Born in Glasgow on New Years Eve 1941

Sir Alex Ferguson's first taste of European silverware came when he led Aberdeen to the 1983 Cup Winners Cup

Manchester United once a great side but in search of leadership and inspiration came knocking

But after three mediocre seasons his place at the helm lay in the balance

Until FA Cup goals from Mark Robins altered his career forever

Sir Alex Ferguson was reasonable for making Old Trafford a theatre and a fortress for over 20 years

Whilst their noisy neighbors worked there way through 21 managers United held on to just 1

Winning an unprecedented 38 pieces of silverware including 2 Champions League,

5 FA Cup and 13 Premier League trophies

I'm here to try and uncover how Sir Alex got the best out of players renowned for being talented yet temperamental

All he wanted was attention Eric, you know he wanted attention

I also want to try and get a rare insight into the man behind the manager

He got off the seat and he sprinted out that door, through the dressing room, screaming for the kit manager

So by the time he got back I had it opened up poured a couple of glasses, ohh it was hilarious

And I want to discover which places and people help carve the most formidable character in the history of the game

She came through and she kicked me, she woke me up and them three were standing behind her

She said 'You're not retiring, you're to young to retire'

So get ready... It's Fergie time

This is your sort of second home here, are you honorary golf captain at Mottram Hall?

Yes I am, I've only played twice since I became captain

I'm just down the road

So has your gold handicap improved or not?

No, I had the hip operation about a year and a bit ago

And I've only played about 4 times, played here a couple of times with Bobby Charlton but that's it

And is retirement what you thought it would be? I mean I know you're still very busy

But were there things you were looking forward to that you just thought well that be, I'll do that in retirement

Definitely, everyone's got bucket lists of course but I looked forward to it

And also I made sure I was going to be active

The difference being was that maybe waking up during the night and putting the television on

Difference from what I use to do up at 6 o'clock into the training ground

Now I do that maybe get up at 8, have breakfast with Cathy, It's the first time she's ever had breakfast with me

So that's a big change but I set out to be active all the time

The fist thing we did, a cruise up to the Scottish Highlands

With my family and my mates, just all men

And we started off at Oban and it was the day that Andy Murray won the open

So we had the champagne all ready

Won Wimbledon yea

We weren't setting sail until he won that, as we set out and all the people on the Quay were all waving to us

And we had the champagne out, well done Andy and we had a great time, It was fantasic

And that was that something, you thought you could have gone anywhere in the world and actually it was

A lovely summer that summer wasn't it [We were dead lucky] So you were really lucky [Dead lucky yea]

But was that something you'd set yourself? I always, I want to do the Highlands? I want to do the Islands

I want to go home really

Yea exactly, well as a Scotsman I'd never been to places I've gone to you know on that cruise

I'd never been to Oban in my life, that's amazing, it's not even far from Glasgow

And you've mentioned Cathy already, hugely important to your success I would think

Absolutely

What is it that shes brought in a marriage that's nearly 50 years, I mean it's 48 years I think you've been married now?

48 yea

How does she understand you and how much respect do you have for her in terms of listening to her if she says?

Shes a great judge, A great judge of people in particular, shes never been a football wife who goes to games

Shes never done that, she'd go to the cup finals and ???? use to say a waste of a ticket

Because she'd sit her and her sister talking and in the tearoom, hardly watched the game

But because it was the Cup final she would always go, and shes a good mother, a good wife

And a great grandmother, a fantastic grandmother

Well I should think you're a pretty good grandfather aren't you? because you've got time

Oh I love that now, I've always loved that, every week we've got some of them there you know

I've got 11 grandchildren now, ones 20, Jake and the youngest I've got 2 at 5

So they're great

And is it true that Cathy won't let you have any football memorabilia in the house?

No none, none at all

And what would happen if you came back with a book or something, football book?

Well we've got a library of football books don't get me wrong

But I've not got anything displayed about my career. It’s all in the United Museum, everything’s in there

And I think that’s the best place for it really to be honest with you, because it can be shared with every fan that goes in to the museum.

It's a fantastic museum, It's not a matter of me saying I miss it or anything like that

I don't even think about it, I think it's in the right place

But the most the sort of the most crucial influence she had and it didn't came out until a few years afterwords

But shes the one that talked you out of the first time you were going to retire

Absolutely, yea

And was that because she didn't want you around the house or you weren't, she thought you weren't ready yet?

She could sense I'd made a mistake and she knew I'd made a mistake

And I knew myself you know, the silly thing was it was impulse

It was a sort of a in the heat of the moment, I just decided

And I made it at the beginning of the season which is even worse

And I knew after a few weeks I said why did I do that you know

But then sometimes when you've got a stubbornness about you, you say well I've done it and then you carry it through

And then around about Christmas day or New Years day, I think it was New Year’s Day actually,

I was sleeping on the couch after dinner, with the boys and their families

She came through and she kicked me. She woke me up and them three were standing behind her

You know

She said, you’re not retiring, you’re too young to retire

And the boys said you're off your head to retire

With you as a child who were the influences on your personalty?

My parents were without doubt created the foundation for me in terms of they keep saying

Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, you know all these little things

Don't be late, that's my father oh honestly if your ever late he was in agony at me

But then you get to go to school and I had a fantastic teacher there, she was unbelievable, Mrs Thompson

She was a star

But she was very strict i mean there was a certain amount of corporal punishment wasn't there?

