Lessons from the Knight …

When you haven’t been reading or writing for a long time, it is not easy to find something to write about. It is very difficult to find any motivation at all. But any budding writer or even celebrated and accomplished ones worth their salt, will always tell you to write about the things close to your heart. Those things you have a passion for. For the last couple of days this is the limbo I have found myself in.  Motivating myself to find something to write on, in trying to rekindle my waned passion for writing, has proved to be a great conundrum.

I was listing down those things I am passionate about and as I started I decided to write down in my diary. Music, reading, writing, movies… No… I admit I do watch movies… but passionate????

I put a line across that. No not movies. Besides, the movies I’ve ever enjoyed the most are those which I have read the book before. So there I was wedged with nothing to write about, and I closed my diary shut. I went straight to the living room where my wife was seated with her research books for her school assignment stacked on her lap with her eyes fixated on the TV screen where the latest version of Big Brother Africa (The Chase) was showing.

No sooner had my wife left the room, than my hands, almost in reflex action, raced for the remote and I quickly tuned to the Super sport Blitz news channel to try and acquaint myself with the day’s latest sports news. Few minutes later I found myself scrolling through all the other sports channels to see what was showing and I found one channel airing an old interview of Sir Alex Ferguson. It had been over a month since Alex Ferguson had stepped down as Manchester United manager so I asked myself why he was still getting slots on super sport. Before I could answer myself, an idea came to my mind. Why don’t I write on Alex Fergusson? How come I didn’t even list football in my diary earlier on?

Finally I had something to write about. Something I am passionate about. John Grisham relates to his days at law school to write these fictional books about court cases and all other legal thrillers. Sydney Sheldon’s novels almost always have a part where his fictional characters are in the army flying war planes and this is so because he relates to it easier since he once enlisted in the military during World War II as a pilot in the War Training Service, a branch of the Army Air Corps. His unit was disbanded before he saw any action. It is easier to write about something one can relate to.

Almost every boy born in Zambia in the 80 or even before that played football one time or another. In my case, I was not just into playing football but was an ardent follower at a very young age. Unfortunately, I was never the best football talent hence I started to fancy myself as a coach such that I was always playing coach to boys younger than me.

I became a Manchester united fan in 1992, coincidentally this was the year Alexander Chapman Ferguson won his first league title as a Manchester united coach. 21 years later in 2013 when Alex Ferguson was retiring, he had amassed 13 league titles. This is no mean feat for anyone. There are at least 20 teams competing for the championship every year and to be able to do it 13 times from 21 and leaving the other 19 (more teams if you add all other teams that would get relegated and promoted every year) teams to share the other 8 is outstanding by any means.

It is not my intention to re-rewrite Alex Ferguson’s legacy and tenure at Manchester united, but to seek and draw some lessons from it. Here are some priceless lessons, I espoused from Alex Ferguson’s time as manager of Manchester united football club;

Humble beginnings

Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born to parents Alexander Sr. and Elizabeth in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 31, 1941. A young Alex Ferguson was brought up in Govan, a hard part of Glasgow which is famous for three things; the Shipyards, Glasgow Rangers and providing the Scottish National Party with occasional headline hitting election victories. Ferguson was considered a bright boy but showed little interest in schoolwork. He preferred kicking a soccer ball with his younger brother, Martin, and friends through the alleyways between tenement homes, and with some assistance from Alex Sr., a former amateur player, he developed into a promising young talent. (http://www.biography.com/people/alex-ferguson-9293262)

Young Alex Ferguson in the Govan high school team, 1955.

It is clear that Alex did not have everything growing up, in fact, in an interview I recently watched the interviewer put it that the area Alex grew up in was “a rough neighborhood”. A lot of people will blame their backgrounds for failures in their lives, but Fergie has proved to the world at large that you can have the worst beginnings but you can work around it and make it count for you. Ferguson the son of a plater's helper in the shipbuilding industry grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road which has since been demolished. One dictionary defines a tenement as;

‘a rundown and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in apoor section of a large city’.

At the time of his retirement at Manchester united he was said to have a fortune of £34million. With an annual salary of £7m Old Trafford, a string of racehorses and several endorsement contracts he can be described as a very wealthy man.

