Sir Alex Ferguson retires

The best manager ever in the history of football-born Mr Alex Beaton Ferguson now better known as Sir Alex Ferguson has retired from the management of Manchester United football club.

Sir Alex was appointed manager of Manchester United on the 6th of November 1986. I was 4 and a half years old at the time, just beginning to get into football and was just starting to become a "life long" fan of the sport and of Manchester United. He came to the club with one goal in mind-to knock the dominating Liverpool "off their fucking perch". One man. One mission. And I think it is safe to say-mission accomplished. 

His retirement was announced on the 8th of May 2013. Manager of a club, the same club for 26 and a half years. Will there ever be a manager anywhere ever in the world that achieves this alone?-No. Never.

It is such a strange thing because nearly my whole life he has been manager of the club I love and you kind of just think it will be forever. Knowing inside that that would be impossible as nothing can last forever The man is 71 yeas old for crying out loud and retirement was expected 10 years ago but now it has actually happened, I and probably a lot of Manchester United fans are probably feeling just a tad empty and even a little bit shocked even though retirement was and should be indeed be definitely expected. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is a change from the norm of what we are used to and now we don't know what is going to happen.

He wasn't just a manager. He was an icon, an inspiration and a father figure. 

His final game at West Brom was his 1500th game in charge.

The players over all the years under his guidance, I am going to go as far as to say all of them are probably thinking he was the best manager they had ever played for. The squads Sir Alex assembled over the years have just been phenomenal. They would have to be to win 38 trophies at one club:-

Premier League -             1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1996-1997,
                                       1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2002-2003,
                                       2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2010-2011,
                                       2012-2013

FA Cup -                           1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

League Cup -                     1992, 2006, 2009, 2010

FA Community Shield -      1990, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1997, 2003,
                                          2007, 2008, 2010, 2011

UEFA Champions League - 1999, 2008

UEFA Cup Winners Cup -   1991

UEFA Super Cup -             1991

Intercontinental Cup -          1999

FIFA Club World Cup -     2008

It was exhausting just writing that.

Apart from the amount of Premier League titles, the most noticeable thing to me is how few Champions Leagues Sir Alex won. For a manager as amazing as him, 2 does not seem right at all. I am sure that he feels the same about that.

All those years, all those trophies, all those players involved to win all those trophies-no I am not going to write every single player down but I am going to write my personal top 10 players ever - signings/homegrown. I am not doing 2 separate top 10s so this is my all-time:-

1. Eric Cantona

2. Peter Schmeichel

3. Roy Keane

4. Paul Scholes

5. Ryan Giggs

6. Cristiano Ronaldo

7. Nemenja Vidic

8. Bryan Robson

9. Ruud Van Nistelrooy

10. Japp Stam

Some noticeable absentees but maybe they made it into my best 11 players' team under Sir Alex. A formation of 4-4-2 which means some players in the above list may not make it.

                                                 Peter Schmeichel 

Gary Neville            Nemenja Vidic              Japp Stam                     Denis Irwin

Cristiano Ronaldo       Paul Scholes             Roy Keane                     Ryan Giggs

                                               
                            Eric Cantona                       Robin Van Persie

I know I know, I chose Ruud over Robin in my all time favourite players but chose Robin over Ruud in my all-time favourite team. It's because I think the combination of Eric and Robin in their prime would be unstoppable and Robin has only been with us one season so he didn't make the all time list which is of course is subject to change but not players who have played under Sir Alex. Strangely after writing this and choosing my selections, in a Sir Alex Ferguson special in The Manchester Evening News, this was the exact same all-time 11 APART from Robin Van Persie. They had Ruud Van Nistelrooy instead.

As you can see, there have been some stellar names who have played under Sir Alex and there are so many who haven't even been mentioned. Countless ones who under Sir Alex have become world class players. Players aren't just BORN world class. They have to be nurtured, guided, advised and brought up to BECOME world class. Under any other manager, I don't think half these players would have become as good as they are and gone on to achieve so much success. 

