This morning Sir Alex Ferguson (the Manchester United manager) announced that he would be retiring after his the last match of the season (on the 19th of May 2013).

Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born in 1941 in Glasgow, Scotland. During his childhood he attended Broomloan Road Primary School and later Govan High School and was a fan of Scottish (not the dog breed) football club Rangers. Ferguson started playing football for Queen’s Park when he was 16 years old. During his playing career he played for various other Scottish football clubs including St. Johnstone, Dunfermline, Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr United. He also played for the Scottish national side in 1967 in 7 matches.

He finally ended his playing career in 1974. During his stay at Falkirk he was both player and coach, but his coaching responsibilities were removed at some stage. He started his managerial career at East Stirlingshire in 1974. Before joining Manchester United in 1986, Alex Ferguson also managed St. Mirren and Aberdeen football clubs.

Love them or hate them, Manchester United are one of the most wealthiest, prominent, influential, most-widely supported and successful football teams in England and in Europe. The club was founded as the Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878 and changed it’s name to Manchester United in 1902. Old Trafford has been the club’s home ground since 1910. Over the years Manchester United have won a record 20 league titles, a record 11 FA Cups, four League Cups and a record 19 FA Community Shields.

They’ve also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup. The club made history by becoming the first English team to win a treble in the 1998-1999 season winning the English Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League all in one season. Manchester United also became the first sports team in the world to be valued at $3 billion in January 2013.

Alex Ferguson is one of the most successful football managers of all time. During his stay at Manchester United the club won the English Premier League 13 times, won the FA Cup 5 times, won the League Cup 4 times, won the FA Charity / Community Shield 9 times, won the UEFA Winners cup once, won the UEFA Champions League twice, won the UEFA Super Cup once, won the Intercontinental Cup once and the FIFA Club World Cup once.

To give you an idea of his legacy, the phrase “squeaky-bum time” coined by him in reference to the tense final stages of a league competition has been included in both the Collins English Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. To show appreciation and respect for him, a bronze statue designed by Scottish sculptor Philip Jackson and named after Alex Ferguson was unveiled outside Old Trafford on 23 November 2012.

The world of football will miss Sir Alex Ferguson. It’s sad that to see someone go after being the manager of a world class team for 27 years, but I suppose one can’t go on forever.

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