Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

, best known for managing

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Ferguson is often credited for valuing youth during his time at Manchester United, particularly in the 1990s with the " Class of '92", who contributed to making the club one of the richest and most successful in the world. Ferguson played as a forward for several Scottish clubs, including Dunfermline Athletic and Rangers. While playing for Dunfermline, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league during the 1965–66 season. Towards the end of his playing career, he also worked as a coach, then started his managerial career with East Stirlingshire and St Mirren. Ferguson then enjoyed a highly successful period as manager of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, winning three Scottish league championships, four

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. He briefly managed

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

following the death of

Jock Stein John Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He was the first manager of a club from a Northern European country to win the European Champio ...

, taking the team to the 1986 World Cup. Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 1986. During his 26 years with Manchester United, he won 38 trophies, including 13

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

titles, five

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

s, and two

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

titles. He was knighted in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours list for his services to the game. Ferguson is the longest-serving manager of Manchester United, having overtaken Sir Matt Busby's record on 19 December 2010. He retired from management at the end of the 2012–13 season, having won the Premier League in his final season.

Early life

Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born at his grandmother's home on Shieldhall Road in the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

district of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 31 December 1941, the son of Elizabeth (née Hardie) and Alexander Beaton Ferguson. His father was a plater's helper in the shipbuilding industry. He grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road, which has since been demolished, where he lived with his parents and his younger brother

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

, who also became a footballer. He attended Broomloan Road Primary School and later Govan High School. He began his football career with Harmony Row Boys Club in Govan, before progressing to Drumchapel Amateurs, a youth club with a strong reputation for producing senior footballers. He also took an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

as a toolmaker at a factory in Hillington, being appointed a union

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

Playing career

Club

Ferguson's playing career began as an amateur with Queen's Park, where he made his debut as a striker, aged 16. He described his first match as a "nightmare",Crick, p. 33 but scored Queen's Park's goal in a 2–1 defeat against

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

. Perhaps his most notable game for Queen's Park was the 7–1 defeat away to Queen of the South on Boxing Day 1959 when ex-England international Ivor Broadis scored four of the Queen of the South goals. Ferguson was the solitary Queen's Park goalscorer. Despite scoring 20 goals in his 31 games for Queen's Park, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to St Johnstone in 1960. Ferguson was on a part-time contract with St Johnstone, and he combined working in a Govan shipyard with training at night in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Although he regularly scored goals for St Johnstone, he was unable to command a consistent place in their team. He regularly requested transfers, and even considered emigrating to Canada. St Johnstone's failure to sign another forward led the manager to select Ferguson for a match against Rangers, in which he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a surprise 3–2 victory at Ibrox.

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

signed him the following summer (1964), and Ferguson became a full-time professional footballer. In the following season ( 1964–65) Dunfermline were strong challengers for the Scottish league title and reached the Scottish Cup Final, but Ferguson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against St Johnstone. Dunfermline lost the final 3–2 to Celtic, then failed to win the League by one point. The 1965–66 season saw Ferguson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Dunfermline. Along with Joe McBride of Celtic, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league with 31 goals. Ferguson then joined Rangers for £65,000, which was a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs. He performed well in Europe during his two seasons with the club, scoring six goals in nine appearances in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup including two against 1.FC Köln in the 1967–68 competition, and an important strike against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in the 1968–69 edition which helped Rangers into the semi-finals, but on both occasions they were knocked out by English opposition. He was blamed for a goal conceded in the 1969 Scottish Cup Final,Crick, p. 82 in a match in which he was designated to mark Celtic

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, m ...

, and was subsequently forced to play for the club's junior side instead of for the first team.Crick, p. 83 According to his brother, Ferguson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away.Crick, p. 86 There have been claims that he suffered discrimination at Rangers due to his marriage to a Catholic, Cathy Holding. Ferguson said in a 2021 documentary film about his life and career ('' Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In'') that he "assumed" that his exclusion from the first team after the 1969 cup final was due to her religion. His autobiography noted that Rangers had known of his wife's religion when he joined the club.Ferguson, pp. 106–107 In March 2021, he added that when he was signed, a Rangers director had questioned whether the Fergusons had been married in a (Catholic)

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

, and that the director had replied "oh, that's okay" when told they had married in a registry office. Ferguson left Rangers reluctantly, as he had grown up locally and had dreamed of succeeding there. He was upset by how newspapers would refer to him as an "ex-Rangers player" after he had left, and rarely attended gatherings of their former players. The following October,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

wanted to sign Ferguson,Crick, p. 85 but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time, so he went to

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

instead. He remained at Brockville for four years, gaining more league appearances than he had elsewhere; in recognition of his experience he was promoted to player-coach, but when John Prentice became manager he removed Ferguson's coaching responsibilities. Ferguson's time at Falkirk was soured by this, and he responded by requesting a transfer and moved to Ayr United, where he finished his playing career in 1974.

International

Ferguson's only involvement with the Scotland national team was during an overseas tour in 1967. For many years none of the tour matches were recognised by the Scottish Football Association as full internationals, and so Ferguson was deemed to have never played for Scotland. A ''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

'' article in June 2020 identified him as one of the best Scottish players to have never played a full international. The SFA announced in October 2021 that some of the tour matches would be reclassified as full internationals, which meant that Ferguson was belatedly awarded an international cap.

Managerial career

East Stirlingshire

In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire, at the comparatively young age of 32. It was a part-time job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single goalkeeper at the time.Crick, pp. 108–9 He gained a reputation as a disciplinarian, with club forward Bobby McCulley later saying he had "never been afraid of anyone before but Ferguson was a frightening bastard from the start."

St Mirren

In October 1974, Ferguson was invited to manage St Mirren. While they were below East Stirlingshire in the league, they were a bigger club and although Ferguson felt a degree of loyalty towards East Stirlingshire, he decided to join St Mirren after taking advice from

.Crick, p. 117 Ferguson was manager of St Mirren from 1974 until 1978, producing a remarkable transformation of a team in the lower half of the old Second Division watched by crowds of just over 1,000, to First Division champions in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, discovering talent like Billy Stark, Tony Fitzpatrick, Lex Richardson, Frank McGarvey, Bobby Reid and Peter Weir while playing superb attacking football. The average age of the league winning team was 19 and the captain, Fitzpatrick, was 20. St Mirren have the distinction of being the only club ever to sack Ferguson. He claimed wrongful dismissal against the club at an industrial tribunal but lost and was given no leave to appeal. According to a '' Sunday Herald'' article on 30 May 1999, the official version is that Ferguson was sacked for various breaches of contract, including unauthorised payments to players. He was counter-accused of intimidating behaviour towards his office secretary because he wanted players to get some expenses tax free. He did not speak to her for six weeks, confiscated her keys and communicated only through a 17-year-old assistant. The tribunal concluded that Ferguson was "particularly petty" and "immature". It was claimed during the tribunal by St Mirren chairman, Willie Todd, that Ferguson had "no managerial ability". In 2008, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' published an interview with Todd (then aged 87), who had sacked Ferguson many years earlier. Todd said that the fundamental reason for the dismissal was a breach of contract relating to Ferguson having agreed to join Aberdeen. Ferguson told journalist Jim Rodger of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' that he had asked at least one member of the squad to go to Aberdeen with him. He told the St Mirren staff he was leaving. Todd expressed regret over what happened but blamed Aberdeen for not approaching his club to discuss compensation. In 1977, Ferguson turned down the manager's job at Aberdeen. The role went to Billy McNeill, who returned to Celtic after only a year, leaving the role available for Ferguson once again.

