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The Manchester United football club is one of the few great teams that are 

household names across the globe. For more than a quarter-century, under Sir Alex 

Ferguson, United was unstoppable. They 26 fear. Everyone knew the last 20 

minutes in any match at Old Trafford would be torment under a red-shirted siege. During 

his 26 seasons as manager, United won English title 13 times, the UEFA Champions 

Leagues (most coveted of 27 ) twice, as well as lesser trophies. 

 Then, at the end of last season, Sir Alex retired, with a total of 49 trophies in 39 

years as a football manager. David Moyes, another Scot, took over at United. The players 

were the same. United still had the resources needed to triumph in the modern game. The 

ground was the same, the support as 28 . 

 Yet the ground had shifted. The aura was gone. The fierce cohesion was gone. The 

fear factor was gone. Those red shirts, somehow 29 , did not look quite the same. 

United, suddenly, was beatable. 

 What happened? Harvard Business School seems determined to find out. It 

announced this month that it had hired Sir Alex to a teaching post in executive education. 

In a sense the decision is a risky one. Political correctness is not really Sir Alex’s thing. 

He will 30 feathers. But he will also inspire students because he has an intangible 

quality, leadership—the 31 of inspiration, authority, will, charisma, organization, 

understanding, creativity and example that inspires a group of people to create something 

larger than themselves. 

 He was a very bad loser. Anger 32 beneath the surface, controlled most of 

the time. He was able to channel it, make virtues of his vices, provide discipline and 

instill an almost 33 will. Humor offset harshness. He recognized genius in his 

great players, and the 34 required for it, but was also to draw a line when needed. 

His antennae for a slight decline in form, for the moment to discard a player, were 

 35 . Nobody excelled in succession management like Sir Alex—in every position, 

that is, except his own. 

(A) lurked
(B) accolades
(C) elusive
(D) combination 

(E) undying (AB). uncanny (AC). staple (AD). pinker 

(AE). indivisible (BC). struck (BD). latitude (BE). quandary 

(CD). ruffle (CE). exhibited (DE). diabolical