Baltasar Gracian, a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher was famously quoted as saying, “Fortunate people often have very favourable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn’t being applauded when you arrive – for that is common – but being missed when you leave.”

The lesson from Sir Alex is clearly never to let your beginning to limit your destiny. It doesn’t matter how poor one’s parents are or how difficulty early life is. Life is a journey where every person finds their own path to their respective end or destiny. Like the saying goes, He who forgets his past is lost. If you don't know where you are coming from, you wouldn't know where you are going. 

Overcoming Failures

Even though Fergie won so many titles at Manchester united, the beginning was not easy. He did not win a single title in his first four years.  In the 1989-90 season, the term he won his first silverware for united, he got very close to being fired. In September 1989 he went on a run of 6 losses and 2 draws in 8 games and the majority united fans wanted him out. Banners like "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." were displayed at Old Trafford regularly. Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone. However, Manchester united won their first trophy of the Ferguson era that season in the form of the FA cup. Two years later in 1992, united were to win the first of the 13 Fergie league titles. The rest, well, let’s just say it’s history.

Surely the most successful men also had to overcome difficulty at some point. Many of us have the tendency to quit at the first hurdle, but we are challenged by this scots man not to. Like the popular William Shakespeare quote goes; "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Ferguson achieved greatness, with hard work.

Failure is expected of every living being on earth. Expecting to sail through without a hiccup is unrealistic and sets you up to fall harder when failure does happen. Avoiding failure also prevents you from focusing on gaining the resiliency needed to cope with it, a vital element of bouncing back.

The reality is that failure is commonplace but so is overcoming it and pushing through to more successful endeavors in the future. Even where a failure cannot be salvaged, there is always something to be learned from it.

Believe in something

At the age of 32, Sir Alex Ferguson began his football management career as a part-time job in June 1974 with East Stirlingshire FC. It was only when he moved to the St. Mirren FC that he started his full-time management career. During his stay at St. Mirren, Sir Alex Ferguson coached the team and spotted young talents, and throughout his coaching career he always put faith in youth. His youth policy was even questioned by several people but Fergie stuck to his beliefs. It is no wonder he managed to stay in the business that long, making one winning team after another. Alan Hansen, the former Liverpool captain famously declared; 'You never win anything with kids' on his first viewing of the team containing Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and David Beckham, players who went on to dominate the English game and part of the famous class of ‘92. Ryan Giggs is still an active member of the Manchester united team while Scholes and Beckham retired in May 2013. 

A few years ago while chatting with my friends (Brian, Francis and Paul), I mentioned to them that ‘a man with no principle is no man at all.’ This statement was laughed at as they claimed that principles will never feed anyone. Earlier this year, one of them was talking to me about beliefs and I reminded them of what I had said back then in 2007, and he went ahead to tell me that ‘a man with principles achieves sustainable growth in all areas of life.’ I was amazed.

Personal beliefs do not necessarily have to be the professional ethical principles. It has to be what defines you as an individual. What is your philosophy? Are you simply living each day as it comes without a plan of a path you want to take?

It is easy for people to follow professional codes of ethics because of the fear of the penalties that come with not doing so. But personal principles are a matter of choice, something you tell yourself that you will always do. Principles don’t have to be always in the line of work. One can decide to have a principle of never having to involve themselves in extra marital affairs as soon as they decide to get married. This can be before or even just after putting ink on a marriage certificate to append a signature after exchanging marriage vows. These are some of the simple principles that a lot of folk can decide to start following and the end result is the same – sustained growth in all areas of life.

Commitment and practice

Commitment and practice are two main traits Fergie requested of all his teams, and those that lacked enough commitment were shown the exit. 

Alex Fergusson once remarked on David Beckham that; ‘David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practices with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn’t contemplate.’ He also once praised Cristiano Ronaldo for his commitment. Cristiano would be the first to reach the training ground and start practicing free kicks before everyone else arrived and the last to leave as he would remain practicing dribbling trickery. “He’s an unbelievable player – one of the best. We have a pantheon of great players and Ronaldo definitely compares with any of them.

