To be fair you didn’t hear it because it was a lot more diverse. Ferguson only won it 4 times in 26 years, which means 9 times he won the league and not the LMA award.
Pep has won it 3 times in the last 6.
Ferguson won it for his first title, 5th (treble year), 10th and 12th (the year everyone thought he was going to retire)
He didn’t win it either of the times they won 3 league titles in a row, in 2001 George Burley taking Ipswich to 5th in their first season in the PL was deemed better and in 2009 Moyes getting Everton to 5th and losing an FA Cup final was preferred.
6 of the last 8 LMA awards have gone to the PL winners. I would have been absolutely fine with De Zerbi winning it this year, or Howe, or O’Neill.