Friday marks the 34th anniversary of Alex Ferguson's appointment at Manchester United, as another Old Trafford manager struggles to match up to the standards set by the club's greatest ever boss.

Ferguson oversaw 1,500 games and won 38 trophies in almost 27 years at the helm, establishing United at the forefront of world football.

David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have each since failed to deliver the same success, but even the Scot found the going tough at times as Red Devils manager.

Indeed, as Solskjaer languishes 15th in the Premier League, reeling from back-to-back defeats, his early record still stacks up against how Ferguson fared at the same stage in his tenure.

We look at the Opta data and study how Ferguson recovered from a rocky stretch to become a United legend.
 

FERGIE'S FIRST STEPS

Ferguson arrived at United on November 6, 1986, already with 12 years' experience and 645 games as a manager to his name. Eight years at Aberdeen brought a host of honours as he won an impressive 59.3 per cent of 459 matches.

United had not won the top flight since 1967 and, despite a title challenge the previous campaign as they eventually finished fourth, Ferguson replaced Ron Atkinson with the team battling relegation.

There was initial cause for optimism - not unlike that prompted by Solskjaer - as the new manager guided United to safety and then finished second the following season.

But the Red Devils were back in mid-table in his second full season and, although starting from a lower base, Ferguson's early statistics do not compare favourably with a number of modern bosses who have been deemed failures.

Ferguson won 48 of his first 100 games in all competitions, with Van Gaal (52 wins), Mourinho (62) and Solskjaer (55) each getting better returns from their first century of matches.

No coach has yet been able to match early 1900s boss Ernest Mangnall's club-record start of 64 wins in 100.
 

PIVOTAL WIN AT FOREST

By January 1990, it appeared the second-placed finish in 1987-88 would prove Ferguson's peak, with the manager still trophyless and the team falling back into the bottom half of the table.

Nowhere near a title race and out of the League Cup, the FA Cup represented a final chance for Ferguson to save the campaign and his United career.

It is widely accepted the boss would have been sacked had United lost their third-round tie at Nottingham Forest, and his record at the midway point of that season would justify such a call.

Going into that game, Ferguson's overall win rate as United manager was 43.7 per cent, but it stood at just 29.2 per cent so far in 1989-90, losing 10 and winning just seven of 24 matches in all competitions.

However, Mark Robins' second-half winner at the City Ground booked United's place in round four and turned the tide.

United saw off fourth-tier Hereford United, followed by a trio of second-division opponents in Newcastle United, Sheffield United and Oldham Athletic, requiring a replay against the latter, to reach the final against Crystal Palace.

Palace also took Ferguson's men to a replay, but a goal from Lee Martin in the second match ended the manager's wait for silverware and completed a much-improved second half of the season, United winning 52 per cent of their 25 matches from the Forest game onwards.
 

THE UNITED GLORY YEARS

Qualifying for the Cup Winners' Cup courtesy of their FA Cup success, United won that competition, too, and would collect a trophy in all but two seasons - 2001-02 and 2004-05 - throughout the rest of Ferguson's reign.

There was still the small matter of ending the title drought, but success in 1992-93 opened the floodgates and Ferguson claimed a record 13 championships - seven clear of next-best pair George Ramsay and Bob Paisley - never again finishing lower than third.

The 1990 FA Cup was the first of five, trailing only rival Arsene Wenger and Ramsay in that regard, while the Scot also secured a joint-high four League Cups.

If 1989-90 was a pivotal season, 1998-99 would be Ferguson's defining term. United won the treble - with a little help from a certain Norwegian - and ended the campaign on a 33-match unbeaten run, not losing a single game after Christmas.

By the time Ferguson bowed out a champion once again in 2013, he had overseen more games (1,500) and victories (895) than any other United coach at a win rate of 59.7 per cent.

Solskjaer might now be wondering where his next home league win is coming from, but his old boss provided evidence enough that one piece of silverware can change everything.