“Although he had a natural talent, he is in many ways manufactured himself. He practiced and practiced. He had a bit of the Eric Cantona about him in that way. Paul Scholes is still the same.” Ferguson is quoted as saying.

However, it is worth noting that a person like yours truly cannot just jump onto a playing filed tomorrow and put in ‘graft’ of 15 hours a day practice and expect to be a Cristiano Ronaldo. You need to have natural raw talent as well. Practice determines how you go far with your talents. I know people I played street football with that have gone to make ‘fortunes’ out of their talents while their other peers who had the natural football talents are just collecting empty beer crates at drinking discothèques. The difference is that when you give respect to your talent and harness it through practice you eventually get your rewards.

For one thing, intense, repetitive, frequent practice can allow a player to make incremental improvements over other players, over a period of a time.

But more than that for me – it’s the commitment to that intense, repetitive, frequent practice which reveals a more important factor in the player who becomes a star: desire. Practice reveals the desire which makes or breaks every player and superstar. Without desire – you have nothing. Desire is connected to character.

Practice is not only for sports people. It is all encompassing in all walks of life. Legendary musician Whitney Houston, turned up for a disastrous European tour performance by singing off key in Birmingham England. The awful performance came after canceling the first shows of her European tour the week before. Her performance did not go well and many commentators and critics blamed it on lack of practice as a result of years of alcohol, drugs and Bobby Brown.

Dream bigger than your resources

In the last season that Alex Ferguson competed as coach of Manchester United, his team reclaimed the league title which they had previously surrendered to city rivals Manchester city on goal difference the previous season. However, Manchester United did not need goal difference, as they reclaimed the title with a thumping unassailable 12points from closest rival Manchester city. In fact, the league was won a month before the end of the season when United beat Aston Villa at old Trafford. No other manager in the English Premier league would have bullied his way to the title the way Ferguson did with the team that was at his disposal.

In 1999, Manchester united won a famous treble of trophies (premier league, FA cup and UEFA Champions League), the first side in English football to achieve such a feat. The treble winning team did have a few ‘exceptional’ players but the majority, were averagely talented players who lined up against expensively assembled teams in Europe. Over 185 players debuted for United under Ferguson and more than 200 players wore the red jersey for Fergie. Legends of the modern game from David Beckham to Ryan Giggs, from Roy Keane to Bryan Robson, and from Eric Cantona to Cristiano Ronaldo all made their names at old Trafford. He did buy expensive players but never got a player at a ‘ridiculous’ price. Perhaps, money doesn’t always guarantee you happiness (Trophies in this case)!!!!

Ferguson believed in getting the most out of people. He was once famously quoted as saying,

 "One of my players has been sent off several times. He will do something if he gets the chance – even in training. Can I take it out of him? No. Would I want to take it out of him? No. If you take the aggression out of him, he is not himself. So you have to accept that there is a certain flaw that is counterbalanced by all the great things he can do." [Source]

You probably dream of buying your dream car, but your resources can only reach as far as buying you a new pair of shoes as your current pair is worn out. That should never stop you from dreaming. In Christendom, nothing is impossible. You just dream and do your best with faith and God will move mountains for you. As long as you keep your end of the bargain, by being committed and working hard and extra hard you eventually get your rewards and your dreams manifest as reality. I’ve heard people asking, what is the use of going to university when there are no jobs. My answer is ever the same – keep your end of the bargain.

Have a winning mentality

“It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt such an honour to be associated with such a player.” -Alex Ferguson, Speaking after Roy Keane's inspired performance in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League against Juventus after receiving a booking which meant he would miss the final

When you haven’t tested success it is difficulty to develop any hunger for more success. On the other hand once you taste success, the hunger for more fizzles out. This is true for many people in all aspects of life. For Ferguson, the more he won is the more he wanted to win even more. He actually believed that success gave him control and spring board to get more success.

Once Ferguson won his first trophy at United in 1990, the team has not gone more than one year without winning something (and I’m talking about proper silverware and not including the Charity Shield).  The reason is simply that once Ferguson was a winner he had the ear of everyone around him. Others even referred to him as a bully. What success gave to Ferguson was control and he could have his way around players and be able to instill ideals in them. Manchester United players almost inherently develop the winning mentality which is instilled in them by the manager.