Aberdeen

Late 1970s

Ferguson joined Aberdeen as manager in June 1978, replacing Billy McNeill who had only managed the club for one season before he was offered the chance to manage Celtic. Although Aberdeen were one of Scotland's major clubs they had won the league only once, in 1955 under Dave Halliday. The team had been playing well, however, and had not lost a league match since the previous December, having finished second in the league the previous season.Crick, p. 159 Ferguson had now been a manager for four years, but was still not much older than some of the players and had trouble winning the respect of some of the older ones such as Joe Harper.Crick, p. 171 The season did not go especially well, with Aberdeen reaching the semi-final of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup Final, but losing both matches and finishing fourth in the league. Aberdeen lost the 1979–80 Scottish League Cup Final, this time to Dundee United after a replay. Ferguson took the blame for the defeat, saying he should have made changes to the team for the replay.Crick, p. 174

1980s and silverware

Aberdeen had started the 1979–80 season poorly but their form improved dramatically in the new year and they won the Scottish league that season with a 5–0 win on the final day. It was the first time in 15 years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or Celtic. Ferguson now felt that he had the respect of his players, later saying: "That was the achievement which united us. I finally had the players believing in me".Crick, p. 175 He was still a strict disciplinarian, though, and his players nicknamed him "Furious Fergie". He fined one of his players, John Hewitt, for overtaking him on a public road,Crick, p. 179 and kicked a tea urn at the players at half time after a poor first half.Crick, p. 180 He was dissatisfied with the atmosphere at Aberdeen matches, and deliberately created a " siege mentality" by accusing the Scottish media of being biased towards the Glasgow clubs, to motivate the team.Crick, p. 191 The team continued their success with a Scottish Cup win in 1982. Ferguson was offered the manager's job at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

but turned it down as he felt that Wolves were in troubleCrick, p. 195 and his "ambitions at Aberdeen were not even half fulfilled".Crick, p. 196

European success and Scottish national side

Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season, 1982–83. They had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as a result of winning the Scottish Cup the previous season, and impressively knocked out Bayern Munich, who had beaten Tottenham Hotspur 4–1 in the previous round. According to Willie Miller, this gave them the confidence to believe that they could go on to win the competition,Crick, p. 201 which they did, with a 2–1 victory over

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 11 May 1983. Aberdeen became only the third Scottish team to win a European trophy and Ferguson now felt that "he'd done something worthwhile with his life".Crick, p. 203 This was followed up with victory in the European Super Cup in December 1983, when

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

, the reigning European Cup champions, were beaten 2–0 over two legs. Aberdeen had also performed well in the league that season, and retained the Scottish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Rangers, but Ferguson was not happy with his team's play in that match and upset the players by describing theirs as a "disgraceful performance" in a televised interview after the match, a statement he later retracted.Crick, p. 204 After a sub-standard start to the 1983–84 season, Aberdeen's form improved and the team won the Scottish league and retained the Scottish Cup. Ferguson was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 1985 New Year Honours, and was offered the managers' jobs at Rangers and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

during the season. Aberdeen retained their league title in the 1984–85 season. In 1985–86, Aberdeen won both domestic cups, but finished fourth in the league. Ferguson had been appointed to the club's board of directors early in 1986, but that April he told Dick Donald, their chairman, that he intended to leave that summer. Ferguson had been part of the coaching staff for the Scottish national side during qualifying for the 1986 World Cup, but manager

had collapsed and died on 10 September 1985 – at the end of the game in which Scotland qualified from their group for a play-off against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Ferguson promptly agreed to take charge of the Scottish national side against the Australians and subsequently at the World Cup. To allow him to fulfil his international duties he appointed Archie Knox as his co-manager at Aberdeen. However, after Scotland failed to progress past the group stages of the World Cup, Ferguson stepped down as national team manager on 15 June 1986. Around this time, Tottenham Hotspur offered Ferguson the chance to take over from Peter Shreeves as manager, but he rejected this offer and the job went to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English association football, football player turned manager (association football), manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He ...

instead. There was also an offer for Ferguson to replace Don Howe as Arsenal manager, but he rejected this offer as well, and fellow Scot George Graham took the post instead. That summer, there had been speculation that he would take over from

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

, who had slumped to fourth in the English top flight after a ten-match winning start. It was not the first time that Ferguson had been linked with a move to England. In February 1982, Wolverhampton Wanderers had approached him about succeeding John Barnwell as manager as they were heading for relegation from the First Division. He rejected this offer, perhaps concerned about the club's financial stability, as they were more than £2 million in debt at the time and narrowly avoided going out of business. At the end of the 1984–85 season, it was reported that Ferguson was being considered for the

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

manager's job after the retirement of Joe Fagan was announced, but the job was quickly accepted by Liverpool striker

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

. Although Ferguson remained at Aberdeen over the summer, he did eventually join Manchester United when Atkinson was sacked in November 1986.

Manchester United

Appointment and first FA Cup title

Ferguson was appointed manager at Old Trafford on 6 November 1986. He was initially worried that many of the players, such as Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were drinking too much and was "depressed" by their level of fitness, but he managed to increase the players' discipline and United climbed up the table to finish the season in 11th place, having been 21st (second from bottom) when he took over. His first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat at Oxford United on 8 November, followed seven days later by a goalless draw at newly promoted Norwich City, and then his first win (1–0 at home to Queens Park Rangers) on 22 November. Results steadily improved as the season went on, and by the time they recorded what would be their only away win of the league campaign at title challengers and rivals Liverpool on

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

, it was clear that United were on the road to recovery. The year 1987 began on a high note with a 4–1 victory over Newcastle United and United gradually pulled together in the second half of the season, with relatively occasional defeats on the way, and finished 11th in the final table. Ferguson's mother Elizabeth died of lung cancer, aged 64, three weeks after his appointment. Ferguson hired Archie Knox, his assistant at Aberdeen, in the same role at Manchester United in 1986. In the 1987–88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson and Brian McClair. The new players made a positive contribution to a United team who finished in second place, nine points behind Liverpool. Liverpool's points lead, however, had been in double digits for most of the season and while United had lost only five league games all season, they drew 12 games, leaving some way to go before United could match their northwestern rivals. During the season, United played two friendly matches in Bermuda against the Bermuda national team and the Somerset Cricket Club. In the match against Somerset, both Ferguson himself and his assistant Archie Knox took to the field, with Knox even getting on the scoresheet. The match was Ferguson's only appearance for the Manchester United first team. United were expected to do well when

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

returned to the club two years after leaving for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, alongside Jim Leighton from

; but the 1988–89 season was a disappointment for them, finishing 11th in the league and losing 1–0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup sixth round. They had begun the season slowly, going on a nine-match winless run throughout October and November (with one defeat and eight draws) before a run of generally good results took them to third place and the fringes of the title challenge by mid February. However, another run of disappointing results in the final quarter of the season saw them fall down to mid-table. For the 1989–90 season, Ferguson further boosted his squad by paying large sums of money for midfielders Neil Webb, Mike Phelan, and Paul Ince, as well as defender Gary Pallister and winger Danny Wallace. The season began well with a 4–1 win over defending champions Arsenal on the opening day, but United's league form quickly turned sour. In September, United suffered a humiliating 5–1 away defeat against fierce rivals

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Following this and an early season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games, a banner declaring, "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked. Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period

e had E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others wo ...

ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone. Following a run of seven games without a win, Manchester United were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Forest were performing well that season and were in the process of winning the League Cup for the second season running, and it was expected that United would lose the match and Ferguson would consequently be sacked, but United won the game 1–0 due to a Mark Robins goal and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match that saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career. United went on to win the FA Cup, beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the final replay after a 3–3 draw in the first match, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as Manchester United manager. United's defensive frailties in the first match were blamed on goalkeeper Jim Leighton. Ferguson dropped Leighton for the replay, bringing in Les Sealey.

United's European firsts and Ferguson's seconds

Although United's league form improved greatly in 1990–91, they were still inconsistent and finished sixth. There were some excellent performances that season, including a 6–2 demolition of Arsenal at Highbury, but results like an early 2–1 loss at newly promoted

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, a 4–0 September hammering by Liverpool at Anfield, and a 2–0 home defeat by Everton in early March (the game where 17-year-old talented prospect Ryan Giggs made his senior debut) showed that United still had some way to go. Even after the FA Cup victory in the previous season, some still had doubts about Ferguson's ability to succeed where all the other managers since Matt Busby had failed – to win the league title. They were runners-up in the League Cup, losing 1–0 to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. However, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating that season's Spanish champions

2–1. It would be United's only Cup Winners' Cup title. After the match, Ferguson vowed that United would win the league the following season, and at long last he seemed to have won over the last of his sceptics after nearly five years in the job.Ferguson, p. 302 During the 1991 close season, Ferguson's assistant Archie Knox departed to Rangers to become assistant to Walter Smith, and Ferguson promoted youth team coach Brian Kidd to the role of assistant manager in Knox's place. He also made two major signings – goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and defender Paul Parker – to bolster his side. There was much anticipation about the breakthrough of the young Ryan Giggs, who had played twice and scored once in the 1990–91 campaign, and the earlier emergence of another impressive young winger in the shape of Lee Sharpe, who despite their youth had made Ferguson feel able to resist plunging into the transfer market and buying a new player to take over from the disappointing Danny Wallace on the left wing. He had also added Soviet midfielder Andrei Kanchelskis to the right wing, giving him a more attacking alternative to older midfielders Mike Phelan and Bryan Robson. The 1991–92 season did not live up to Ferguson's expectations and, in Ferguson's words, "many in the media felt that ismistakes had contributed to the misery".Ferguson, p. 311 United won the League Cup and European Super Cup; both for the first time, but lost out on the league title to rivals Leeds United after leading the table for much of the season. A shortage of goals and being held to draws by teams they had been expected to beat in the second half of the campaign had proved to be the undoing of a United side who had performed so well in the first half of the season. Ferguson felt that his failure to secure the signing of Mick Harford from

had cost United the league, and that he needed "an extra dimension" to the team if they were to win the league the following season.Ferguson, p. 320 During the 1992 close season, Ferguson went on the hunt for a new striker. He first attempted to sign

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

from

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, but lost out to Blackburn Rovers. He also made at least one approach for the Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst, but manager Trevor Francis rejected all offers and the player stayed put. In the end, he paid £1 million for 23-year-old

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

striker Dion Dublin – his only major signing of the summer. After a slow start to the 1992–93 season by sitting 10th at the beginning of November, it looked as though United would miss out on the league title yet again. However, after the purchase of French striker Eric Cantona from Leeds for £1.2 million, the future of Manchester United, and Ferguson's position as manager, began to look bright. Cantona formed a strong partnership with Mark Hughes. On 10 April 1993, United were second in the league when they faced Sheffield Wednesday at home. United were losing with four minutes to go before Steve Bruce equalised. After seven minutes of injury time – which was subsequently dubbed "Fergie Time", alluding to extra minutes allegedly being granted to Ferguson's teams to get a goal – Bruce scored the 97th-minute winner, with Ferguson celebrating the goal by running from his dugout on to the touch line, while assistant Brian Kidd ran on to the field. Seen as being a decisive victory, it put United top of the league, where they remained. Winning the title ended United's 26-year wait for a league title, and also made them the first Premier League champions. United finished with a ten-point margin over runners-up Aston Villa, whose 1–0 defeat at Oldham Athletic on 2 May 1993 had given United the title. Ferguson was later voted Manager of the Year by the League Managers' Association.

1993–95: Double win and loss

The 1993–94 season brought more success. Ferguson added Nottingham Forest's 22-year-old midfielder Roy Keane to the ranks for a British record fee of £3.75 million as a long term replacement for Bryan Robson, who was nearing the end of his career. United led the 1993–94 Premier League table virtually from start to finish. Ferguson was the first winner of the

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

award, introduced for the start of the 1993–94 season, when he collected the accolade for August 1993. Cantona was top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions despite being sent off twice in the space of five days in March 1994. United also reached the League Cup final but lost 3–1 to Aston Villa, managed by Ferguson's predecessor, Ron Atkinson. In the FA Cup final, Manchester United achieved an impressive 4–0 scoreline against Chelsea, winning Ferguson his second League and Cup Double, following his Scottish Premier Division and Scottish Cup titles with Aberdeen in 1984–85, though the League Cup final defeat meant that he had not yet achieved a repeat of the treble that he had achieved with Aberdeen in 1983. Ferguson made only one close-season signing, paying Blackburn £1.2 million for David May. There were newspaper reports that Ferguson was also going to sign highly rated 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton from Norwich City, but the player headed for Blackburn instead. 1994–95 was a harder season for Ferguson. Cantona assaulted a Crystal Palace supporter in a game at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

, and it seemed likely he would leave English football. An eight-month ban saw Cantona miss the final four months of the season. He also received a 14-day prison sentence for the offence but the sentence was quashed on appeal and replaced by a 120-hour community service order. United paid a British record fee of £7 million for Newcastle United's prolific striker Andy Cole, with young winger

Keith Gillespie Keith Robert Gillespie ( ; born 18 February 1975) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who plays as a winger for FC Mindwell in the Mid-Ulster Football League. He began his career at Manchester United after winning the FA Yo ...

heading to the north-east in exchange. The season also saw the breakthrough of young players Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, who provided excellent cover for the long periods that United were left without some of their more experienced stars. However, the championship slipped out of Manchester United's grasp as they drew 1–1 with West Ham United on the final day of the season, when a win would have given them a third successive league title. United also lost the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

in a 1–0 defeat by Everton.

1995–98

Ferguson was heavily criticised in the summer of 1995 when three of United's star players were allowed to leave and replacements were not bought. First Paul Ince moved to Internazionale of Italy for £7.5 million, long-serving striker Mark Hughes was sold to Chelsea in a £1.5 million deal, and Andrei Kanchelskis was sold to Everton. Ferguson felt that United had a number of young players who were ready to play in the first team. The youngsters, who would be known as "Fergie's Fledglings", included Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who would all go on to be important members of the team. And so the 1995–96 season began without a major signing, at a time when the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle were making the headlines with big-money signings. A youthful United team lost 3–1 in their opening league game of the 1995–96 season, against Aston Villa. On '' Match of the Day'', pundit Alan Hansen criticised their performance, ending his analysis with the words, "You can't win anything with kids." United won their next five matches and were boosted by the return of Cantona, who made his comeback against Liverpool in October 1995. For much of the season, the team trailed league leaders Newcastle and found themselves ten points behind by Christmas; this later was narrowed to seven points after defeating them on 27 December 1995. The gap increased to 12 points, but a series of wins, coupled with Newcastle dropping points, meant by late March, United moved to the top of the table. In a televised outburst after his team's win against Leeds, Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan responded angrily to Ferguson's comments: "We're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough... I would love it if we beat them, love it." A win against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on the final day sealed the title for United and the team beat Liverpool by a goal to nil to win the 1996 FA Cup Final; this was their second double in three years. A week after the cup final, Ferguson agreed a four-year contract to remain at United. United started the following season thrashing the previous year's league runners-up Newcastle 4-0 in the Charity Shield. They went on to win their fourth league title in five seasons at the end of the 1996–97 campaign, made easier by the fact that their rivals were "not up to the job". Under Ferguson, the team made a better go in the Champions League and reached the semi-final stage for the first time in 28 years. United did not advance any further, after defeat by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

