On This Day – 31st December
Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born on this day in 1941. He would later become known as Alex Ferguson before being knighted in 1999 and becoming Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson had a much more successful career in football management than his seventeen years as a player. He played for Queen’s Park, St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr United but never won a full international cap with the Scotland national team.
His first venture into management came in 1974 when he was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire. Ferguson spent four months at the club before joining St Mirren.
At St Mirren, Ferguson won the Scottish First Division in his third season in charge at Love Street. He was sacked by the club in in 1978 and moved on to Aberdeen. St Mirren’s loss was Aberdeen’s massive gain as he lead The Dons to their most successful period of their history.
Ferguson spent eight years at Pittodrie and won ten major honours, including three league championships and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983, where they defeated mighty Real Madrid in the Final.
After Jock Stein’s death shortly after a World Cup qualifier in 1985, Ferguson took charge of the Scotland team at the 1986 Finals in Mexico. The Scots were unable to progress out of the group stage and Ferguson stepped down
His successes north of the border caught the attention of the Manchester United board. After sacking Ron Atkinson, they moved in for Ferguson in 1986 and he helped to build Manchester United into the greatest club in English football.
His most successful season came in 1998/99 when United won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. Twelve other league titles, four FA Cups, four League Cups, one Champions League and a European Cup Winners Cup title were won in the 27 years that Ferguson spent at Old Trafford.
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