Roberto Mancini, the former Manchester City manager who parted ways with the club towards the end of last season was quoted in The Guardian talking about his player Samir Nasri’s lost form; “Sometimes a player thinks it’s enough what they did the year before and doesn’t understand that every day they should improve. If you are a top player you know you can improve until the last day of your career but sometimes you get players who think it is not important to work and this is their worst mistake. Samir can do better than this year. He is a top player but he has not been playing at his level.”

If there was any truth to Mancini’s statement, it shouldn’t be Nasri alone who got content with winning the league on goal difference. Other members of the City team also ‘lost the desire after reaching paradise’ the season before. Alex Ferguson asks his players to work every day and once a victory has passed it is history as the next game is another issue. Former United captain, Roy Keane was reported to have had a lot of burst ups with fellow team mates he thought developed laxity. This is even highly rumoured to be the reason Keane and United finally parted on mutual grounds as he became a threat to team spirit.

Success must never give anyone any comfort. It should be a ladder for more hard work since the bar has been raised. Being accepted into University or college is not the end of the journey. It is just a reminder that the real work begins then. In the same light, graduating from university is not reaching your destination. Every time you hit a milestone, it is a challenge to aim for more, nothing else.

(http://thesportfactory.com/site/trainingnews/awinnersmentality.shtml )

Be Disciplined

Discipline is the key to success - this saying holds true for all times and for all people of all age groups. Discipline is such a vital component of every aspect of life. Alex Ferguson went further than just asking for discipline from his players but he showed self-discipline on his part. Self-discipline is a pattern of behavior where you choose to do what you know you should do, rather than what you want to do. It is the assertion of willpower over more basic desires and is synonymous with self-control.

Sir Alex likes a drink, particularly if it's red wine. But when he arrived at Manchester United in 1986, he discovered a club where an entrenched drinking culture was affecting results. According to Paul McCrath, a defender who later confessed to alcoholism, Ferguson confronted the issue in his first week: "He laid down the law in no uncertain terms," wrote McGrath in his autobiography, "eyeballing those of us perceived to be heavyweight drinkers". A new era of professionalism dawned.

Before Fergie’s arrival at United there was a club rule that forbade players to drink 2 days before a game. He immediately changed the rule to make it an offense for a player to drink while he was in training. Drinking was rather a culture in English football but 27 years later this is not the case anymore, not only at United but throughout the English game.

Alex Ferguson has helped many of his players to overcome a drinking problem hence realizing their full potential. Examples of such players are Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane. In his autobiography, ghost-written by Eamon Dunphy, Keane who is now effectually a non-drinker admits that he had a problem with alcohol abuse in the past and details some of the trouble it got him into.

Keane chronicles his clashes with his Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, his teammates, members of the public and the police all related to drink. Keane’s alcohol problems got seriously out of hand after his disastrous tackle on Alfie Haaland (Leeds) in September 1997, which destroyed his cruciate ligament and left him out football for nearly a year. Histrionically, Keane blames that career threatening injury on a hangover from the previous night.

Ferguson was ever strict when dealing with players and dispatched out a number of great players that many felt had challenged his authority, including Paul Ince and Jaap Stam.

"You can’t lose control – not when you are dealing with 30 top professionals who are all millionaires", "If they misbehave we fine them but we keep it indoors. And if anyone steps out of my control that’s them dead", said Ferguson when speaking to the Harvard Business School in Boston.

Life often, presents challenges and problems on the path to success and achievement, and in order to rise above them, you have to act with perseverance and persistence, and this of course, requires self-discipline.

Keep on rebuilding (rebranding)

The one thing that kept Fergusson at Manchester United for more than 26 years was his ability to rebuild his teams. United, under Fergie would under perform for a season and the very next season he would rebuild and this would include a change of playing personnel while keeping the back bone. He built, and ruthlessly rebuilt, the playing squad five times (according to some pundits who have documented) to sustain its leading position atop the English Premier League and remain competitive in Europe.