of Germany. Norwegian signings Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Ronny Johnsen were the notable additions to the squad, with the former ending the season as the club's top goalscorer. In May 1997, Cantona informed Ferguson of his decision to retire from football.Barclay, pp. 301–2 The player "felt exploited by United's merchandising department" and questioned the ambition of the club, reasons which Ferguson understood. Striker Teddy Sheringham was signed as Cantona's replacement from Tottenham Hotspur, with Blackburn defender Henning Berg the other significant purchase that summer. In the close season, United appointed Keane as their new captain. Ferguson described him as "the best all-round player in the game" after the team's 1997 FA Charity Shield win and believed Keane had "all the right ingredients" to succeed from Cantona. Defeat by Leeds United in September 1997 was the team's first league loss in seven months; Keane during the match injured himself and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season with ligament damage. Goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was placed as captain in his absence. By November, United opened up a four-point lead in the league, which prompted talk of whether any team could catch them. After Arsenal's defeat of United in the same month, Ferguson acknowledged a one-horse race was "not good for the game" and admitted his opponents "... deserved to win on their second-half performance". The fallibilities of Liverpool, Chelsea and Blackburn as league challengers allowed United during the winter to extend their lead by 11 points, albeit with Arsenal having games-in-hand. This was enough for Manchester bookmaker Fred Done to pay out on punters who backed the champions retaining their title. Arsenal collected maximum points, sealing the title with a win against Everton on 3 May 1998. Ferguson congratulated his opponent Arsène Wenger, who in his first full season at the club, later completed the double: "I think it's good for my young players to lose on this occasion. I wholeheartedly acknowledge what Arsenal achieved between Christmas and the end of the season." United straight after paid £10.75 million for PSV defender Jaap Stam, a new club record fee. Ferguson wanted to strengthen the squad's attacking options and identified Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke as his main target. Attempts to sign Yorke were rebuffed at first, before Ferguson persuaded Edwards to increase United's initial offer of £10 million. A £12.6 million deal was reached a week into the league campaign; Yorke signed minutes before the deadline to submit United's squad for the Champions League.

1998–99: Treble success

United opened the 1998–99 season with a 3–0 loss to Arsenal in the 1998 FA Charity Shield. The beating did not concern Ferguson, though he described his team's defeat by Arsenal in September 1998 as "a lot less tolerable". In December 1998, Kidd left his role as assistant to become the manager of Blackburn Rovers. Ferguson instructed Eric Harrison and Les Kershaw to find suitable replacements, "in terms of coaching ability and work ethic." Both recommended Steve McClaren, the assistant to Jim Smith at Derby County. McClaren was Ferguson's initial choice and appointed him in February 1999. His first game as assistant was United's 8–1 victory over Nottingham Forest. Ferguson felt United's bid to regain the Premier League began indifferently because of their commitments to other competitions. He was willing to "pay for the progress" made in the Champions League; the team finished second in their Champions League "group of death", behind Bayern Munich and ahead of Barcelona. United's win against Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round was a portent for the remainder of the season. A goal down after three minutes, the team equalised in the 86th minute and scored the winning goal through Solskjær in stoppage time. On reflection, Ferguson said it was "a demonstration of the morale that was to be every bit as vital as rich skill in the five months that lay ahead of United". PalmaresManU

In the final weeks of the league season, Arsenal emerged as a credible challenger to United. Both clubs were also paired together in the semi-final of the FA Cup, decided by a replay as the original game finished goalless. Keane was sent off in the second half and United conceded a penalty late into the match with the score 1–1. Dennis Bergkamp's effort was saved by Peter Schmeichel. Ferguson hoped his team "could at least take it to a penalty shoot-out", but instead the match was settled in extra time: Giggs ran the length of the pitch and evaded several Arsenal players to score the winning goal. United went on to beat Newcastle United in the

and completed the double – a week earlier the team had regained the Premiership title. United's progression in the Champions League was promising compared to previous seasons. The team eliminated Inter Milan at the quarter-final stage and faced

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in the last four of the competition. A late goal scored by Giggs in the first leg earned the team a 1–1 draw, but in spite of conceding an away goal, Ferguson was adamant of United's chances of reaching the final: "... something tells me we are going to win. The nature of our club is that we torture ourselves so much that the only way to get relief is by winning over there." At the Stadio delle Alpi, striker Filippo Inzaghi scored twice to put Juventus 3–1 up on aggregate. Keane headed in a Beckham cross to halve the deficit just before half-time, but was later shown a yellow card for a foul on Edgar Davids, which prevented him from playing in the final. Yorke equalised, before Cole added a third to win the match outright. Keane's performance merited praise from Ferguson: Days after the FA Cup final, United travelled to Barcelona, the setting for the UEFA Champions League final. Ferguson contemplated his team selection against Bayern Munich; suspensions to Scholes and Keane ruled both players out of the match. Beckham was positioned in centre midfield, while Giggs moved to the right wing and Blomqvist started on the left – changes the manager felt would prevent the opposition from playing narrow. United conceded in the first six minutes of the final, from a Mario Basler's free kick. Sheringham, who came on for Blomqvist, equalised from a corner in the first minute of additional time. McClaren told Ferguson to get the team organised for extra time, to which he replied, "Steve, this game isn't finished." Three minutes into added time, Solskjær scored the winner, which for United completed an unprecedented treble. Ferguson, interviewed moments after, said, "I can't believe it. Football, bloody hell. But they never gave in and that's what won it." He and Schmeichel, the stand-in captain, jointly lifted the cup during the trophy presentation. A crowd of over 500,000 people turned out on the streets of Manchester to greet the players, who paraded through the city in an open-top bus. As European champions, United were invited to play in the Intercontinental Cup. The club also entered the inaugural Club World Championship, which was held in Brazil. This brought about a potential fixture congestion so United accepted the FA's recommendation of withdrawing from the FA Cup, the first holders to do so. In later years, Ferguson elaborated on the club's decision: "We did it to help England's World Cup bid. That was the political situation. I regretted it because we got nothing but stick and terrible criticism for not being in the FA Cup when really, it wasn't our fault."

