 44 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 98-83 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands. Dominique Wilkins scored 33 points and had 15 rebounds in defeat for the Hawks.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat, 132-93 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there were 3 games played in the NHL:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* And the Calgary Flames beat their arch-rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
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