Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson
CBE
	Ferguson in December 2006
Personal information
Full name	Alexander Chapman Ferguson
Date of birth	31 December 1941 (age 82)
Place of birth	Govan, Glasgow, Scotland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Harmony Row Boys Club
	Drumchapel Amateurs
Senior career*
Years	Team
1957–1960	Queen's Park
1960–1964	St Johnstone
1964–1967	Dunfermline Athletic
1967–1969	Rangers
1969–1973	Falkirk
1973–1974	Ayr United
Total
National team
1960	Scotland Amateurs
1967	Scotland XI
1967	Scottish Football League XI
Teams managed
1974	East Stirlingshire
1974–1978	St Mirren
1978–1986	Aberdeen
1985–1986	Scotland
1986–2013	Manchester United
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson CBE (born 31 December 1941) is a retired Scottish footballer and retired manager. He has managed St. Mirren, Aberdeen, and Manchester United. He is considered one of the greatest football managers of all time, and has won more trophies than anyone else in the history of English football.

As a player, he played as a forward. He play for multiple Scottish teams, including Dunfermline Athletic and Rangers. After retiring from playing, he started managing at East Stirlingshire. He would be hired by St Mirren, Aberdeen, and the Scotland national team, due to the death of Jock Stein. He was the manager of Scotland at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

In November 1986, he was appointed the manager of Manchester United. He won 38 trophies with Manchester United, including 13 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 4 Football League Cups, 10 FA Community Shields, 2 UEFA Champions Leagues. He would manage the team until his retirement in 2013.

Playing Career

He made his debut for Queen's Park at age 16.^[6] He would score 20 goals in 31 games for Queens Park. He joined St Johnstone in 1960 to try to get regular gametime. He would score a hat-trick for St Johnstone against Rangers. He signed for Dunfermline in 1964.

In the 1964-65 season, Dunfermline finished 3rd with 49 points. They finished 1 point behind Hearts and Kilmarnock. Ferguson was dropped for the 1964–65 Scottish Cup final. In that final, Dunfermline lost 3-2 against Celtic. He was the joint top scorer in the 1965–66 Scottish Division One season. He and Joe McBride both scored 31 goals. He joined Rangers in 1967, for a Scottish record of £65,000. He would only spend 2 season at Rangers, before joning Falkirk in 1969.

He retired in 1974, after spending 1 season at Ayr United. He scored 171 goals in 317 games throughout his career.

Managerial Career

Early career as manager

In June 1974, Ferguson became the manager of East Stirlingshire. A year after that, St Mirren offered Ferguson the job as their manager. Ferguson took the job. In 1974, St Mirren were playing in the second division. By 1978, Ferguson had led the club to the First Division title. St Mirren fired Ferguson from his role in 1978.^[7]

Aberdeen

Ferguson became Aberdeen manager in 1978. At that time, Aberdeen had only won the league title once. Ferguson was still a young manager. His start with Aberdeen did not go very well. Aberdeen lost the Scottish Cup semi-final and the Scottish League Cup final in his first season, and finished fourth in the league.

In the 1979-80 season, Aberdeen won the Scottish league. In 1982, the team won the Scottish Cup. As a result of winning the cup, Aberdeen played in the European Cup Winners' Cup the following season (1982-83). Impressively, Aberdeen beat Bayern Munich on their way to the final. They faced Real Madrid in the final. Aberdeen won that game 2-1 and won the competition.^[8] In the next season, Aberdeen beat the European Cup champions Hamburger SV to win the European Super Cup.

Aberdeen won the league title in 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons and won a couple of domestic cups. He left for Manchester United in November 1986.

Manchester United

On 6 November 1986, Manchester United appointed Ferguson as their manager. The team was in the 21st position (out of 22) when he took over, but they finished 11th. Manchester United finished second in the following season, 1987-88.

Career statistics

As a player

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Queen's Park^[6]^[9]
	1958–59	8	4					–		8	4
	1959–60	23	11					–		23	11
	Total	31	15					–		31	15
St Johnstone^[9]	1960–61							–
	1961–62							–
	1962–63							–
	1963–64							–
	Total	37	19					–
Dunfermline Athletic^[9]	1964–65
	1965–66
	1966–67
	Total	89	66
Rangers^[10]	1967–68	29	19	5	0	6	2	6	3	46	24
	1968–69	12	6	1	0	4	2	3	3	20	11
	Total	41	25	6	0	10	4	9	6	66	35
Falkirk	1969–70^[11]	21	15	3	3			–
	1970–71^[12]	28	13	0	0			–
	1971–72^[13]	28	9	2	1	9	4	–		39	14
	1972–73^[14]	18	0	2	1	0	0	–		20	1
	Total	95	37	7	5			–
Ayr United	1973–74^[15]	24	9	4	1	0	0	–		28	10
Ayr United	Total	24	9	4	1	0	0	–		28	10
Career total		317	171					6	0

