Profile: Sir Alex Ferguson
DATE OF BIRTH: December 31, 1941
NATIONALITY: Scottish
MANAGERIAL CAREER:
1986-present Manchester United
1986 Scotland (caretaker manager)
1978-86 Aberdeen
1974-78 St Mirren
1974 East Stirling
PLAYING CAREER:
1969-74 Falkirk, Ayr United
1967-69 Rangers
1964-67 Dunfermline Athletic
1960-64 St Johnstone
1957-60 Stranraer
HONOURS:
With Manchester United
Premiership title 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
FA Cup 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
League Cup 1992
European Cup 1999
European Cup Winners' Cup 1991
European Super Cup Final 1992
With Aberdeen
Scottish Premier League Champions 1980, 1984, 1985
Scottish Cup Winners 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986
Scottish League Cup winners 1986
European Cup Winners' Cup 1983
With St Mirren
Scottish First Division Championship 1977
Knighthood in 1999 (OBE - 1983; CBE - 1995)
Manager of the Year in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003
Named Premier League Manager of the Decade in 2003
After a lengthy yet modest playing career in Scotland, Alex Ferguson's first managerial position came at East Stirling in 1974. From there he joined St Mirren and helped them to earn promotion from the Scottish First Division in 1977. A year later he was offered the job at Aberdeen and it was in the Granite City that his brilliant managerial acumen began to pay dividends.
In eight years in charge of Aberdeen, Ferguson's inexpensively-assembled team - including Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish - won three league championships and four Scottish Cups. Breaking the dominance of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland was a feat in itself, but in 1983, Ferguson took his side to European glory with victory in the Cup Winners' Cup against Real Madrid.
After the death of Jock Stein in 1986, Ferguson stepped in as Scotland's caretaker manager for the World Cup in Mexico. Turning down the chance to take the job full-time, Ferguson instead accepted the challenge of replacing Ron Atkinson at Manchester United.
The first three years of Ferguson's tenure were difficult. His restructuring of a playing staff inherited from Atkinson was not entirely popular and the importance he placed on youth development was not going to be recognised until a few years later. But an FA Cup Final replay win over Crystal Palace in 1990 started an unprecedented run of success that would continue for 14 years.
Ferguson's main task was to win the league championship and after a 26-year gap the trophy was returned to Old Trafford in 1993. In doing so, Ferguson made history as the only manager to win league titles on both sides of the Scottish border.
Ferguson continued to build teams to compete for the championship and he was not afraid to discard crowd favourites. This was never more evident then when he sold Mark Hughes and Paul Ince at the start of the 1995-96 season to make room for a crop of homegrown players who were to play a major part in the future of the club. Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and the Neville brothers, among others, became known as "Fergie's fledglings" and in the same season they helped United win the league and FA Cup double.
In the 1998-99 season Ferguson created history by taking Manchester United to an unprecedented treble. After clinching a third double in just five seasons, United then produced a brilliant injury-time comeback to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the European Cup final. Ferguson's legend was cemented and he was knighted in the same year.
Since then Manchester United's domestic dominance has been severely tested first by Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and, more recently, by Chelsea. One of these three teams has won the Premiership title every year since 1996 and the intensity of their rivalry, particularly between the managers, refuses to die down.
Written off at one point, Ferguson proved his pedigree by guiding United to their ninth Premiership title under his charge in 2007, and their first in four seasons. He also revealed that he had no plans to retire despite having celebrated his 65th birthday the previous December.
- Tim Meston
NATIONALITY: Scottish
MANAGERIAL CAREER:
1986-present Manchester United
1986 Scotland (caretaker manager)
1978-86 Aberdeen
1974-78 St Mirren
1974 East Stirling
PLAYING CAREER:
1969-74 Falkirk, Ayr United
1967-69 Rangers
1964-67 Dunfermline Athletic
1960-64 St Johnstone
1957-60 Stranraer
HONOURS:
With Manchester United
Premiership title 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
FA Cup 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
League Cup 1992
European Cup 1999
European Cup Winners' Cup 1991
European Super Cup Final 1992
With Aberdeen
Scottish Premier League Champions 1980, 1984, 1985
Scottish Cup Winners 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986
Scottish League Cup winners 1986
European Cup Winners' Cup 1983
With St Mirren
Scottish First Division Championship 1977
Knighthood in 1999 (OBE - 1983; CBE - 1995)
Manager of the Year in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003
Named Premier League Manager of the Decade in 2003
After a lengthy yet modest playing career in Scotland, Alex Ferguson's first managerial position came at East Stirling in 1974. From there he joined St Mirren and helped them to earn promotion from the Scottish First Division in 1977. A year later he was offered the job at Aberdeen and it was in the Granite City that his brilliant managerial acumen began to pay dividends.
In eight years in charge of Aberdeen, Ferguson's inexpensively-assembled team - including Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish - won three league championships and four Scottish Cups. Breaking the dominance of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland was a feat in itself, but in 1983, Ferguson took his side to European glory with victory in the Cup Winners' Cup against Real Madrid.
After the death of Jock Stein in 1986, Ferguson stepped in as Scotland's caretaker manager for the World Cup in Mexico. Turning down the chance to take the job full-time, Ferguson instead accepted the challenge of replacing Ron Atkinson at Manchester United.
The first three years of Ferguson's tenure were difficult. His restructuring of a playing staff inherited from Atkinson was not entirely popular and the importance he placed on youth development was not going to be recognised until a few years later. But an FA Cup Final replay win over Crystal Palace in 1990 started an unprecedented run of success that would continue for 14 years.
Ferguson's main task was to win the league championship and after a 26-year gap the trophy was returned to Old Trafford in 1993. In doing so, Ferguson made history as the only manager to win league titles on both sides of the Scottish border.
Ferguson continued to build teams to compete for the championship and he was not afraid to discard crowd favourites. This was never more evident then when he sold Mark Hughes and Paul Ince at the start of the 1995-96 season to make room for a crop of homegrown players who were to play a major part in the future of the club. Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and the Neville brothers, among others, became known as "Fergie's fledglings" and in the same season they helped United win the league and FA Cup double.
In the 1998-99 season Ferguson created history by taking Manchester United to an unprecedented treble. After clinching a third double in just five seasons, United then produced a brilliant injury-time comeback to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the European Cup final. Ferguson's legend was cemented and he was knighted in the same year.
Since then Manchester United's domestic dominance has been severely tested first by Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and, more recently, by Chelsea. One of these three teams has won the Premiership title every year since 1996 and the intensity of their rivalry, particularly between the managers, refuses to die down.
Written off at one point, Ferguson proved his pedigree by guiding United to their ninth Premiership title under his charge in 2007, and their first in four seasons. He also revealed that he had no plans to retire despite having celebrated his 65th birthday the previous December.
- Tim Meston
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