1999–2002: Title hat-trick, retirement plan

Schmeichel's decision to leave United after eight seasons prompted Ferguson to bring in replacements: Mark Bosnich from Aston Villa and Italian Massimo Taibi. The latter featured in four matches, the last of which a 5–0 defeat at Chelsea in October 1999; he was not selected again by Ferguson. United ended the 1999–2000 league season as champions, with just three defeats and a record points margin of 18. In December 1999, the club beat Palmeiras in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

to win the Intercontinental Cup, but a month later exited at the group stage of the inaugural Club World Championship, although Ferguson stated the tournament was "fantastic". United failed to retain the Champions League, as they lost in the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Real Madrid. Ferguson sought to strengthen his squad and signed Fabien Barthez from Monaco for £7.8 million. He also monitored the progress of Ruud van Nistelrooy, "a striker of the highest calibre". He met the player and his agent in Manchester to discuss formalities and was informed of Van Nistelrooy's troubled right knee. Ferguson was not agitated by this; he recalled from experience a similar niggle that did not stop his playing career. Van Nistelrooy, however, failed his medical, but Ferguson reassured him that "we might yet find a way out of the nightmare". The deal was resurrected in April 2001 for a British record transfer fee of £19 million. In the 2000–01 season, United retained the league title for a third season, becoming only the fourth side in history to do so. The achievement was overshadowed by reports of a rift between the club's board and Ferguson. He told the club's television channel MUTV that he was prepared to sever all ties with the club, once his contract ended the following year: "The decision has been taken. I'm going to leave the club. I'm disappointed with what has happened because I was hoping something would be sorted out. It hasn't happened as I thought it would and that's all there is to it." Both parties eventually reached a compromise which pleased Ferguson: "I am delighted we've settled this. When you have been at the club as long as I have it gets in your blood." Age was one of the factors in Ferguson's decision to retire: reaching 60 acted as a "psychological barrier ... It changed my sense of my own fitness, my health." In May 2001, McClaren left to become Middlesbrough manager, with Jimmy Ryan being named assistant to Ferguson for the duration of the campaign. United once more broke their transfer record with the purchase of Juan Sebastián Verón from

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

for a reported £28.1 million. In August 2001, Stam was transferred to Lazio for £16 million. The player reportedly moved because of claims in his autobiography ''Head to Head''; Stam implied that Ferguson illegally contacted him about a move to Manchester United, before informing PSV. Ferguson said he sold the player because the club needed to cut back on its "massive wage bill". He replaced the defender with Laurent Blanc, a long sought-after target. In an interview with Alastair Campbell eight years after, Ferguson described his biggest mistake at the club was "letting go of Jaap Stam. No question". The club endured a poor first half to the season and languished in ninth position after a home defeat by West Ham in December 2001. On the night of Christmas Day, Ferguson shelved his retirement plan. His family convinced him to remain in charge of United and Ferguson informed Watkins of his u-turn the following day. Once Ferguson publicised his decision to remain in February 2002, United's form improved. The team won 13 out of 15 matches, though finished third in the league behind Arsenal and Liverpool. United were unsuccessful in Europe, losing their Champions League semi-final on away goals to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. Early exits from the League Cup and FA Cup meant they ended the season trophyless. Ferguson himself said that the decision to announce his retirement had resulted in a negative effect on the players and on his ability to impose discipline.

2002–2006: Rebuilding and transition

In June 2002, Ferguson appointed Carlos Queiroz as his new assistant. The recommendation came from Andy Roxburgh, at a time when United began scouting for southern-hemisphere footballers and wanted a multilingual coach. Ferguson was so impressed with Queiroz after their first meeting, he offered him the job "right away". In July 2002, United paid £29.3 million for Leeds United defender Rio Ferdinand. The club broke the British transfer record once more, though this did not concern Ferguson: "We have the right to try and improve ourselves and there's nothing wrong with that." C ronaldo cropped

The 2002–03 season began rather poorly for United; the club made their worst start to a league campaign in 13 years. In a column for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Hansen said Ferguson "will recognise this difficult start to the season for what it is: the greatest challenge of his career". Ferguson's response was typically bullish: Several players were sent away for surgery in this period, a "minor gamble" Ferguson took in the hope they would return energised. Defeats, such as the one to Manchester City at Maine Road in November 2002, forced United to change their playing style. The team "moved the ball forward more and quicker rather than concentrating on possession ratios", and the coaching staff tried accommodating Diego Forlán with Ruud van Nistelrooy, before settling with Paul Scholes. United's league form improved as the season went on despite defeat by Liverpool in the 2003 Football League Cup Final and they overhauled Arsenal to win the Premier League for an eighth time in May 2003. The team were eliminated in the Champions League quarter-final to Real Madrid over two legs; Ferguson described the second match, a 4–3 win at Old Trafford as "epic". After a season at United, Queiroz left to manage Real Madrid in June 2003. Ferguson anticipated his deputy would return – "Three months later, he was wanting to quit Madrid" – and for that reason did not appoint a replacement. In the summer, David Beckham also moved to Real Madrid, while Juan Sebastián Verón joined Chelsea. United in the meantime rebuilt their team: Tim Howard replaced Barthez in goal and Kléberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

came in to bolster the squad. Ronaldinho might have also joined "had he not said yes, then no, to our offer". In December 2003, Rio Ferdinand was banned from playing football for eight months after he failed to present himself at a drugs test. Ferguson in his autobiography ten years later blamed the drug testers, who "...didn't do their job. They didn't go looking for Rio". The absence of Ferdinand hampered United's defence of the Premier League in the 2003–04 season; the team finished third behind Arsenal's " Invincibles" and Chelsea. In Europe, they experienced defeat at the hands of eventual winners

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. Ferguson felt it was possible "not because of the performance of the players but because of the referee", who disallowed a legitimate Scholes goal that would have been enough to progress. United ended the campaign as FA Cup winners, beating Millwall 3–0 in the 2004 final. At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, teenage striker Wayne Rooney (the world's most expensive teenager at more than £20 million) and Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze joined United while Cristiano Ronaldo continued where he had left off the previous season by putting in more match-winning performances. But the lack of a striker after Ruud van Nistelrooy spent most of the season injured saw the club finish third for the third time in four seasons. In the 2004–05 FA Cup, they lost on penalties to Arsenal in the final. A second-round exit from the Champions League at the hands of Milan and a semi-final exit from the League Cup at the hands of eventual winners Chelsea (who also clinched the Premier League title) meant that 2004–05 was a rare instance of a trophyless season for United. During the season, Ferguson managed his 1,000th game in charge of United in a 2–1 home win against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Ferguson's preparations for the 2005–06 season were disrupted by a high-profile dispute with major shareholder John Magnier, over the ownership of the racehorse

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...

. When Magnier and business partner J. P. McManus agreed to sell their shares to American business tycoon

Malcolm Glazer Malcolm Glazer (August 15, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, and own ...

, it cleared the way for Glazer to acquire full control of the club. This sparked violent protests from United fans, and disrupted Ferguson's plans to strengthen the team in the transfer market. In spite of this, United looked to solve their goalkeeping and midfield problems. For this, they signed the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar from

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and Korean star Park Ji-sung from PSV. The season was one of transition. On 18 November, Roy Keane officially left the club, his contract ended by mutual consent. United failed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the UEFA Champions League. In the January transfer window, Serbian defender Nemanja Vidić and French full-back Patrice Evra were signed, and the side finished in second place in the league, behind runaway winners Chelsea. Winning the League Cup was a consolation prize for lack of success elsewhere. Ruud van Nistelrooy's future at Old Trafford was in doubt after not starting in the League Cup final, and he departed at the end of the season. Before the start of the new season, Ferguson received much criticism, particular in the guise of an article in ''The Guardian'' titled "Shredding his legacy at every turn".

