LONDON: Alex Ferguson, Britain’s longest-serving and most successful football manager, will retire at the end of the season after more than 26 years spent decorating Manchester United’s trophy room with silverware.
The 71-year-old Scot ended intense speculation about his future at Old Trafford by confirming he would step aside after champions United’s last game of the season at West Bromwich Albion on May 19 – his 1,500th in charge.
His decision brings the curtain down on a glittering era for the country’s best-supported club which included 13 English league titles, two European Cups, five FA Cups and four League Cups as well as the FIFA Club World Cup.
Everton boss David Moyes, a Glaswegian like Ferguson, is strongly tipped to be United’s next manager. Former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho is also in the running to fill the void left by the retiring Scot.
United CEO David Gill told the club’s in-house TV channel they would move “relatively quickly” in naming a successor.
Ferguson arrived in Manchester in 1986 after Ron Atkinson was sacked and, after a difficult start, began building an empire that shows no sign of crumbling with the club recapturing the English title from Manchester City this season.
“The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time,” Ferguson, who has won nearly 900 of his 1,498 matches in charge, said on United’s website.
United said Ferguson, who is to undergo hip surgery during the off-season, would remain at the club as a director.
“It was important to me to leave an organization in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so,” added Ferguson who had announced he would retire after the 2001-02 season before changing his mind.
“Going forward, I am delighted to take on the roles of both director and ambassador for the club,” he said. “With these activities, along with my many other interests, I am looking forward to the future.”
Ferguson, who in 2010 surpassed Matt Busby’s as the longest-serving manager in United’s history, had not hinted at retirement in his programme notes for Sunday’s game against Chelsea, suggesting he was keen to continue.
Bobby Charlton, a member of Busby’s side that won the European Cup in 1968 and still a director, said United’s dominance of the English game was solely down to Ferguson.
“He is such a fantastic manager. Everything he has done has been fantastic,” Charlton said.
The suddenness of his decision left some who served under him in a state of disbelief.
“I’m shocked, it’s a bombshell,” said former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who was part of the 1998-99 team who won the EPL, Champions League and FA Cup. “I’m disappointed and very, very sad.”
Bryan Robson, Ferguson’s first captain, added: “He will always be the boss to me, you don’t think of him as Sir Alex, it has always been the boss.”
Ferguson received his knighthood in 1999.
Ferguson’s long service in English football’s top tier, where managers are hired and fired on a whim by success-hungry owners, is testament to his enduring passion for the game and his ability to cope with the demands of dealing with the brash young millionaires who populate the changing rooms.
He has seen off seven Liverpool managers since his arrival and 15 at Chelsea and only Arsene Wenger, who has been at Arsenal since 1996, and Moyes, at Everton for 11 years, are in Ferguson’s league when it comes to staying power.
Ending United’s 25-year wait for the English title in 1992-93 proved to be the catalyst for two decades of domination despite the challenges of Arsenal, then Chelsea and City.
Famous for his so-called “hair dryer” outbursts of rage at high-profile players, his gum-chewing and joy at every goal scored, Ferguson established an attacking style fitting for the Theatre of Dreams.
His faith in young players launched the careers of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs while his signings of players such as Eric Cantona, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney made sure that United, for the most part, remained ahead of their rivals. (Reuters)