In honour of Sir Alex Ferguson we're proud to introduce #NandosFergieTime - all our Manchester Nando's will be open 5 minutes later tonight.— Nando's (@NandosUK) May 8, 2013
I'm absolutely devastated. Sir Alex Ferguson is Manchester United. Only manage I've ever known at the club. I'm just so sad. Regardless of who we get in to replace him it will be a step down.
Jonathan Stevenson @Stevo_football5h Final count: Between Fergie joining #MUFC in Nov 1986 and announcing his retirement, 1,146 managers left top four division jobs. Expand
At some point during January 1978, I jumped on the bandwagon of the Dallas Cowboys. They were due to play in the Super Bowl and as my previous favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings, had lost the previous Super Bowl, I figured it made sense to switch to the Cowboys. I didn’t watch the Super Bowl that year but the Cowboys won and the following year I did watch when they made it back to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. In one of the most exciting Super Bowls to that point, the Cowboys lost and my lifelong fandom was sealed. What does this have to do with Sir Alex Ferguson? Nothing, except that the head coach of the Cowboys was Tom Landry, at that point the only head coach the Cowboys had ever had. Landry had been there for 18 seasons when he won his second Super Bowl in 1978. He was in institution and (along with Tex Schram) was the man responsible for turning the Cowboys into America’s Team. The parallels between Landry and Ferguson are not many, at least outside of my life. Landry never made it to another Super Bowl after losing to the Steelers. The San Francisco Forty-Niners dominated in the Eighties, the torch being passed (and Caught) in the NFC Championship Game in January 1982. The Cowboys deteriorated until Landry was finally fired after the 1988 season. We all knew it had to be done but it was still hard to say good-bye to a legend. Landry was famously replaced by a brash college coach named Jimmy Johnson who turned the Cowboys into the Team of the Nineties, winning back-to-back Super Bowls before failing to reach a third straight Super Bowl by losing in the NFC Championship Game, of course to the Forty-Niners. Johnson left the team and Barry Switzer led the Cowboys to a third Super Bowl victory in four seasons. It was my high point as a Cowboys fan. There has been no deterioration of Manchester United during the latter part of Ferguson’s management, no dotage of the great man. And United was already an institution in England before Ferguson took over in 1986. But Ferguson did make people forget the interregnum that began after Sir Matt Busby stepped down. If anything, Liverpool was the Dallas Cowboys of England and Fergie’s stated goal was to knock Liverpool “off it’s ********ing perch”. Job done, and then some. I jumped on the Manchester United bandwagon in 2002, just before United failed to win the league and was eliminated from the Champions League in the semi-finals. That was to be Fergie’s last season, although he changed his mind and returned. He’s the only manager I have known during my short time as a fan. For me, Sir Alex Ferguson is as much Manchester United as Old Trafford and lifting trophies. And now he is stepping down and it is unlikely that he will change his mind. As in 1988, one of my favorite sports clubs is about to step into the unknown and try to figure out a way to replace a legend. The Cowboys succeeded wildly at first only to enter their own interregnum that shows no sign of ending anytime soon. Ferguson leaves Manchester United near the top, winners again in the league although not very close to being at the top of Europe. All the next manager will be expected to do is continue to win the league and to be one of the best teams in Europe. That’s more daunting that what Johnson faced in replacing Landry. All United fans knew this day was coming and that it wasn't too far away. I expected to be a little depressed on this day but I am oddly calm and very curious about what is next. There have been names mooted but none of them are particularly interesting to me. I’d like someone young who will bring new ideas to managing at United. Fergie was amazing in his ability to bridge multiple eras but even he could not have been current on everything. I hope the club brings in someone fresh who is given time to build the club in his own image. Every offseason is interesting because of players coming and going. This offseason is set to be more interesting. Thank you, Sir Alex Ferguson. Thanks for everything.
Jesus Christ, a Cowboys reference? I think I might be sick. In any case, seeing a manager of Fergie's tenure will probably never be done again. Who's the longest tenured coach now?
it has always been Jimmy Davies. he has been in charge of Waterloo Dock FC since 1963. they play in the Liverpool County Premier League.
That's a bit of stretch, no? How about I modify that question for coaches in the top 3 national divisions?
Generally means having a drink with an umbrella in it at 9 AM because you don't give a feck. If he's becoming director, hardly sounds like retirement to me. Good for you lot though, keeps his hands in it.
So Fergie as director? Well then, when will puppet Moyes be announced? Moyes: do you have any advice for me before you step down? SAF: Yes. Whatever you do... never play Nani.
I'm a City fan, but like most of you, I was wowed by this news I woke up to. I have followed soccer since '95. All Fergie all the time over at OT. Now, perhaps, begins for him a long-awaited quiet after this beautiful, powerful storm. Happy and meaningful retirement, Sir.
You measure yourself by the best, and SAF has been the best in England during the Premier League era. We'll be sad to see him go. SAF is such an institution that I couldn't even picture him retiring, whereas we've all been waiting for the inevitable Wenger departure after a hissy fit. He was never a tactical genius or even necessarily amazing at man management, but I'm not sure his organizational genius will be surpassed in the history of the league, which is ultimately where his "alpha" as Jitty likes to call it lay. Best of luck to SAF - even though I'm a Chelsea fan, I'll miss him.
He's been part of my life since I was 9. I'll write something more expansive after this sinks in properly. For now, I'll just say "thanks for everything".