Second Champions League trophy

In 2006, Michael Carrick was signed to take Roy Keane's place in the team for a fee that eventually rose to £18 million. United started the season well, and for the first time ever won their first four Premier League games, United's best start since 1985. They set the early pace in the

and never relinquished top spot from the tenth match of the 38-game season. The January 2006 signings had a huge impact on United's performances – Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidić came in to form a solid back line along with Rio Ferdinand and skipper Gary Neville. The signing of Carrick brought stability and further creativity in the United midfield, forming an effective partnership with Paul Scholes. Park Ji-sung and Ryan Giggs both underlined their value to the first team squad by adding significant pace and incisiveness in attack with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Ferguson celebrated the 20th anniversary of his appointment as manager of Manchester United on 6 November 2006. Tributes also came from Ferguson's players, both past and present, as well as his old foe, Arsène Wenger. The party was spoiled the following day when United endured a single-goal defeat at the hands of Southend United in the fourth round of the League Cup. On 1 December it was announced that Manchester United had signed 35-year-old Henrik Larsson on loan, a player that Ferguson had admired for many years, and attempted to capture previously. On 23 December 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the club's 2,000th goal under Ferguson in a match against Aston Villa. Manchester United subsequently won their ninth Premier League title but were denied a unique fourth double by Chelsea's

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

scoring a late goal in the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. In the Champions League, the club reached the semi-finals, recording a 7–1 home win over Roma in the quarter-final second leg, but lost at the San Siro to Milan 3–0 in the second leg of the semi-final after being 3–2 up from the first leg. For the 2007–08 season, Ferguson made notable signings to reinforce United's first team. Long-term target Owen Hargreaves joined from Bayern Munich, young Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian playmaker Anderson joined soon after, while the last summer signing was West Ham and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

striker Carlos Tevez after a complex and protracted transfer saga. Despite getting some retribution on Chelsea by beating them in the Community Shield, United suffered their worst start to a league season under Ferguson, drawing their first two league games before suffering a 1–0 defeat by local rivals Manchester City. United, however, recovered and began a tight race with Arsenal for the title. After a good run of form, Ferguson claimed that throughout his time at Manchester United, this was the best squad he had managed to assemble thus far. On 16 February 2008, United beat Arsenal 4–0 in an FA Cup fifth round match at Old Trafford, but were knocked out by eventual winners

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in the quarter-final on 8 March, losing 1–0 at home. United having had a penalty claim turned down, Ferguson alleged after the game that Keith Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, was "not doing his job properly". Ferguson was subsequently charged by The FA with improper conduct, which he decided to contest. This was the second charge Ferguson faced in the season, following his complaints against the referee after United lost 1–0 at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

– a charge he decided not to contest. On 11 May 2008, Ferguson led Manchester United to a tenth Premier League title, exactly 25 years to the day after he led Aberdeen to European glory against Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup. Nearest rivals Chelsea – level on points going into the final round of matches, but with an inferior goal difference – could only draw 1–1 at home to Bolton, finishing two points adrift of the champions. United's title win was sealed with a 2–0 win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, managed by former United captain Steve Bruce. On 21 May 2008, Ferguson won his second European Cup with Manchester United as they beat Chelsea 6–5 on penalties in the

Luzhniki Stadium The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, commonly known as Luzhniki Stadium, is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. Its total seating capacity of 78,011 makes it the List of football stadiums in R ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, following a 1–1 draw after extra time in the first ever all-English UEFA Champions League Final. A penalty miss from Cristiano Ronaldo meant that John Terry's spot-kick would have given the trophy to Chelsea if successfully converted, but Terry missed his penalty and in the end it was Edwin van der Sar's blocking of a Nicolas Anelka penalty which gave the trophy to Manchester United for the second time under Ferguson and for the third time overall.

World champions and further league titles

Although the team had a slow start to the 2008–09 season, United won the Premier League with a game to spare, making Ferguson the first manager in the history of English football to win the top division three times consecutively, on two separate occasions. Ferguson had now won 11 league titles at Manchester United, and the 2008–09 season title success put them level with Liverpool as league champions on a record 18 occasions in total. They also won the League Cup on penalties after a goalless draw in the

against Tottenham, after becoming the first British club to win the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

in December 2008. They contested the Champions League final against Barcelona on 27 May 2009 but lost 2–0, thus failed to defend the trophy. In 2009–10 season, Ferguson added another League Cup to his honours list as United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 in the

on 28 February 2010, United's first ever successful knockout cup defence. However, his dreams of a third European Cup were ended a few weeks later when United were edged out of the competition in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich on away goals. And their hopes of a record 19th league title were ended on the last day of the season when Chelsea beat them to the Premier League title by one point, crushing Wigan Athletic 8–0 and rendering United's 4–0 win over Stoke City meaningless. He ended the following season by winning his 12th and Manchester United's 19th league title and thus overtaking Liverpool's record of 18. Manchester United faced Barcelona again on 28 May 2011 in the 2011 Champions League final, their third in four years, but United lost 3–1. Analyst Alan Hansen stated that he believed Ferguson was "the key component" in United's success that season, so key in fact that " ewould have claimed the crown with any of the other top sides had he been in charge of them". With Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes all retiring in 2011, Ferguson spent big by signing defender Phil Jones from Blackburn and winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa for around £17 million each, and goalkeeper David de Gea from Atlético Madrid for around £19 million. The following season United managed to beat rivals Manchester City in the 2011 FA Community Shield and eliminated them in the FA Cup third round, but ended the season below City, who won their first

title on goal difference. This bitter and slim defeat prompted Ferguson to sign star-striker

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional association football, footballer who is the head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and was ...

, who was the Premier League Golden Boot title-holder, from another arch-rival Arsenal on 17 August 2012. The 2012–13 season saw Ferguson guide United to become league champions for the 20th time, claiming the title with a 3–0 home win over Aston Villa on 22 April 2013 with four matches to spare; Van Persie scored all the goals with a first half hat-trick en route to retain the Golden Boot. His final game in charge, his 1,500th in total, saw United play out a 5–5 draw with West Bromwich Albion. The result meant United finished the season 11 points ahead of runners-up Manchester City. Earlier in the season, on 2 September 2012, Ferguson managed his 1,000th league game with United playing against

. United won the game 3–2 thanks to another hat-trick from Van Persie. Two weeks later, he won his 100th game in the Champions League with a 1–0 win over Galatasaray at Old Trafford.

Retirement

On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced that he had decided to retire as manager at the end of the football season, but would remain at the club as a director and club ambassador. ''The Guardian'' announced it was the "end of an era", while

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

president Michel Platini referred to Ferguson as "a true visionary". Former Manchester United players Paul Ince and Bryan Robson agreed that Ferguson would be "a hard act to follow". Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer said, "His determination to succeed and dedication to the club have been truly remarkable." Ferguson revealed that he had in fact decided that he was going to retire back in December 2012 and that it had been very difficult not to reveal his plans. Ferguson's announcement of his decision to retire saw United's shares fall 5% on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. On 9 May 2013, Manchester United announced Everton manager David Moyes would replace Ferguson as the club manager from 1 July, having signed a six-year contract. In Ferguson's final match in charge, Manchester United drew 5–5 at West Bromwich Albion, a hat-trick from

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

, later a United player, denying Ferguson a final victory. Ferguson released his second autobiography in October 2013 called '' My Autobiography''. In January 2014, Ferguson was appointed as the UEFA Coaching Ambassador, and said it was "an honour and a privilege" to be given the role. In April 2014, it was announced that Ferguson would be taking up a "long-term teaching position" at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he would be lecturing on a new course titled "The Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports". This came six months after he revealed his blueprint for success was included in the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

'' in a series of interviews with Anita Elberse. His book, ''Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United'', was published in collaboration with billionaire venture capitalist, author and former journalist Michael Moritz in August 2015.

