Alexander Beaton Ferguson was born in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland on 31 Dec. 1941. His father was a shipbuilder. He grew up in a tenement on Govan Road, and he always remembers his working class roots and relative poverty the family faced. He is one of the Labour parties biggest financial supporters. He attended Govan High school, but was not interested in studying and at the age of 16, started his amateur playing career, making his début for Queens Park.
Ferguson turned professional after joining Dunfermline
Athletic in the summer of 1964. Finally given extensive playing time, he tied
for the Scottish First Division lead with 31 goals in 1965-'66 and finished as
his team's top scorer in two other seasons with the Pars. He also showed the
mind-set of a future manager, impressing teammates with his vast knowledge of
opposing players and barking instructions throughout matches.
In 1967, Ferguson joined the Glasgow-based Rangers F.C. for a
Scottish-record transfer fee of approximately $179,000 (65,000 pounds), but his
homecoming ended badly. Blamed for a botched defensive assignment in the 1969
Scottish League final loss to Celtic F.C., Ferguson was forced to play with the
junior side until he left the club that autumn. He spent the next four seasons
with Falkirk, and then finished his playing career with Ayr United in 1973-'74.
Almost as soon as he finished his playing career, he was
offered a chance to move into football manager – despite his very young age of
32. His first club was East Stirlingshire on a part time basis. That year he
moved to St Mirren, where he was manager from 1974-78. The club achieved
promotion to the First Division and revitalised their performance.
However, in 1978, he was sacked by St Mirren, allegedly for
allowing unauthorised payments to players and breaching his contract by going
to Aberdeen.
From 1978 to 1986 he presided over a very successful period
for the small Scottish club. In 1980, Ferguson led Aberdeen to their first
league title since 1955, and the first time in 15 years that the title hadn’t
been won by the old firm (Rangers and Celtic)
This cemented his reputation and helped Ferguson to gain the
respect of players who were little younger than himself. The players did
respect Ferguson, though like at St Mirren, he was known as a strict disciplinarian,
and developed the nickname ‘Furious Ferguson’
Turning down an opportunity to move to Derby, Ferguson led
Aberdeen to the European Cup Winner’s cup in 1983, becoming only the third
Scottish team to win the European cup. He also led Aberdeen to domestic cup
wins in 1982-83 and 1983-84
In 1986, he was approached by many leading clubs, and after a
brief stint as manager of Scotland, he accepted an offer to move to Manchester
United.
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.
In the 1987–88 season, Ferguson made several major signings,
including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson, Brian McClair and Jim Leighton. The new
players made a great contribution to a United team who finished in 2nd place,
nine points behind Liverpool. However, Liverpool's points lead 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 and there was clearly still some way to go
before United could be a match for their north western rivals.
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. 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 [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United
ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.
However, he held onto his job and won the FA Cup at the end
of the year. In 1992, after the purchase of Eric Cantona from Leeds United, Man
Utd finally won their first league title (1992-93). Ferguson said Cantona was
one of his greatest players.
“If ever there was one player, anywhere in the world, that
was made for Manchester United, it was Cantona. He swaggered in, stuck his
chest out, raised his head and surveyed everything as though he were asking:
‘I’m Cantona. How big are you? Are you big enough for me?”
The following year, 1993-94 brought a double of Premier
League and F.A. Cup. This led onto two decades of success with several league
titles, Cups and in particular, two European championships. 1999 and 2008.
Ferguson again led his side to three straight Premier League
titles from 2007-'09, along with European Cup and FIFA Club World Cup victories
in 2008, and back-to-back League Cups in 2009-'10. In December 2010, he
surpassed the 24-year-plus tenure of Sir Matt Busby to become the
longest-serving manager in United's history. Fittingly, he ended the season
with another milestone victory that gave United a record 19 Premier League
championships.
His strong and dominant personality has led to clashes with
star players. He has been accused of losing his temper and kicking tea urns and
football boots at players during half-time. However, although Ferguson is
strict with players he has also retained their loyalty. Players like Ryan Giggs
and Paul Scholes spending most of their playing career at Manchester United.
Even superstars like David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo have retained an
affection for Alex Ferguson. Some pundits say his strict discipline has helped
prevent well-paid footballers go off the rails. He certainly has a great love
of winning.
When he approached his 65th birthday, people wondered whether
he might retire, but Ferguson showed no signs of losing interest and enthusiasm
for the game. One of his greatest strengths is his sheer persistence in
constantly rebuilding the side as players leave or retire. In May 2013, Alex
Ferguson finally announced his retirement from football, aged 72. He left at
the end of the 2012-13 season to widespread acclaim. He also had the joy of
seeing Manchester United to their 13th title. His retirement was met with
widespread acclaim, with many in the game stating they were unlikely to ever
see the like of Alex Ferguson again.The Guardian announced it was the "end
of an era", while UEFA president Michel Platini said that Ferguson was
"a true visionary". British Prime Minister David Cameron described
Ferguson as a "remarkable man in British football". 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.The year after his departure proved to be a bad year for
Manchester, with David Moyes only able to lead Manchester United to seventh
place.
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 Manchester, and a member of the Executive Committee
of the League Managers Association.
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
championship with a non Old Firm team, achieving this in the 1984–85 season
with Aberdeen. He is also the only manager in English football to have managed
to finish in the top three league places in 20 consecutive seasons, since the
1991–92 season (with a total of 22 consecutive seasons).
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. He has won 49 trophies as a manager, making him the most
successful British football manager in history.
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