Biography :
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a former Scottish football manager and player who managed Manchester United from 1986 to 2013.
Famous quotes
- The work of a team should always embrace a great player but the great player must always work.
- You can't applaud a referee.
- I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cockier spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind. (On Giggs)
- It's getting tickly now - squeaky-bum time, I call it.
- If he was an inch taller he'd be the best center half in Britain. His father is 6 ft 2 in - I'd check the milkman. (On Gary Neville)
- I'm no f****** talking to you. He's a f****** great player. Yous are f******* idiots. (On Veron)
- They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages! (On Wenger)
- He's a novice - he should keep his opinions to Japanese football (on Arsene Wenger).
- That lad must have been born offside. (On Filippo Izanagi)
- My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f*****g perch. And you can print that. (On the 2002/03 title and his old rivals)
- It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing! (On that boot kick into Beckham's face)
- The credit to them, the better team won and there's nothing we can do about that now. (On defeat against Barca, Champions League final in 2009)
- At the last minute, from what I can gather, either Emmanuel Adebayor or his agent phoned us after they had agreed a deal with City and then did the same with Chelsea. He was desperate to get to either Chelsea or us.
- All they can talk about is Manchester United. (On Manchester City)
- When an Italian says it's pasta I check under the sauce to make sure. They are innovators of the smokescreen. (On Italians)
- Jose understands winning and losing are twins in a way. When you win you don't gloat and when you lose you don't go bananas. (On Mourinho)
- If Chelsea drop points, the cat's out in the open. And you know what cats are like - sometimes they don't come home.
- I've never played for a draw in my life.
- If I have my health I can carry on. There will be a point when I do quit but I have absolutely no idea when that is.
- I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France.
- They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork.
- Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it’s a better cow than the one you've got in the field.” (On Wayne Rooney).
- As with every young player, he’s only 18.
- I don't like losing but I've mellowed. I maybe have a short fuse but it goes away quicker now.
- Whether dribbling or sprinting, Ryan can leave the best defenders with twisted blood” (On Ryan Giggs)
- Well, football is a hard game; there's no denying it. It's a game that can bring out the worst in you, at times.
- 'It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt such an honor to be associated with such a player.' (on Roy Keane's inspired performance in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League against Juventus)
- I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous. (On Benitez)
- There has been a lot of expectation on Manchester City and with the spending they have done they have to win something. Sometimes you have a noisy neighbor and have to live with it.
- You can't do anything about them... (On Man City)
- Myths grow all the time. If I was to listen to the number of times I've thrown teacups then we've gone through some crockery in this place. It's completely exaggerated, but I don't like people arguing back with me. (On the 'hairdryer' treatment)
- To not apologize for the behavior of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It's a disgrace, but I don't expect Wenger to ever apologize...he's that type of person. (2005, Wenger)
- He could start a row in an empty house. (On Dennis Wise)
- He was certainly full of it, calling me Boss and Big Man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper. - About Jose Mourinho
- David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practices with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn't contemplate.
- The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit.
- He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous.' (On referee Alan Wiley)
- I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb.
- Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like. (On Paul Ince)
- He was towering over me and the other players were almost covering their eyes. I’m looking up and thinking ‘if he does hit me, I’m dead (On a dressing room disagreement with Peter Schlemiel)
- Wayne is truly blessed. He doesn't just have ability, he has a fire inside him.
- 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 was asking: 'I'm Cantona. How big are you? Are you big enough for me?''
- I bet him he wouldn't get 15 league goals and I’m going to have to change my bet with him. If he gets to 15 I can change it and I am allowed to do that because I’m the manager. I’m going to make it 150 now! (On Ronaldo)
- Pardew has come out and criticized me. He is the worst at haranguing referees. He shoves them and makes a joke of it. How he can criticize me is unbelievable. He forgets the help I gave him, by the way. The press have had a field day. The only person they have not spoken to is Barack Obama because he is busy. It is unfortunate but I am the manager of the most famous club in the world. Not Newcastle, a wee club in the North-East. I was demonstrative. I am always demonstrative. Everyone knows that. I am an emotional guy but I was not abusive.