There have been countless managers who have tried and failed to dethrone Sir Alex. They might have done so for a bit, bit then Sir Alex always came fighting back. Managers like Jose Mourhino, Kenny Daglish, Arsene Wenger and to a lesser extent, Rafael Benitez and Roberto Mancini. 

The way in which he frustrated managers was just so unbelievable. Kevin Keegan losing it on live TV (and then losing the next game to United), Rafael Benitezs' "facts" speech and again to a lesser extent, Roberto Mancini recently claiming that he himself was the best manager in the Premier League. This is AFTER United reclaimed the title with 4 games still to go. 

Here are some of my favourite quotes by Sir Alex:-

"I can't believe it, I can't believe it. Football. bloody hell." (After winning the Champions League final in 1999
                                                                                        with Utd scoring 2 goals in injury time.)

"It would have been Sir Matt Busbys' 90th birthday
 today, but I think he was up there doing a lot of kicking."  (Another post match on that final.)

"They say he's an intelligent man right? Speaks 5 languages?
I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who
speaks 5 languages!"                                                          (On Arsene Wenger.)

"If he was an inch taller, he'd be the best centre-half in
Britain. His father is 6ft 2in. I'd check the milkman."           (On Gary Neville)

"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."          (On Jose Mourinho.)

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just
floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a
piece of silver paper in the wind."                                      (On Ryan Giggs)

"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the
moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool     (After Alan Hansen claimed he was 'past it'.)
right off their fucking perch. And you can print that."

"You must be joking. Do I look like a masochist ready
to cut myself? How does relegation sound?"                     (On Liverpool being title contenders in 2007.)

"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,
surveyed everything as though he was asking 'I'm
Cantona. How big are you? Are you big enough for me?" (On Eric Cantona.)

And here are some comments about Sir Alex:-

"I am director at United but I hardly do anything because
we are winning all the time and it is all down to Sir Alex
Ferguson."                                                                       - Sir Bobby Charlton

"Disappointed, shocked, sad. Didn't think THAT day
would be today."                                                              - Peter Schmeichel.

"What a privilege to have played under arguably the best
manager the world has ever seen."                                     - Michael Owen.

"You will never see anyone of his kind again. His standards
were so high. He was so demanding. Yes we had our ups
and downs. The way he treated me was like a son."           - Paul Ince.

"I will never forget the loyalty he showed me. Everything
I learnt, I learnt from the boss."                                          - Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.

"It's a sad day for Manchester United. It's a day we should
celebrate what he's done for Manchester United. It was
always going to come as a shock. Without doubt, the best
manager that's ever lived."                                                  - Dennis Irwin.

"He changed the mentality of every single member at that
football club."                                                                     - Gary Neville.

"As I have said many times before, the boss wasn't just the
greatest and best manager I ever played under, he was also
a father figure to me from the moment I arrived at the club
at the age of 11 until the day I left."                                     - David Beckham.

"The boss' work ethic, his desire to win and to make us
better players were unrivaled. Thanks boss."                      - Rio Ferdinand.

"Thanks for everything boss."                                             - Cristiano Ronaldo.

I am going to write one short conversation which always seems to be forgotten during The Champions League game in 1999 which should be remembered more. Not many people seem to talk about it, but it was with Brian Kidd after Manchester United equalised. You obviously can't catch it on the video but after Manchester United equalised, it was this:-

Brian Kidd -            "Let's revert back to a 4-4-2 formation."

Sir Alex Ferguson - "Hang on. Something's happening out there."



Those words!

Those words are awesome words. Why be content in just scoring the equaliser in injury-time? Why not just go for the win too?

Then there was this European cup:-

With all the passion, drive, hunger and ambition he has, it is so easy to forget that Sir Alex is 71. It seemed Robin Van Persie forgot here:

After winning his 1st league title with Manchester United:-



After winning his 13th title with Manchester United and the clubs' 20th in total:-




This is one of the best goals I have seen under Sir Alex. (The Ryan Giggs goal of course but I put the highlights of the whole game on because it was amazing.)