This is a big lesson for all, as nothing stays the same forever. In business, this could be a big aspect of “re-branding” or “repositioning”. People reinvent themselves all the time—to take on a new challenge, shift into more-meaningful work, or rebut perceptions that have hindered their career progress. What’s your unique selling proposition? That’s what people will remember, and you can use it to your advantage. Rebranding is necessary because every now and then society advances and the solutions that worked and solved particular problems become irrelevant over time. Sometimes it is just losing popularity to newer, even more competitive brands. Rebranding doesn’t mean to entirely abandon the old brand; but to reconfigure it to compete in a new marketplace. Leveraging the existing unique blends and with the new improved melds that answer the current and expected future problems better. Sometimes the changes are major (a financial services manager moves into retail, or becomes a life coach).

Marketingdonut.com (gives four major benefits for rebranding as follows;

(http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/branding/do-you-need-to-rebrand-your-business-)

1.      Gain competitive advantage. Your brand is the public face of your business. A well-executed rebrand can allow your company to reflect current market dynamics and gain competitive advantage, accelerate pipeline performance and become a leading voice in your industry.  Sidestep the competition and increase your market share through an updated image. By revisiting your brand messaging, you can counter a loss in consumer confidence and/or decreased profitability.

2.      Stimulate growth. Rebranding can help you to cater more efficiently to current customer demands. Many businesses operate in markets with complex product portfolios, fragmented audiences and promotional clutter. An effective rebrand can help improve your impact in a crowded market. As the company continues to grow and develop, customers hungry for change will keep coming back to see what’s new.

3.      Long-term market expansion. A rebrand can become a public expression of a company’s evolution. As any small business prospers, a rebrand can reflect the larger, more sophisticated company it has become. Businesses that fail to develop their brand risk becoming dwarfed by their more dynamic competitors.

4.      Innovation = profitability. Just as a company’s brand must reflect changes in size and market position, it must also reflect changes in technological innovation. Technology and business development are often inseparable from one another. Any brand associated with technology must keep pace within its sector and may have to consider rebranding to reflect changing trends.

In the case of Alex Ferguson, he kept on rebuilding and thereby ensuring long term market expansion. Manchester City is the latest rival for Manchester united a team which has been at the top of the English game for two decades. In their various guises, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have all been disposed of. Fergusson had to take his last jab at city in the same way other before them were dealt with.

“We always accept a challenge at this club,” “We have had that time and time again. This is another situation.” Ferguson was quoted.

Succession planning

"The domain of leaders is the future. The leader's unique legacy is the creation of valued institutions that survive over time. The most significant contribution leaders make is not simply to today's bottom line; it is to the long-term development of people and institutions so they can adapt, change, prosper, and grow." 

Source: The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes & Posner (2007)

I overheard a conversation of two football enthusiasts at a mall where one was telling the friend that, “the problem with Manchester united is that more than 80% of its fans and followers have not known any other manager (coach) but Alex Ferguson.” Well, if his 80% estimation was accurate, then I definitely fall in the 80% bracket.  However, I do not fall in the trap of believing that because united had the same manager for nearly 27 years, then they have forgotten how to manage change. Fergusson himself publicly urged all the supporters and players to support the next manager, the same way he was supported in his hurly-burly early years at the club. Besides, Fergusson has groomed so many of his former players into respected coaches.  He has guaranteed the next generation of leaders ready to fill those roles anywhere in football. The only way to reduce the effect of lost leadership is through a strong succession planning program that identifies and fosters the next generation of leaders through mentoring, training and stretch assignments, so they are ready to take the helm when the time comes. This is sound succession planning. The likes of Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish, Paul Ince, Viv Anderson, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Henning Berg, Laurent Blanc and many other have gone on to manage around the world and others have had to compete with Ferguson as opposing coaches.

More than 30 of his old charges at the four clubs he served during his 39-year coaching career have gone on to manage. The list will soar soon as the likes of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have already completed the coaching license badge courses. Nicky Butt has been recently involved with the United reserves coaching, Garry Neville is a member of the England national team bench while his younger brother Phil Neville was part of the England under 21 bench recently and has since been drafted in new united coach David Moyes’ team of backroom staff.

He's a great leader not only because he leads a winning team, but because he breeds leaders who can lead with or without him.

