It has finally happened, Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to retire as manager of Man United after more than 26 years in charge. Fergie's astonishing spell as the no.1 at Old Trafford deserves maximum respect and talkSPORT is marking the occasion with a look at Fergie's Man United career.
, we remember the late 1990s and the Scot's greatest season…
ALEX FERGUSON AT MAN UNITED: 1996-2001
Honours: One Champions League, four Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, one Intercontinental Cup
The Story: Having won three Premier League titles and two doubles, keeping United one step ahead of the rest would be Ferguson's next challenge as the 1990s reached their close and a new century dawned, but conquering Europe was his real acid test.
The 1996/97 season was one of United's poorest in the Premier League era, yet they still won the title by seven points with a relatively low total of 75 points. It turned out to be Eric Cantona's last season, after he surprised everyone by announcing his retirement at the age of 30 in the summer, having just captained the Red Devils to the championship. While Cantona had won four league titles under Ferguson, he'd had little impact on Europe as United struggled to transfer domestic dominance to the Champions League.
In Cantona's final season United actually had their best Champions League campaign to date, reaching the last four, where they lost home and away to Borussia Dortmund. United were improving in Europe, but were still short of the level and nous required to win the big one.
The first Cantona-free season, 1997/98, was a disappointing one, as Arsenal did the double and Ferguson ended the campaign without any silverware. Arsenal's emergence under new manager Arsene Wenger served Ferguson well, however, providing him with a talented adversary who would push United to greater heights and, in the Premier League's new era of foreign influence, give the Scot a regular taste of the continental quality he would need to adapt to if he wanted to win the Champions League.
The following season Ferguson and his United team battled again with Arsenal for domestic honours, pipping the Gunners by a single point to regain their Premier League title and winning a dramatic FA Cup semi final replay against Arsene Wenger's team, en route to lifting the FA Cup and a third double in five years. An even greater prize awaited, however, as Ferguson at last took his team to the Champions League final, fired there by a free-scoring campaign that culminated in two injury time goals, turning likely defeat into an improbable triumph against Bayern Munich.
The Champions League victory filled in a glaring gap on Ferguson's otherwise all-conquering CV and, with less and less accolades left for him to claim (he was also knighted for the achievement), for the first time people began to wonder when he might call it a day. After completing a hat-trick of Premiership title wins by storming to the championship in 2000 and 2001, Fergie announced in May 2001 that he would step down at the end of the 2001/02 season, which would end with the Champions League final being held in his home town of Glasgow. "I will be leaving Manchester United at the end of the season and that is it," he said. Luckily for United fans, it really wasn't.
FERGIE'S TOP FIVE MATCHES BETWEEN 1996-2001
MAN UNITED 2 ARSENAL 1, FA CUP SEMI FINAL REPLAY, 14 APRIL 1999
Only a point separated the two teams at the top of the league when they met in the FA Cup semi and, after a 0-0 draw in their first attempt, they reconvened at Villa Park three days later to play out a classic. A brilliant David Beckham goal gave Ferguson's team the lead, but Arsenal hit back through their own magician, Dennis Bergkamp. The Gunners thought they'd won it when Nicolas Anelka scored, only for the goal to be disallowed. Roy Keane was then given a second yellow card after the arguments that followed Anelka's ruled out strike and the 10 men of United looked done for when Phil Neville made a rash challenge on Ray Parlour to give away a last minute penalty. Peter Schmeichel saved Bergkamp's effort, however, and a brilliant solo run and goal from Ryan Giggs gave Ferguson an incredible victory. Little did he know that there would be more moments to match this incredible night in the coming days and weeks…
JUVENTUS 2 MAN UNITED 3, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL SECOND LEG, 21 APRIL 2011
For treble-chasing Man United, the huge games were coming thick and fast as the 1998/99 season approached its conclusion. One week after their incredible semi final against Arsenal, Ferguson took his team to Turin for the second leg of a Champions League semi that stood poised at 1-1, after United had salvaged a draw with a last minute equaliser at Old Trafford. Juventus had appeared in the previous three Champions League finals and looked set to make it a fourth when Pippo Inzaghi scored his second goal after just 11 minutes to leave United staring down the barrel of a gun. A Roy Keane header turned the game on its head after 24 minutes, though, putting United just one away goal from qualification and suddenly the whole complexion of the tie changed. Just 10 minutes later United had that key goal, thanks to a Dwight Yorke finish, but it wasn't until Andy Cole scored with seven minutes left that Ferguson knew he would be leading a team out in the Champions League final for the first time. It was United's greatest ever comeback. Well, for a few weeks, at least!
MAN UNITED 2 BAYERN MUNICH 1, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, 26 MAY 1999
Football, eh? Bloody hell! Ferguson's finest hour was almost his greatest disappointment. Both teams were chasing a historic treble of national title, domestic cup and Champions League, but while one side's season was ruined by defeat, the other experienced the greatest night of their careers… and it could so easily have been United on the losing end. Missing Roy Keane and Paul Scholes through suspension, Ferguson opted to play David Beckham and Nicky Butt in the centre of midfield, with Jesper Blomqvist on the left and Ryan Giggs in an unfamiliar right wing role. The result was a game bossed by Bayern's superior midfield and they duly took the lead on six minutes, through a goal from Mario Basler. Only a post denied Mehmet Scholl from capping Bayern's play with a second, but the ball bounced back into the grateful arms of Schmeichel. With time running out all looked lost for United, until two set pieces in injury time led to goals from substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer to give Ferguson the most unlikely, yet glorious of victories. It was a perfect example of the never-say-die attitude that has taken Fergie to so much success.
