Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE, (born 31 December 1941 in Govan, Glasgow) is a Scottish football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United F.C., where he has been in charge since 1986. Considered to be one of the best football managers in the history of world football, he has also won more trophies than any other manager in the history of English football.
With 21 years under his belt, he is the second-longest serving manager in the history of Manchester United after Sir Matt Busby, having won a slew of awards and holding many records including winning Manager of the Year most times in British football history.
He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame for his great services to the English game, was knighted in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II and currently holds the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen for his services to the city.
Ferguson previously managed East Stirlingshire and St. Mirren, before a highly successful period as manager of Aberdeen. Briefly manager of the Scotland national team – in a temporary capacity owing to the death of Jock Stein – he was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 1986.
At Manchester United, Sir Alex has become the most successful manager in the history of English football, having guided the team to ten league championships and two Champions League titles. In 1999, he became the first manager to lead an English team to the treble of league championship, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. As well as being the only manager to win the FA Cup five times, he is also the only manager ever to win three successive league championships in the top flight in England with the same club (1998–1999, 1999–2000 and 2000–2001). In 2008, he joined Brian Clough (Nottingham Forest) and Bob Paisley (Liverpool) as only the third British manager to win the European Cup on more than one occasion.
One recurring theme of Ferguson's management of Manchester United has been his view that no player is bigger than the club. He has consistently taken a "my way or the highway" approach in his dealings with players and the pressure of this management tactic has often been the cause of many notable players' departures. Over the years players such as Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham and more recently, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze have left the club after varying degrees of conflict with Ferguson. It is also suggested that one of the most inspirational players in the club's history, Roy Keane was also a victim of Ferguson's wrath following damning criticism of his team mates on the club's in-house television channel, MUTV. This disciplinary line that he takes with such highly paid, high-profile players has been mentioned as a reason for the ongoing success of Manchester United.