'Squeaky bum time!' - Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United career in quotes
Next Football, bloody hell: Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement a final Manchester United masterstroke
May 8, 2013 3:30:00 PM
The legendary manager has coined many a famous phrase in his 26 years at Old Trafford, while plenty of adversaries have been on the end of the famous hairdryer treatment
Bet: Returns: Man Utd. £ 13.00 Draw £ 55.00 Swansea City £ 100.00 The day has arrived. Sir Alex Ferguson has announced that he will retire as Manchester United manager at the end of the season.
His has been a career laden with trophies, titles and, sometimes, tantrums. The 71-year-old has come out with some golden quips over the years,whether in praise of his own side or lashing out at his rivals.
So strap yourselves in as Goal.com runs through Sir Alex's career in quotes.
On other managers
"He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg, but it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper." - on then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho .
"I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you havegot to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous." - Fergie responds to Rafa Benitez 's "facts" outburst.
"They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!" - Arsene Wenger used to be in the firing line when Arsenal were title-challengers.
On his players
"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind." - Ryan Giggs is still going strong but not quite with the same spark as back then.
"On you go. I'm no f****** talking to you. He's a f****** great player. Youse are f****** idiots"
- Fergie was fiercely supportive of the much-criticised Juan Sebastian Veron
"I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everestin his slippers. That's what he was like." - Paul Ince was somewhat more popular before the whole 'Guvnor' business.
"If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman." - Gary Neville was left to question his paternity.
"It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager. For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager,never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager." - They were right about the first one, at least.
"Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that way." - Fergie has a go at replicating Eric Cantona's famous sardines musings when discussing Wayne Rooney 's transfer request.
"Do you think I would enter into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I would not sell them a virus. That is a 'No' by the way. There is no agreement whatsoever between the clubs"
- So Cristiano Ronaldo won't be joining Real Madrid...
"It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could Iwould have carried on playing!" - The boss explains how he kicked a boot at David Beckham 's head.
On foreign opposition
"That lad must have been born offside." - Another famous phrase coined at the expense of Filippo Inzaghi .
"When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate Icheck under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen." - Enough said.
"Everyone sprinted over to the referee. Typical Germans. It was only a slip, a slight tug at the boy, but they saw the opportunity and forced thereferee. The ref wasn't going to do anything but they forced him to get a card out." - Bayern Munich got the treatment in 2010.
On Liverpool
"It isn't just a job to me. It's a mission. I am deadly serious about it – some people would saytoo serious. We will get there, velieve me. And when it happens life will change for Liverpool, dramatically."
"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f****** perch. And you can print that"
- Fergie hit out at suggestions that he was struggling
"You must be joking. Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?" - After being asked ifthe Merseysiders could win the league in 2007.
"A lot of people have to leave here choking on their own vomit, biting their tongue, afraid to tell the truth." - Sir Alex was furious after a visit to Anfield in the Kenny Dalglish era.
On the new rivals
"It's City, isn't it? They are a small club, with a small mentality. All they can talk about is Manchester United, that's all they've done and they can't get away from it."
"Our rich history stands us aside - it's better than anyone. It would take City a century to get our level of history"
- Laying down the gauntlet in 2011
"Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour. You cannot do anything about that. They will always be noisy. You just have to get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up a bit louder."
On success
"It's not so much passing Liverpool. It's more important that United are the best team in the country in terms of winning titles." - After clinching the club's 19th title.
"Look at me – it's taken 10 years off me today. It's these tablets, they're great!" - He was even happier after the 20th.
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell"
- After United scored twice in stoppage time to win the 1999 Champions League