Develop Potential

Graham Ruthven, writes on ESPN: Based at the club's Carrington training ground, United's youth academy produces more players for England's top five leagues than any other. In fact, United was ranked fifth in a recent study of Europe's most productive youth setups -- only Barcelona, Lyon, Real Madrid and Stade Rennais were ranked higher -- developing 24 players for Europe's "Big 5" divisions. 

In modern football where millions are splashed on buying players, Fergusson still believed in making his own legends. From the current squad Jonny Evans, Tom Cleverley, Darren Fletcher, Danny Welbeck, Giggs and Scholes all came through the United academy system. Ferguson regularly makes the point that no other club in English football produces as many players for the national team as United.

David Beckham, the most recognizable football face outside the football pitch is perhaps the stand out individual from those made legends during the era of Alex Ferguson at old Trafford. To win titles and remain a European force, Ferguson has also had to buy players but most of them came through as ‘average and relatively unknown’ and they left as legends. French man Eric Cantona who is often regarded as having played a key role in the revival of Manchester United as a footballing force and he enjoys iconic status at the club, was bought from Leeds united at for £1.2 million and helped united win four premier league titles in five years and two League and FA cup doubles. Cristiano Ronaldo became to Manchester united a relatively unknown teenager to become the club’s first-ever Portuguese player in 2003 and after 6 years in England became the record most expensive player in the world and remains the most sought after player still actively playing. Like Cantona and Beckham, Ronaldo also wore the iconic number 7 which was also worn by George Best. There have been more players who became iconic at united under Fergie, and my list would include; Edwin van der Sar, Andrei Kanchelskis, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Dwight Yorke, Andrew Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, Gary Pallister, Wayne Rooney, Peter Schmeichel, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Nemanja Vidic.

Some of the mentioned players upon hearing his retirement eulogized him in an article in the sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4920160/Sir-Alex-Fergusons-three-most-famous-Number-7-midfielders-pay-tribute-to-their-father-figure-boss.html).

Never give up

Fergusson’s teams have been famous for last grasp wins. The famous 1999 European title win was won after united was still trailing Bayern Munich by a goal in the 89^th minute and got a 90^th minute equalizer before the winner came a minute later in stoppage time. Another famous stoppage time win for united was a Michael Owen winner in the Manchester derby to give united a 4-3 win over city in the 6^th minute of added time. That goal prompted then Manchester City coach, Mark Hughes (a protégé of Fergusson), to claim City had been ‘robbed’. Hughes said: "You could say we feel frustrated, but robbed might be a better word.” "I'm not questioning the referee's integrity, I just don't know where he's got the seven minutes from.” "It would be nice to get an explanation from him, but I don't think I will."

Fergusson’s united teams did not believe they were beaten until the last whistle was blown (perhaps the exception was the 2011 European champions’ league defeat to Barcelona). These last minute equalizers and winning goals prompted a sizeable portion of people to claim there was a conspiracy by referees to add time in order to let Manchester united to score. A term “FERGIE TIME” was coined in reference to the added time given every united was playing. One bbc reporter even wrote an article on this perceived “fergie time” conspiracy (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20464371). Ferguson himself told reporters that what he will miss the most from football management are the last minute goals. He cant be blamed for that as the last minute goal changes emotions of despair into jubilations all in just seconds. Upon United’s Barcelona European triumph, he was so astounded and overcome by joy such that he was at a loss for words to the media. All he managed to say was “football, bloody hell.”

Having followed Manchester United and Fergusson’s reign since 1992, I came to the understanding that the goals didn’t come by mistake. It was part of Ferguson’s DNA to not concede defeat and he indoctrinated this philosophy into his players.   

In any situations of life, self-belief is the first step to accomplishment. To attain high heights in any field a “never say-die” attitude is required. Put simply, to succeed in life you need to develop the following traits; patience, faith, endurance, creativity, fortitude and discipline.

No one will ever make your life great unless you make it great yourself. Don't give up. You may have wasted opportunities in the past but it's not over. Only the dead man stops trying. I know of accomplished academicians who have shaped society but had failed in their earlier many times but kept on trying and progressing. The name Abraham Lincoln here quickly comes to mind, a man who came from a humble beginning but through perseverance rose from strength to strength until he became the president of the United States. 

