Sir Alex Ferguson is about to complete his 26th year in charge of Manchester United. It’s a mystery as to when exactly he is going to retire but here are a few scenarios.
Former players for Sir Alex Ferguson have all agreed that they don’t see the Manchester United boss ever willingly retiring from coaching at the elite level. Ultimately he is going to have to stop which will usher in the next United manager who will be tasked with moving the club forward in a new and strange way.
One scenario which would stop the United boss in his tracks would be his health. Ferguson has commented recently that he is feeling healthy and as good as ever which means he believes he has a few more years left in the tank. Once his health goes he may be advised to walk away from management in football because the stress and pressure could cut short his life which his family obviously will not allow.
Another scenario is this close family. Football has been Ferguson’s life and there are bound to be a few things he wants to do which he has not been allowed to do so because of football. He is 71 so he still has a few years to go before his mobility starts to go and the health problems kick in. He may decide to bow out of the game before this point if he still has some ambition in life.
“In terms of the history of our club, we should have won more and I want to win it again and get into the bracket of winners like Liverpool, our biggest rivals, Bayern Munich and Ajax. AC Milan and Real Madrid have got separated from the rest but that definitely drives me on a bit. I get really frustrated when I think about the opportunities we have had to win it, but you can’t be greedy,” Ferguson said in an interview before the match against Braga.
The next scenario is if he gets the sack because he is very unlikely to go into management at another football club. However, the odds for this would be ridiculously long. There is about as much chance of Ferguson getting the sack at United as there is of hell freezing over. It would take relegation or something much worse before Ferguson was given the boot by the powers that be at Old Trafford.
The behind the scenes situation at any club always has a knock on effect to the manager but this has not been the case with United because the Glazers have made no attempt to try and wrestle control of the team away from Ferguson. He could decide to walk away if this all changes because he is one of the only managers left in the game who actually controls his players and the players that come and go out of the club.
This brings us onto Ferguson’s comments about European Cup success. He’s already guided United to more league titles than Liverpool and he has his eyes set on two more European Cups. If United won the Champions League this season and next season then who knows, he may retire leaving United as one of the most successful British clubs domestically and in a European sense there has ever been.
One thing is for sure, no other United manager will manage 26 years at the club. He’ll probably even go well past 30 years.
image: © tomjoad
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