As a manager

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team	From	To	Record					Ref
Team	From	To	P	W	D	L	Win %	Ref
East Stirlingshire	June 1974	October 1974	17	9	2	6	052.9	^[16]
St Mirren	October 1974	May 1978	169	74	41	54	043.8	^[16]
Aberdeen	June 1978	6 November 1986	459	272	105	82	059.3	^[16]^[17]
Scotland	1 October 1985	30 June 1986	10	3	4	3	030.0	^[18]
Manchester United	6 November 1986	19 May 2013	1,500	895	338	267	059.7	^[19]
Total			2,155	1,253	490	412	058.1	—

Honours

Player

St Johnstone

Scottish Division Two: 1962–63

Falkirk

Scottish Division Two: 1969–70

Individual

Scottish Division One top scorer: 1965–66^[20]

Manager

St Mirren

Scottish First Division: 1976–77

Aberdeen

Scottish Premier Division: 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85
Scottish Cup: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86
Scottish League Cup: 1985–86
Drybrough Cup: 1980
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1982–83
European Super Cup: 1983

Manchester United

Premier League: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13^[21]
FA Cup: 1989–90, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04^[22]
Football League Cup: 1991–92, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10^[22]
FA Charity/Community Shield: 1990 (shared), 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011^[22]
UEFA Champions League: 1998–99, 2007–08^[22]
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1990–91^[22]
European Super Cup: 1991^[22]
Intercontinental Cup: 1999^[22]
FIFA Club World Cup: 2008^[22]

Individual

LMA Manager of the Decade: 1990s
LMA Manager of the Year: 1998–99, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2012–13
LMA Special Merit Award: 2009, 2011
Premier League Manager of the Season: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13^[21]
Premier League Manager of the Month: August 1993, October 1994, February 1996, March 1996, February 1997, October 1997, January 1999, April 1999, August 1999, March 2000, April 2000, February 2001, April 2003, December 2003, February 2005, March 2006, August 2006, October 2006, February 2007, January 2008, March 2008, January 2009, April 2009, September 2009, January 2011, August 2011, October 2012^[21]
UEFA Manager of the Year: 1998–99
UEFA Team of the Year: 2007, 2008
Onze d'Or Coach of the Year: 1999, 2007, 2008
IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 1999, 2008
IFFHS World's Best Coach of the 21st Century: 2012
Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year: 2000
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award: 1999
BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award: 1999
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award: 2001
World Soccer Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013
ESPN Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013^[23]
France Football 2nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019^[24]
FourFourTwo Greatest Manager of All Time: 2020^[25]
BBC Sports Personality Diamond Award: 2013
English Football Hall of Fame (Manager) : 2002
Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2004
European Hall of Fame (Manager): 2008
FIFA Presidential Award: 2011
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 – 2001–02)
- Manager of the Decade
- Most Coaching Appearances (392 games)
Premier League 20 Seasons Awards (1992–93 – 2011–12)
- Best Manager
FWA Tribute Award: 1996
PFA Merit Award: 2007
Premier League Merit Award: 2012–13
Mussabini Medal: 1999

Orders and special awards

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): 1985^[26]
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE): 1995
Knight Bachelor (Kt.): 1999
Freedom of the City of Aberdeen: 1999
Freedom of the City of Glasgow: 1999
Freedom of the City of Manchester: 2000
Freedom of the Borough of Trafford: 2013^[27]

Honorary degrees

Ferguson has received at least eight honorary degrees.^[28] These Include:

Country	Date	University	Degree
England	1996	University of Salford	Master of Arts (MA)^[29]
Scotland	December 1997	Robert Gordon University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D)^[30]
Scotland	2001	Glasgow Caledonian University	Doctorate
Scotland	2002	University of St Andrews	Doctorate
England	2009	Manchester Metropolitan University	Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)^[31]
Scotland	29 June 2011	University of Stirling	Doctor of the University (D.Univ)^[32]
England	12 October 2011	University of Manchester	Doctorate^[33]
Northern Ireland	2014	University of Ulster	Doctor of Science (D.Sc)^[34]

References

Other websites

Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United Managerial Record at mufcinfo.com
"English Football Hall of Fame profile". Archived from the original on 2007-11-15.
"Sir Alex Ferguson's managerial stats according to the official Manchester United statistics website". Archived from the original on 2007-11-15. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2017-03-02 suggested (help)
Scottish Football Hall of Fame profile Archived 2017-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
Aberdeen Manager profile at AFC Heritage Trust

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