Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the most celebrated football managers ever; we all know his legacy and reign with Manchester United. His trophies, his numbers, his style with the Red Devils will be remembered forever.
But how much do you know about the early years of Fergie? There s an amazing and interesting history that precedes the one you know.
In this article you’ll learn fascinating things about the past of Sir Alex Ferguson, some of them will surprise you. Are you ready?
Sir Alex Ferguson: The Early Years
Fergie was born on 31 December of 1941 in the district of Govan, the south part Glasgow, Scotland, under the name of Alexander Chapman Ferguson. His dad, Alexander Beaton Ferguson, who worked in the shipbuilding industry, and his mother name was Elizabeth lived in a tenement at 667 Govan Road.
Alex Ferguson went to Broomland Road Primary School, later he would attend Govan High School.
The young Sir Alex started took his first steps in football at a young age, his father was a former amateur football player, and he guided the young Sir Alex through the path of his beloved sport. In spite of being regarded as a bright boy by his professors, the sport would be the path chosen by Fergie.
At the age of 16, Alex Ferguson made his debut playing for Queen’s Park, he score his team’s lonely goal in what would end as a 2-1 defeat.
He played 31 games and scored 20 goals, a very good percentage of scoring. However, he could not make a regular place in the first squad team, so he moved to St Johnstone in 1960.
In spite of scoring regularly in his new team, Alex Ferguson could not get a permanent place in the squad, he even considered moving to Canada. But the good luck came when St Johnstone failed at their attempt to sign a new striker and the manager had to put Ferguson on the field, that day Sir Alex scored hat trick against the team of his dreams, Rangers.
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In the summer of 1964, Dunfermline Athletic FC signed Alex Ferguson; this time he got the chance to become a full time professional footballer. That would be a terrific choice for him, on his second season, he became the league’s top scorer along Joe McBride of Celtic, and they both got a total of 31 goals each. Ferguson scored 45 goals in 51 games for all the tournaments Dunfermline played that season.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s outstanding season at Dunfermline caught the attention o Rangers, and they signed him in 1967 for a record transfer of €65000 between Scottish clubs. Ferguson had a couple of troubled years playing for the blue side o Glasgow. Rangers lost the Scottish Cup Final of 1969 against all time rivals Celtic. Ferguson was blamed for a goal conceded in that game and got forced to play with the junior squad instead of the first team.
Despite his bad luck playing for Rangers, he managed to score a pretty decent number of 25 goals on 41 appearances.
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Nottingham Forrest showed some interest in Ferguson, but he rejected the offer because his wife did not want to move to England so he ended up playing for Falkirk FC. In that club he had a role of coach – player, but in 1973 when Falkirk signed John Prentice as manager, Sir Alex Ferguson asked for a transfer move to Ayr United, where he decided to end his career the following year.
Fergie started managing on June of that same year in East Stirlingshire F.C for a fee of €40 per week at the age of 32, it wasn’t a full time job at the time, but he gained recognition and made a good job. Four months later he became manager of St Mirren, a bigger club of the second division, and took them from the lower half of the second division to champions of Scotland’s first division in 1977.
He had an issue with the club in 1978 and got sacked by the chairman and got sacked; which lead to a move to Aberdeen on the same year. The team lost the Scottish League Cup final and made it to the semi finals of the Scottish Cup o his first year at charge.
The first trophy came in the 1979-1980 season, when they won their first league since 1955. But that would not be the end of the success, on the five years remaining of Ferguson at Aberdeen, the club would win 2 Championships more, 1 League Cup, a Drybrough cup, an European Cup Winners Cup and the European Super Cup.
In 1984 Alex Ferguson received his Order of the British Empire for his notable work and accomplishment as manager; he also got offers from Rangers and Arsenal, but decided to stay at Aberdeen a little longer.
Ferguson managed Scotland’s national team during the 1986 FIFA World Cup play-offs after the death of the manager Jock Stein; they won Australia 2-0 and qualified to the biggest football tournament in the world. Sir Alex could not make magic this time, Scotland failed to pass through the group stages.
He finally moved to England and became Manchester United’s manager on November of 1986. His journey at United had a very slow start; the best place United got at the league was 2nd in the 1988-1989 season, the rest of the seasons were mixed with places that went from 4th to 13th in no particular order until 1991-1992 when they were 2nd behind Leeds United.
The first league title came a year after, it was the first tournament played under the format of English Premier League. The bad and “no so good” seasons ended there for Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. He managed to win the EPL 12 more times to make a total of 13, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 10 Community Shields, 2 UCL, 1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 FIFA World Club Title.
Fergie retired from football on 2013. He won a total of 49 trophies and is definitely the most successful British manager of all times.
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