Like him or loathe him, Fergie is here to stay

I was slightly surprised the other day when I read that Sir Alex Ferguson was thinking of retiring at the end of next season. He famously announced an intention to retire a few years back and regretted it immediately.

Health

The Manchester United boss has now announced that he has no such intention and that he intends to continue as long as his health allows him to.

You only had to look at him on the touchline during yesterday’s crucial win over Tottenham to see that the passion and the desire are still as fierce as they have ever been. You also only have to look at the Premier League table to see that his powers as a manager have also far from diminished.

Rumours

Fergie is sixty-eight years old now and has managed United for twenty-three years. Rumours had started to circulate that Jose Mourinho or David Moyes would be moving into the Old Trafford hot seat after next season but Sir Alex has spoken quickly and clearly to bring those rumours crashing down. He told the gathered media on Friday,

“It is rubbish, there is no truth in it. I have no intention of retiring and if I did the people I would tell are David Gill and the Glazer family. As I have said time and time again, the only that determines my staying here is my health and unfortunately for you lot the media, I’m in rude health! So you’ll be left to suffer me for many more years. You’ll be gone before I’m gone, don’t you worry!”

Fergie had great success at Aberdeen before he moved to United but it is at the Old Trafford Club that he has earned his reputation as one of the best managers in history. He has won the Premier League title eleven times, the FA Cup on five occasions, four League Cup finals, two Champions League triumphs as well as the European Cup Winners’ Cup. If they can win the Premier League again this season that would be a remarkable fourth success in a row.

His main rival over all his years at United has been Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger. Whilst they used to apparently hate each other, a mutual respect seems to have broken out over the past couple of seasons. Wenger wasn’t surprised by what Sir Alex said.

“I was not surprised at all. You see the way he acts and manages his team that the hunger is still there. That’s something that doesn’t die in you but when you get older you have to analyse and consider your health, but at the minute I can’t see any problems. I’m looking forward to a few more games against him. It’s always interesting and I believe this year has been very, very tight and I’m confident we’ll do a few more years.”

Everton boss David Moyes has been quick to dismiss the rumours linking him to United and has also gone on to pay tribute to Ferguson.

“What I will say is I think it will be a terrible day when Sir Alex does finish. He is someone all the football managers look up to, they all respect him. Even when he’s fighting them, he still has the humility to have a drink with them at the end of the game. And he still has the dignity to phone them if they are sacked or out of work. There’s a lot of that from his Glasgow roots.”

Like him or loathe him, Sir Alex Ferguson has been great for the Premier League and he continues to be so. He is on the verge of yet another Premier League title and he has piled the pressure onto Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea. They should be able to beat Stoke today and go back to the top by a point, but can you bet against Fergie and United for the title?

Fancy

You’ve got to fancy United to win at Sunderland and at home to Stoke, but whilst you’d expect Chelsea to beat Wigan, they may well drop points at Liverpool. Chelsea will have been desperately hoping that Tottenham could have taken something off United yesterday but it wasn’t to be.

It really isn’t good news for the rest that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to go on and on, but it is good news for the game.