Sir Alex Ferguson is retiring as manager of Manchester United

[toonfandangl]

Love him, hate him, or couldn't care less its quite a career he carved for himself and a Bonnie Scotsman to boot.

Sir Alex Ferguson is retiring as manager of Manchester United, the club has
confirmed.

The manager, who has been at the club for 26 years, said in a statement: "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time.

"It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so."

The club has not not immediately announced a successor.

The Scotsman secured his 13th Premier League title with Manchester United two weeks ago and is the most successful manager in British football history.

Ferguson, 71, will stay at the club as a director and an ambassador, but now has just two games left with the famous club.

"With these activities, along with my many other interests, I am looking forward to the future," Ferguson said.

"I must pay tribute to my family, their love and support has been essential."

The success of the club would continue without him, said Ferguson, who had a stand at Old Trafford named in his honour in 2011.

"The quality of this league winning squad, and the balance of ages within it, bodes well for continued success at the highest level ... the long-term future of the club remains a bright one," said Ferguson.

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios told Sky News that the Scot's achievements were unrivalled and said they "would never be repeated again".

David Davis, former FA executive director, said he would place him above iconic managers like Bobby Robson, Bill Shankley and Matt Busby as the "best British manager of any generation".

The "foundations of the Premiership have shaken this morning", said Sky News Sports Correspondent Paul Kelso.

"Fergie steps aside as the greatest figure in football management - there'll be a very long queue of managers seeking to replace him.

"I'm sure they have a succession plan in place – in fact they have talked about it in the past.," Kelso added.

"They will be looking for a man of great experience at the highest European level ... (Jose) Mourinho is about as guaranteed as you can get."

Early speculation about a successor at Old Trafford also includes the likes of Everton boss David Moyes.

"You have to be a certain manager to manage Manchester United," former United player Paul Ince told Sky News.

"It's very important the next man is the right man."

Sir Alex, who began his managerial career in Scotland in 1974, enjoyed success with St Mirren and Aberdeen before moving to England.

He won 49 trophies during his career - his haul with Manchester United including five FA Cups, four league cups and two famous Champions League titles, in 1999 and 2008




 

[Charles Scheepers]

If only SA rugga can ever be so proud. 

[Michael Alexander]

Awesome lifetime achievement that will be tough to beat!

[Michael Alexander]

It was Cathy, now 74, who persuaded Sir Alex to postpone his retirement 11 years ago and it's with her blessing that he leaves the job now.

Cathy first caught his eye in Govan when Alex was a footballer and a union official. He joked recently: "When she first saw me, it was at a strike meeting. She thought I was a gangster, which isn't far wrong, mind you, so she claims anyway."

The couple were married in 1966 and, when Alex got a dream move to his boyhood heroes Rangers a year later, his marriage to a Catholic woman was the subject of some discussion.

Protestant-raised Ferguson said in his autobiography Managing My Life that, while he never had any problems from fans or fellow players, he felt victimised because of her faith by certain people inside the club.

He wrote: "The principal muck-spreader was Willie Allison, the bigoted public relations officer, who clearly felt that anybody married to a Catholic was not a fit and proper person to play for Rangers. Allison was a religious bigot of the deepest dye. I had a thoroughly Protestant upbringing but, of course, Cathy is Catholic and so were my mother's family."

He left Ibrox in 1969 and moved to Falkirk and Ayr United before entering management at the age of 32 with East Stirling.

Cathy followed Alex from there to St Mirren and then to Aberdeen for his glory years. But it was when he stepped into the limelight of Old Trafford in 1986 that their lives changed forever.

At home, however, Cathy has always been the boss.

When their first son was born, Alex wanted to call him Alex after himself and his own father, citing a long-held tradition of Ferguson sons carrying the name. Cathy burst that bubble by discovering that Alex's grandad's name was John and, with his bluff called, the boy was christened Mark.

With three sons and 11 grandkids, the man whose rants have been called "the hairdryer treatment" has always insisted Cathy is the real force to be reckoned with in the Ferguson house.

He said: "Cathy is fantastic with the kids. It's a military operation with her. If any of them misbehave, they're in the doghouse."

Life in the public eye has not always been easy for the Fergusons.

Alex refused to speak to the BBC for seven years after son Jason was named in a football agent scandal report.