The guy was a born winner. Here is his total win/loss record with Manchester United:-

                                     Played    Won   Drawn   Lost      Goals     Goals    Win
                                                                                         For      Against   Rate (%)

Premier League	808	527	167	114	1620	697	65
First Division	225	97	70	58	319	227	43
FA Cup	120	80	22	18	230	93	67
League Cup	97	62	10	25	178	107	64
European Cup	202	110	52	40	352	186	54
Cup Winners Cup	13	8	4	1	20	8	62
UEFA Cup	8	1	4	3	8	9	13
Community Shield	16	4	7	5	22	22	25
European Super Cup	3	1	0	2	2	3	33
Intercontinental Cup	1	1	0	0	1	0	100
Club World Cup	5	3	1	1	10	7	60
Total	1500	895	338	267	2762	1359	60

What a lot of people don't talk about is what he did for the revenue in Manchester. The success of Manchester United is down to him and all that success has brought in so much money and revenue for the city of Manchester and the whole country. When I used to work in a hotel in Manchester, there were so many people coming from abroad to watch Manchester Uniteds' home games and the money they spent in the hotel, around bars/restaurants and places in the whole city would have been so much.

Thank you Sir Alex for turning Manchester United into the greatest club of all time. Thank you for the trophies, the years of entertainment and all the "squeaky bum time".

Manchester United and the whole of the footballing world will never ever be the same again.

Horrible bastards and nasty bitches

I like to think I have grown as a writer. But I think this post is going to be like my first few posts written when I started my blog. Although I did try not to swear in my first posts and if swearing does offend you-well you already would have looked away by now I guess.

There comes a time in peoples' lives-maybe more than just one time-maybe a few times which alcoholics could refer to as a moment of clarity. Where you see things clearly in what could be for the first time in ages. Or even for the first time ever. There are these moments that we may get in life. But a lot of the times, they are JUST moments. And moments pass. It's what  they do.

It is no secret that there are a lot of sick, disgusting, selfish people in the world. Who look out for nobody but themselves. Keep their own interests at heart. Looking after number one.

Not that there is anything wrong whatsoever with looking after "number one". People of course have to do what they think is best for them. But there is also a thing called "basic human decency".

And some people have none of this.

Recently I have gone through so much shit and I feel like I still am going through the shit. What isn't helping me get past it is people. The actual shitness of some people. And it is unbelievable-even though I know and I am fully aware how there are horrible bastards and nasty bitches in this world-it is still unbelievable that these people exist.

People who have religious beliefs will then say something along the lines of "God will see to them." or "they will all perish in hell."

Religious fanatics may even go as far as to say something like "their hearts are tainted, may The Lord have mercy on their souls." or "thou shalt be summoned to the deepest, darkest fieriest of hell where thou shalt be damned for all of eternity."

But those things aren't going to happen are they?

Strangely, in some cases, it is really fucked up who these sick, disgusting and selfish people actually are. Some are people you thought cared about you.

But then there is also the flip side of people who you didn't think cared about you who actually do.

The "eye opener", the "moment of clarity", the things that make you wonder and think like you have never thought before is often a result of tragedy or something really bad happening. Unfortunately that is what it takes.

But the results of that can either go two ways. You can either focus on the horrible bastards and the nasty bitches and all the sick, disgusting and selfish people in the world and then be sad, depressed and angry about everything OR you can focus on the good people in life. There might not be many-but you don't necessarily need many-and you can enjoy life, sleep better and have at least some kind of hope that maybe all isn't bad in the world.

Sometimes, the choice is just that simple.

Footprints (Poem)

I am not a religious person. I don't know if there is a God or not. But I read this about 2 weeks ago in a Holy book that is in our house and I thought I should write it. It is actually quite a popular prose which I had never read before with a couple of artists even writing songs about it. Absolutely AWFUL songs about it. This shouldn't be heard through song but just read so here it is:-

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with The God. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belong to him and the other to The God.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there had only been one set of foot prints. He also noticed that it had happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. 

This really bothered him and he questioned The God about it. "God, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most you would have left me".

The God replied, "My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of foot prints, it was then that I carried you".