Controversies

Gordon Strachan

Gordon Strachan was a key player for Ferguson at Aberdeen, but their relationship broke down when Strachan signed an agreement with German club FC Köln without telling Ferguson. Ferguson said that he believed although "there was a cunning streak in Strachan, I had never imagined that he could pull such a stroke on me". Strachan did not sign for Köln, but instead moved to Manchester United in the summer of 1984. Strachan liked the move because he felt that Ron Atkinson treated him as an adult, unlike Ferguson. Strachan was still with the club when Ferguson was appointed manager in November 1986. Ferguson thought that Strachan did not play for United with the same confidence he had in Scotland and subsequently sold him to Leeds United in 1989. Strachan enjoyed significant success with Leeds as a veteran player, helping them win the 1991–92 English league championship in a title race with Ferguson's United. Their relationship continued to be frosty as Strachan moved into management himself. In his 1999 autobiography, Ferguson stated that Strachan "could not be trusted an inch – I would not want to expose my back to him in a hurry". Strachan's reaction to the attack, in his own autobiography, ''My Life in Football'', was one of being "surprised and disappointed", although he suspected that Ferguson had helped to relegate Strachan's Coventry City in 2001 by fielding a weakened Manchester United team in a match against Derby County. By 2006 they appeared to have "declared something of a truce", ahead of Champions League matches between United and Strachan's Celtic.

David Beckham

In February 2003, Ferguson was involved in a dressing room argument with Manchester United player David Beckham. Ferguson allegedly kicked a football boot in frustration, which hit Beckham in the face and caused a minor injury. Ferguson apologised to Beckham, who was transferred to

later that year.

Champions League draw fixing

On 5 April 2003, Ferguson claimed that the Champions League draw was fixed in favour of Spanish and Italian teams. UEFA charged Ferguson for bringing the game into disrepute with his comments. Ferguson apologised for his remarks and wrote a letter to UEFA in explanation, but he was fined 10,000 Swiss francs (£4,600) by the governing body.

Rock of Gibraltar

In 2003, Ferguson launched legal action against the then major Manchester United shareholder John Magnier over stud rights for race horse

. Magnier counter-sued Ferguson by filing a "Motion to Comply" requiring Ferguson to substantiate his claim for half of Rock of Gibraltar's stud fees. The legal issues were further compounded by Magnier being a significant shareholder in the football club managed by Ferguson at the time. Magnier requested that "99 Questions" be answered over Ferguson's transfer dealings, including those of Jaap Stam, Juan Sebastián Verón, Tim Howard, David Bellion, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kléberson. The case was eventually settled out of Court.

BBC

Ferguson refused to give interviews to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

after a documentary called ''Fergie and Son'' was shown on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

on 27 May 2004. According to an article in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', the documentary had "portrayed his agent son, Jason, as somebody who exploited his father's influence and position to his own ends in the transfer market". The same newspaper article made it clear that Jason was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, and it quoted Alex Ferguson as saying: Subsequent interviews on BBC programmes such as '' Match of the Day'' were done by his assistants, latterly Mike Phelan. Under new Premier League rules intended for the 2010–11 season, Ferguson was required to end his BBC boycott. However, he refused to end his boycott and Manchester United said they would pay the resulting fines. No fines were ever issued, as the BBC hoped to resolve the dispute. On 25 August 2011, Ferguson met with BBC director general Mark Thompson and BBC North director Peter Salmon, after which Ferguson agreed to end his seven-year boycott.

Referees

Ferguson has received numerous punishments for abusing and publicly criticising match officials when he has perceived them to be at fault: * 20 October 2003 – Two-match touchline ban and fined £10,000 after using abusive and/or insulting words towards fourth official Jeff Winter. * 14 December 2007 – Two-match touchline ban and fined £5,000 after using abusive and/or insulting words towards Mark Clattenburg. * 18 November 2008 – Two-match touchline ban and fined £10,000 after confronting Mike Dean after a game. * 12 November 2009 – Four-match touchline ban (two suspended) and fined £20,000 for comments made about the fitness of Alan Wiley. * 16 March 2011 – Five-match touchline ban (three plus the two suspended for the above offence) and fined £30,000 for comments made questioning the performance and fairness of Martin Atkinson.

"Fergie Time"

It has also been suggested that Ferguson's intimidation of referees resulted in so-called "Fergie Time": that is, unusually generous injury time being added in matches where Manchester United were behind. The phrase is at least as old as 1998, but the concept first appeared on 10 April 1993 when Steve Bruce scored a 97th-minute goal (seventh minute of injury time added on by the referee) against

to win the game for United: they went top of the league with this win and remained there until the season ended. The term got wider coverage when United came from behind to win the 1999 UEFA Champions League final with two goals in injury time. The concept cropped up in the media (and by opponents) whenever games seemed to be having more injury time than expected. A statistical analysis by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' suggests that this concept might be valid, though the article points out that other footballing criteria may explain the correlation between extra added time and United being behind. Analysis by Opta Sports of Premier League matches played between 2010 and 2012 found on average that 79 seconds more time was played in matches where Manchester United were losing. This was a greater figure than for other top clubs, although most of these clubs seem to benefit from a "Fergie Time" effect, particularly in their home matches.

Legacy

Many of Ferguson's former players have gone on to become football managers themselves, including Tony Fitzpatrick,

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

, Gordon Strachan, Mark McGhee, Willie Miller, Neale Cooper, Bryan Gunn, Eric Black, Billy Stark, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce,

, Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Chris Casper, Mark Robins, Darren Ferguson, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Henning Berg, Andrei Kanchelskis, Michael Appleton, Ryan Giggs, David Healy, Gabriel Heinze, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Jaap Stam, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney and Phil Neville. Three of these have subsequently managed Manchester United: Giggs (interim player-manager in 2014), Solskjær (2018 to 2021), and Carrick (interim manager in 2021). The phrase "squeaky-bum time", coined by Ferguson in reference to the tense final stages of a league competition, was included in the ''

Collins English Dictionary The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. It was first published in 1979. Corpus The dictionary uses language research based on the Collins Corpus, which is ...

'' and the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''. A bronze statue of Ferguson, designed by Scottish sculptor Philip Jackson, was unveiled outside Old Trafford on 23 November 2012. On 14 October 2013, Ferguson attended a ceremony where a road near Old Trafford was renamed from Water's Reach to Sir Alex Ferguson Way. In July 2021, Aberdeen commissioned sculptor Andy Edwards to sculpt a bronze statue of Ferguson. This was unveiled at Aberdeen's Pittodrie stadium on 25 February 2022, and on the following day Ferguson was presented with a maquette of the statue. A documentary about Ferguson's career titled '' Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In'' was released in UK cinemas on 27 May 2021 and was made available on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

in the UK and Ireland on 29 May. It includes interviews from Ferguson himself, his family, doctors and former players who he managed throughout his career. Ferguson also inspired author

Jilly Cooper Dame Jilly Cooper, (born Jill Sallitt; 21 February 1937) is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. Cooper is ...

to write a novel, '' Tackle!,'' based on football. File:Statue of Sir Alex Ferguson at Pittodrie.jpg, alt=statue of football manager in suit with hand held aloft in celebration, Statue of Sir Alex Ferguson at

Pittodrie Stadium Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, from which the surrounding residential area has taken its name, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for Association football, football, it has been the home ground o ...

by Andy Edwards, unveiled 25 February 2022 File:A statue of Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.jpg, alt=statue of man in long coat, Sir Alex Ferguson statue installed at Old Trafford on 23 November 2012

Personal life

Ferguson lives in

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

, Cheshire, and was married to Cathy Holding from 1966 until her death in October 2023. They had three sons together: Mark (born 1968); and twins Darren, who was also a professional footballer and currently the manager of Peterborough United; and Jason (born 1972), who runs an events management company. Jason directed the 2021 documentary '' Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In'' about his father. In 1998, Ferguson was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party. He is a self-described

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. In January 2011

Graham Stringer Graham Eric Stringer (born 17 February 1950) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Blackley and Middleton South since the 2024 United Kingdom general e ...