MAN UNITED 1 PALMEIRAS 0, INTERCONTINENTAL CUP, 30 NOVEMBER 1999
Before FIFA launched their Club World Cup, the best club side in the world was decided by a meeting of the European Cup/Champions League winners and the South American Libertadores Cup holders, played in Tokyo since 1980. United's 1968 European Cup winners had fallen to Argentina's Estudiantes over two legs of the tournament under the legendary Matt Busby, while Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa had all failed to win the trophy in the 1980s. Having won the Champions League in 1999, United travelled to Tokyo to have another crack at the cup and this time they made history by becoming the first English club to be crowned world champions. To make it even more satisfying, Roy Keane scored the winner, having missed the Champions League final against Bayern.
MAN UNITED 6 ARSENAL 1, PREMIER LEAGUE, 25 FEBRUARY 2001
In 1998 Arsene Wenger's Arsenal announced themselves as Alex Ferguson's new rivals by winning the double, then pushed United all the way in the league and cup during the treble year. The Gunners were second behind United again in 2000, except this time by a whopping 17 points and, despite once more being Fergie's main rivals in 2001, Arsene Wenger's team were a long way off the pace when they travelled to Old Trafford in February. They were 16 points off the pace by the time this game was over, while the mauling United dished out capped an era of dominance that culminated in Fergie's first title hat-trick. A goal after two minutes from Dwight Yorke was equalised by Thierry Henry on 14 minutes, but with 25 minutes gone Yorke had four and United were rampant. It was 5-1 by half-time thanks to a Nicky Butt goal and former Spurs star Teddy Sheringham completed Arsenal's misery with a sixth just before full-time.
FERGIE'S TOP FIVE SIGNINGS BETWEEN 1996-2001
DWIGHT YORKE
Signed for £12.6m from Aston Villa in 1998, Yorke's first season at Old Trafford was absolutely sensational. In tandem with Andy Cole, Yorke scored 30 goals in all competitions to play a vital role in United's treble glory. He continued his scoring form in 1999/2000 as United coasted to another Premiership title, but by 2000/01 he was in and out of the team, despite scoring a memorable four goals against Arsenal (see above) and winning a third title. Just one goal in 2001/02 marked the end of his spell under Ferguson and he was shipped out to Blackburn, but he will always be remembered for that remarkable treble season.
JAAP STAM
Like Yorke, Dutch defender Jaap Stam was signed by Ferguson at the start of the 1998/99 season and his class at the back was equally instrumental in that season's success. In fact, his first two seasons at Old Trafford were magnificent, as United went from treble glory to utter dominance of the Premiership. Injury disrupted his 2000/01 season, but he still picked up another title medal, then Ferguson decided to sell Stam later that year, following his return from injury and a controversial autobiography that ruffled the Scot's feathers. Fergie later admitted Stam was sold too soon, based more on the size of the fee United received (£15.3m from Lazio) than sound judgement of his remaining playing potential.
TEDDY SHERINGHAM
At 31, Sheringham was a surprising signing by Ferguson in 1997, when he was brought in from Tottenham after Eric Cantona's shock decision to retire. A class act, many thought Sheringham was past his best and, having failed to pick up a winner's medal in his career up to that point, Arsenal fans in particular took great delight in reminding the England striker that he "went to Man United and won f**k all" in his first season at the club. A year later and with FA Cup final and Champions League final goals under his belt, not to mention three major winner's medals, Sheringham had the last laugh. In 1999/2000 Sheringham was more of a periphery figure, but still picked up another title winner's medal. Just when it seemed he would finally bow out from Old Trafford, he had his best season for the Red Devils in 2000/01, top scoring as they won another title, before heading back to Spurs with great memories and a sackful of medals.
RUUD VAN NISTELROOY
Dutch striker van Nistelrooy is a strange case. Undoubtedly one of the greatest goal scorers in Manchester United history, van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals in just 219 games for Ferguson after signing from PSV Eindhoven for £19m in 2001. Despite this record, in a United career that lasted five years from 2001 to 2006, van Nistelrooy won the same number of Premier League titles as Luke Chadwick, Mark Bosnich and Kieran Richardson; one. That triumph came in 2003, when van Nistelrooy netted 44 goals in 52 games for Ferguson in all competitions. A PFA Player of the Year in 2002, van Nistelrooy also scored in United's 2004 FA Cup final success, but was sold by Ferguson after being named as an unused substitute in the 2006 League Cup final, as the Scot shaped his next great team without the Dutchman.
MIKAEL SILVESTRE
French defender Silvestre may not rank among the all-time greats to wear the United shirt, but he typifies Alex Ferguson's ability to take a good player and fit them into a great team to trophy-winning effect. Silvestre was an integral part of the United defence for nearly a decade, playing both centre back and full back, winning four Premier League titles, the Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and Intercontinental Cup along the way. Not bad, hey?
Read and of the Fergie story .
