Meet Sir Alex Ferguson: a Legendary Coach

Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful coach in the world and is one of the most important characters in the history of Manchester United.

With nearly 50 titles under his belt—most obtained at Manchester United—Sir Alex Ferguson is a living legend in soccer history. In this article, we’ll tell you all about his career, both as a player and his years as a coach.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s career as a player

Compared to his career as a coach, Alex Ferguson’s career as a soccer player is fairly brief. However, it’s still worth knowing about.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in December 1941, Alexander Chapman Ferguson began his career as a forward at age 16 on the Scottish amateur team, Queen’s Park. He scored a goal in his first game, although, it didn’t give him instant victory.

During his time with this club, he became the top scorer with 20 goals in 31 games. However, because he also worked part-time—he didn’t get paid at Queen’s Park. He had to change teams and transfer to St. Johnstone in 1960.

Four years later, he would transfer to Dunfermline Athletic, and in 1967 he would be part of what would become the best team where Alex Ferguson would play: the Rangers. He spent two years there, scored 44 goals, and played 57 games.

Between 1969 and 1973, he played for Falkirk. In the last season of his playing career (1973–1974), he played for Ayr United.

A curious fact about Ferguson is that he always played on Scottish teams. It’s said that when Nottingham Forest in England wanted to hire him in the early 1970s, his wife Cathie didn’t want to move out of the country. So, Alex continued to play in Scotland.

During his 17 years as a soccer player, he played in six teams, participated in 338 games, and scored 191 goals (half a goal per game, according to the average).

Alex Ferguson and his first steps as a coach

Just as it was in his early days as a player, when Ferguson became a coach in the summer of 1974, the situation was somewhat precarious. The team he worked for, East Stirlingshire, didn’t even have a goalkeeper in the starting lineup. 

However, that didn’t discourage Alex. Rather it did quite the opposite. The players in the squad claim that he was the type to fear but had everyone’s respect.

A short time later, Alex Ferguson was hired by another Scottish team, Saint Mirren, which he led until 1978, and it was a total revolution. That’s where he won his first coaching title, a Scottish League.

In 1978, he became the manager of Aberdeen, of the first division of his native country. In his eight-year tenure, he won three Scottish Leagues, four Scottish Cups, one League Cup, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, and one European Super Cup. In total, he gave the club ten titles, more than one per year.

While at that job, he was hired to coach the Scottish national team. He was already serving as an advisor there, but after the death of coach Jock Stein, Ferguson was the replacement. He would only be the leader for ten games, until 1986.

Ferguson at Manchester United

The year 1986 is one not to overlook in Alex Ferguson’s history, who became the coach of Manchester United in England.

One of his first challenges upon arriving at this English city was to improve player morale. They, according to Ferguson, drank too much and had depression.

In the following season, he made significant hires and markedly improved the team. They finished just nine points short of champion Liverpool. With a really tough job on his hands, Ferguson had several dry seasons until he won the first title.

With 32 national titles won in 27 years, Sir Alex Ferguson is the coach with most wins not only in Manchester but also in the world. And if we add to that two UEFA Champions Leagues, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, a European Super Cup, an Intercontinental Cup, and a Club World Cup, we cannot deny that this Scotsman is the most successful of all time.

With Manchester, he won a whopping 38 titles! And during his entire career, he’s collected 49 crowns. It’ll be very difficult to match or overcome, there’s no doubt about that.