, a Labour MP in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and Manchester United supporter, called for Ferguson to be made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

. Stringer and fellow Manchester Labour MP Paul Goggins repeated this call after Ferguson announced his retirement in May 2013. In 2009, Ferguson received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

. As well as having an ambassadorial role at Manchester United and other public speaking and charity engagements in retirement, he is a long-term patron of his childhood team Harmony Row, including a successful campaign for the club to have new facilities (they are now based at Braehead). In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Ferguson supported Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. He criticised the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

and

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Alex Salmond for denying the vote to Scots living in the UK but outside Scotland. He also objected to the self-imposed rule by the Yes Scotland campaign against accepting donations from people living outside Scotland of more than £500, which they urged the No campaign to also adopt. Ferguson underwent an emergency surgery on 5 May 2018, after having a brain haemorrhage. He made a recovery from the surgery and attended his first match at Old Trafford since then on 22 September 2018. In 1991, Ferguson became a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

collector after being shown a display of bottles from Château d'Yquem and Château Pétrus while in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France. In 2014, he put part of his vast collection up for auction with

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

, with their head of wine David Elswood describing his taste as "exceptional", valued at up to £3 million. After the first of three auctions, Ferguson had sold 229 lots for £2.2 million. After retiring from managing Manchester United in 2013, Ferguson continued to serve as an ambassador and director for the club. In October 2024, it was announced that at the end of the season he will leave his official role as club ambassador.

Honours

Player

St Johnstone * Scottish Division Two: 1962–63 Falkirk *Scottish Division Two: 1969–70 Individual * Scottish Division One top scorer: 1965–66 * Dunfermline Athletic Hall of Fame: 2006–07 * Queen's Park Lifetime Membership Award: October 2012

Manager

Ferguson was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager. In 2003, Ferguson became an inaugural recipient of the FA Coaching Diploma, awarded to all coaches who had at least ten years' experience of being a manager or head coach. He is the Vice-President of the National Football Museum, based in

, and a member of the Executive Committee of the

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 1919 as ...

. On 5 November 2011, the Old Trafford North Stand was officially renamed the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand in honour of his 25 years as manager of Manchester United. In addition to being the only manager to win the top league honours, and the 'Double', north and south of the England–Scotland border (winning the Premier League with Manchester United, and the Scottish Premier Division with Aberdeen), he is also the last manager to win the Scottish league championship with a non Old Firm team, achieving this in the 1984–85 season with

. Ferguson is the second-most decorated manager in European football competitions with seven honours, behind only

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti (; born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Brazil national team. Nicknamed "Carletto" in Italy and "Don Carlo" in Spain, he is regarded as one of the greatest ...

. Ferguson won the top division title in England a record 13 times. He is also the first manager in the history of the English league to win three consecutive league titles, which he did twice. Ferguson won 10 Manager of the Year awards, 27 Manager of the Month awards, and managed the most games in the UEFA Champions League (190). In 2017, Ferguson was named among the 10 most influential coaches since the foundation of

in 1954. St Mirren * Scottish First Division: 1976–77 Aberdeen * Scottish Premier Division: 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

: 1985–86 * Drybrough Cup: 1980 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1982–83 * European Super Cup:

Manchester United *

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13 *

: 1989–90, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04 *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1991–92, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10 * FA Charity/Community Shield: 1990 (shared),

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

: 1998–99, 2007–08; runner-up: 2008–09, 2010–11 *European Cup Winners' Cup: 1990–91 *European Super Cup:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Individual *LMA Manager of the Decade: 1990s * LMA Manager of the Year: 1992–93, 1998–99, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2012–13 * LMA Special Merit Award: 2009, 2011 * Premier League Manager of the Season: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13 *

: August 1993, October 1994, February 1996, March 1996, February 1997, October 1997, January 1999, April 1999, August 1999, March 2000, April 2000, February 2001, April 2003, December 2003, February 2005, March 2006, August 2006, October 2006, February 2007, January 2008, March 2008, January 2009, April 2009, September 2009, January 2011, August 2011, October 2012 * UEFA Manager of the Year: 1998–99 * UEFA Team of the Year:

* Onze d'Or Coach of the Year: 1999, 2007, 2008 * World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year: 1993, 1999, 2007, 2008 * IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 1999, 2008 * IFFHS World's Best Coach of the 21st Century: 2012 *IFFHS All Time World's Best Coach 1996–2020 * Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year: 2000 * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award: 1999 * BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award: 1999 * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award: 2001 * World Soccer Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 *

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 * France Football 2nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 *''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 * Globe Soccer Awards Coach of the Century 2001–2020 (2nd among the runners-up) * BBC Sports Personality Diamond Award: 2013 * English Football Hall of Fame (Manager): 2002 * Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2004 * European Hall of Fame (Manager): 2008 * FIFA Presidential Award: 2011 * Premier League 10 Seasons Awards ( 1992–93 – 2001–02) **Manager of the Decade **Most Coaching Appearances (392 games) * Premier League 20 Seasons Awards ( 1992–93 – 2011–12) **Best Manager * FWA Tribute Award: 1996 * PFA Merit Award:

*Premier League Merit Award: 2012–13 * Mussabini Medal: 1999 * SFA Special Merit Award: 1985 * VCGB Scottish Sports Personality of the Year: 1983 * Scottish Football Personality of the Year: 1979–80, 1982–83 * Premier League Hall of Fame: 2023

Orders and special awards

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE): 1985 New Years Honours List *

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE): 1995 New Years Honours List *Knight Bachelor (Kt.): 1999 Birthday Honours, 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours List *Freedom of the City of Aberdeen: 1999 *Freedom of the Glasgow, City of Glasgow: 1999 *Freedom of the Manchester, City of Manchester: 2000 *Freedom of the Trafford, Borough of Trafford: 2013

Honorary degrees

Alex Ferguson receiving honorary degree 1996

Ferguson has received at least eight honorary degrees. These Include:

Career statistics

As a player

As a manager

Old Trafford Technical Area Alex Ferguson Sam Allardyce

Published works

* * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United Managerial Record
at mufcinfo.com *

(archived 15 November 2007)

(archived 2 March 2017) * [http://scottishfootballhalloffame.co.uk/sir-alex-ferguson-1941/ Scottish Football Hall of Fame profile] ()
Aberdeen Manager profile at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Alex Alex Ferguson, 1941 births Living people 20th-century Scottish autobiographers 21st-century Scottish autobiographers 20th-century Scottish writers 21st-century Scottish writers 1986 FIFA World Cup managers Aberdeen F.C. managers Association football people awarded knighthoods Ayr United F.C. players BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Drumchapel Amateur F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. managers English Football Hall of Fame inductees English Football League managers Falkirk F.C. players Footballers from Glasgow Knights Bachelor Labour Party (UK) donors Manchester United F.C. managers Men's association football forwards People educated at Govan High School People from Govan Premier League Hall of Fame inductees Premier League managers Queen's Park F.C. players Scottish men's footballers Sportspeople from Wilmslow St Johnstone F.C. players Rangers F.C. players St Mirren F.C. managers Scotland men's amateur international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Football League representative players Scottish football managers Scotland national football team managers Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish league football top scorers Scottish racehorse owners and breeders Scottish socialists UEFA Champions League–winning managers