Ah but everyone got that in these days if you were you best behavior you got 6 of the belt that was the favourite

But enthusiasm and determination, I remember we played a game of rounders, we used to get a game of rounders

On a Friday afternoon maybe from 3 to 4 that was your sort of a sweetie

And it was my turn to bat

And there's first base there

And i'm looking at first base, i'll get to that first base

And I knocked the ball at the side,

She went absolutely lunatic

You Ferguson, if you ever do that again I will kill you!

Next time I was swinging at it as if it was the most important thing in the world

But she was fantastic and then when she died a few months later

A package come into my house and it was from my nephew and it was a belt

The belt that she'd hit you with?

Yea, yea everyone got it

You know it's fantastic and I've still got it in the house, it's fantastic

Despite the fact we've been talking about your retirement you have gone off on a completely different tangent

And you've got this role at Harvard University, Fellow to the executive education program

Now what does that involve and how do you prepare for it? because it's very, you know that sort of performance in front of a

Bunch of very very bright students that is quite nerve racking I should think?

The professor Anita Elberse she's Dutch, very clever woman

Great leader of her classroom, tremendous, came across with a young chap with her

And did a case study, watching you training at United, spoke to a few people at United

And they did interviews with me and then she did a case study for all the students and I'm sitting in the classroom

And there's all these young bright people

And the classroom was 2 classrooms say 65 each and one of the classroom was 45 nationalities

From all over the world and that was to me the most amazing thing and that tells you about Harvard it's such a brand

Of intelligence for people getting there and how there progress

I mean Bill Gates was there and Mark Zuckerberg

John F. Kennedy, I mean if you look at John F. Kennedy's staff, all his staff were former Harvard students

All of them and that's what they call The best and the brightest

And do they understand your accent?

I don't know

But I have to say this, I need to say this, speak slowly

Which I'm doing with you

I'm very grateful

And you have a board up and you've got certain key words

What do they find most interesting? What do they quiz you on?

They roll down boards and they keep putting up bullet points and all the rest of it

Part of it was a circle of what is important

Manager, CEO, owner, players, staff, then agents, supporters, press all these things

I scored out all of them apart from CEO, owner, players, staff and myself, those are the essentials to do that job properly

All the rest is always peripheral, The only way you can satisfy fans is by making them happy and winning on Saturday, that’s your job

The media, you can never satisfy media, but you have to do it.

And the agents, only time you hear from them is when they want money, a new contract or they want a player to move

As we well know that’s the job, So they’re peripheral to me in the job really

You've always been very curious, which is a great quality to have in terms of learning from other sports

I remember years and years ago we were at a yard in Lambourn and you were looking at the veterinary staff

And do you remember they were scoping that horse and you looked at the

And your trying the learn from what they were doing with race horses

Golf also you always loved and you obviously you went up to the Ryder Cup in Gleneagles

How impressed are you with the way Paul McGinley prepared that European side and the work he put in

To making sure pairings worked, that they brought out the best in each other?

Well that's what I tried to be to it

When Paul came to see me over a year ago, his detail, the plan he’d mapped out was fantastic, it was brilliant

And I was delighted and honoured that he asked me to participate in it. And we kept it quiet

We really did until maybe a few days before, but this had been going on for a year

And we made sure it was going to be right, It was going to be good

And I know how much you admire Andy Murray, I would think Rory McIlroy's quite high up you list aswell?

Oh yea

You see there are geniuses in life and Rory produces shots he shouldn't try. He’s got the ability to do it

And sometimes it doesn’t come off, but his imagination is such he can do these shots

And when they come off you say to yourself, How did he do that?

And hes got that in his locker, he's an exceptional exceptional player

He’s without doubt, I think, the most gifted golfer I’ve seen

And hes got the personality to you know

And he's a United fan so it helps

He's the all round package

He's an all round package correct

During his 26 years at Old Trafford Sir Alex Ferguson took charge of some of the greatest footballers

The game has ever seen

But unlike other elite clubs he didn't rely on an unlimited transfer budget to turn his squad into world beaters

Guaranteeing the sustainability of the club by making it's academy the best in Europe was his priority

He nurtured home grown talent, he developed them mentally and physically and he turned them into sporting icons

He also trusted his instincts and gut feeling when taking a chance on unproven and untested players

Under Sir Alex United were formidable on the counter attack pushing there opponents to the very limit

With him at the helm the won an unprecedented 61 Premier League games with a goal scored in the 80th minute or later

And when the cries of 'Attack Attack' echoed around Old Trafford

Opponents were filled with dread, fear and the horrible realisation of the inevitable

And it strikes me with all of your success, 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cup, 2 Champions Leagues

38 trophies in total

Is it the development of the players as individuals that gives you more satisfaction than even the vast array of trophies?

Definitely without question, Many people have different interpretations of what I’ve made Manchester United over the last 26 years

With great players, Rooney, Ronaldo, Cantona, Keane, Robson, Schmeichel, there’s too many to talk about

But honestly I think the spirit of Manchester United has come from the ’92 team

I think that gave everyone at the club, not just the supporters, myself, my staff the directors

Bobby Charlton who was brought up in the Matt Busby era, it brought back the history of Manchester Utd, no question

And it's fascinating that you was also prepared to take a risk so take someone like Cantona

Who, that wasn't an obvious signing and there would of been a bit of warning that might of come with it

And obviously he got into trouble then fairly early on