Honours

Over 26 years in charge of Manchester United, his passion for winning and tactical flair made them the most successful club in the Premier League. Under his guidance, United have won an eye-watering 38 trophies, including 13 league championships. During his time in charge of Manchester United, he saw off 24 Real Madrid managers, 18 from Chelsea, 14 at Manchester City and Bayern Munich, 13 from AC Milan and eight from Liverpool.

With 49 trophies Ferguson is easily the most successful football manager Britain has ever known. A managerial career spanning almost four decades, from humble origins at St Mirren then Aberdeen and finally Manchester  United.

The full list of Ferguson’s honours is listed below;

Honours: English Premier League: 2013, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1994, 1993; FA Cup: 2004, 1999, 1996, 1994, 1990; League Cup : 2010, 2009, 2006, 1992; FA Charity Shield: 1997, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1990, 2003; Scottish Premier League: 1985, 1984, 1980;Scottish First Division: 1977; Scottish FA Cup: 1986, 1984, 1983, 1982;Scottish League Cup: 1986; UEFA Champions League: 2008, 1999; UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1991, 1983;European Super Cup: 1991, 1983; Inter-Continental Club Cup: 1999.

What defined Ferguson throughout his managerial career has been his hunger for success. With all he achieved, he still says he is not happy with his record in cup games, especially in continental competitions where he has a record of 2 out of a possible 26. After his retirement, many people questioned Ferguson’s European title return of two and Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez whose club have changed managers so often suggested he’d want stability at his club like Ferguson provided at United but went on and took a ‘pop’ at Fergie.

"Of course I would like a Sir Alex Ferguson here, but in 27 years at Manchester United he won the Champions League twice," said Perez.

From the opinion of your truly, the record is not the best especially considering that Pep Guardiola won 2 out of 4 and Jose Mourinho has won 2 (2004 & 2010) out of a possible 10 between 2003 and 2013. The two mentioned coaches worked under very different circumstances to Fergie’s. He inherited a club in the relegation zone of the English league and left a European giant. Mourinho where ever he has worked has had the benefit of big budgets to spend on quality player while Pep Guardiola inherited a team of player that had played together from their youth and were in the prime of their careers. Ferguson rejected lucrative offers from Barcelona, Arsenal, Rangers and Tottenham to take control of Manchester United on 6^th November 1986( a day before my third birthday), and his initial years, when he had to contend with a drinking culture at the club, were a struggle.

After all is said and done, it must be noted that the European Champions league itself is not an easy competition to win. Great European teams like Juventus, Benfica and Porto have only won it twice throughout the existence of the clubs, the same number as Ferguson has won it. Great teams like Chelsea, PSV, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille have won it only once while many great teams like Arsenal, Fiorentina, Roma AS Monaco and PSG are win the cup. Florentino Perez’s teams, real Madrid has not won the competition in the last ten years, let alone reach a final. This is despite the fact they have out spent all other clubs by far in player purchases. Manchester United have the record number of consecutive participations in the UEFA Champions league with 17 from 1996-97 to 2012-13 and this will go up to 18 when the 2013-14 season kicks off.

Ferguson, for all he has done must be credited for making Manchester united a very strong brand. Forget all the nonsense of removing Liverpool off their perch. Forbes magazine compilation of the most valuable football clubs had Manchester United in first position since 2004 until they were dethroned in 2013. Manchester united is always in the top two earning clubs in terms of annual global revenue and has always out-muscled the others based on the prudent spending at the club in comparison to other European heavy weights.

Knighthood and foes

I must confess that before the events leading to Sir Alex being knighted, I never really knew much about the British knights. I actually thought to be called sir you needed academic excellence. The only knight I had ever come across was the knight chess board piece. I had played a lot of chess in my childhood such that in my 8^th grade I was able to be included on the school team to compete at inter school competitions.

Alexander Chapman Ferguson was knitted by the Queen of England on 12^th June 1999 for his services to football. This was about a month after Manchester United claimed Champions League glory — their first European Cup since, and it came a year after Ferguson was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the labour party. A lifelong socialist, Ferguson was now to be called Sir. A knighthood (or a damehood, its female equivalent) is one of the highest honours an individual in the United Kingdom can achieve.

While in past centuries knighthood used to be awarded solely for military merit, today it recognises significant contributions to national life. 

In as much as Ferguson has enjoyed a lot of praise from different sectors of society and especially the football fraternity, he has been very much a hated figure as well. A lot of people even questioned his being knighted and pointed at his socialist beliefs and his being friends with Alastair Campbell the then aide to PM Tony Blair.

On the football pitch he created great rivalry with Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and most recently Roberto Mancini.

When Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal football club Ferguson did not have the most welcoming words for him, shortly after his appointment as Arsenal manager in 1996.

“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!” 

More harsh words for the Frenchman in 1997.

‘He’s a novice — he should keep his opinions to Japanese football.’

Arsene Wenger was to later become the biggest threat to Alex Ferguson’s legacy and briefly sent the sir into retirement in 2001 before he rescinded the decision.

Jose Mourinho arrived in England in 2004, a few months after winning the European Cup with Portuguese side FC Porto and declared himself ‘the special one’ at his first ever press conference as Chelsea boss. On the route to winning the 2004 European cup, Mourinho had eliminated Ferguson’s Manchester United in controversial circumstances after the referee ruled out a clear Paul Scholes goal as offside. Ferguson would later speak of Mourinho history of never playing football himself by saying; “I would never think a guy who hasn’t played a game could be a top coach but then you’ve got to look at his personality. He’s got a marvellous, strong personality and that bridges that gap.” 

“I remember his first press conference and I thought: ‘Christ, he’s a cocky b******, him’. He was telling the players: ‘Look, I’m the special one, we don’t lose games.”

"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."

Then in 2002 Ferguson responded to former Liverpool player Alan Hansen, then a BBC football pundit, who had accused him of being past his prime; “My greatest challenge is not what’s happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ng perch. And you can print that.”

In more recent times, Ferguson has had to fight the challenge of cross town rivals Manchester City who after being taken over by Wealth oil tycoon Billionaires and had suddenly pumped a lot of money in player purchases and were threatening to push inflate player salaries even more. His response was to say; “There has been a lot of expectation on Manchester City and with the spending they have done they have to win something. Sometimes you have a noisy neighbor and have to live with it. You can’t do anything about them...”
“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.”

Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was to also become a great nemesis of Alex’s and he responded to the [in]famous ‘Rafa facts’ press conference; "I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous."

Benitez then earlier this year told reporters Ferguson had snubbed his offer of a traditional handshake after the game. Fergie responded; “I never even saw him at Old Trafford, so I don't know why he went and made such an issue of it (the handshake),” “When we went down to Stamford Bridge we shook hands before and after the game. There are no problems for me. We do it all the time. It is part of the English culture that you do that. ““At the end of the game, we always shake hands and always have a meeting in my office with both sets of staff. It is a fantastic thing to do. You don't get it abroad, but it is the right thing to do.”

After Benitez's interim appointment at Chelsea, Ferguson said: “Rafa Benitez is very lucky because on his CV in two weeks' time he could have two World Championships to his name, and nothing to do with the teams. Jose Mourinho won the treble after going to Milan. He (Benitez) took over and won a World Championship without having to do anything.”

New Era

David Moyes began his role as the successor to Alex Ferguson at Manchester united on July 1, 2013 though it is more than a month before the football season starts.

Though most teams hire a new coach to shake up the club culture, United was looking for a seamless transition when they signed Moyes. Like Sir Alex, the former Everton manager is Scottish, and the two have a good relationship. Alex Ferguson even approached Moyes once about taking the assistant manager position with the club.

Since the appointment of Moyes, many critics have written him off and have even suggested it may be the end of an era of title for Manchester United. The appointment of novices, Steve Round, Chris Woods, Robbie Cooke and Jimmy Lumsden, Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs onto Moyes’ team of coaching staff has not helped stop the speculation of the fall of an empire.

United have won titles after big name player have left, whether they can continue winning after the departure of a big name legendary manager remains to be seen. All we can do is wish Moyes all the success as the beginning of a new era unfolds.

Like the blues song goes, 'I done paid my dues baibe...' and Fergie has done paid his dues.