SOCCER

For over a quarter of a century Sir Alex Ferguson brought out the best and the worst in the game he loved. In the wake of his retirement announcement, that's the legacy of football's most successful and divisive manager.

For some he is the ultimate winner, the manager with a catalog of achievements that will never be equaled. For others he was a bullying overlord who cajoled his way to success and exercised an iron grip over England's top flight.

The true reality of Ferguson lies somewhere in the middle. Because certainly even his harshest critics can't dismiss his haul of trophies.

Yet even his greatest supporters and apologists can't excuse every method he used to win them. As the English Premier League gets ready for life without Ferguson, it's appropriate to ask what made him admired and loathed in equal measure?

Perhaps it's best to first look at what was missing in the manager who redefined what success in football represents.

In a classic `under the radar` move Wayne Rooney has deleted the status of his twitter account from Manchester United Player, to Nike Athlete. In isolation, this may seem an innocent move, but with the rampant speculation over his future, it fuels the view that he is on his way out of Old Trafford.

It has emerged that Rooney had a unofficial discussion with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, just before he announced his retirement. Whilst the two announcements cannot be linked in any way, it is a distraction that Manchester United could have well done without, having to deal with the replacement of their long term manager.

Once David Moyes appointment has been announced, and it should be today, attention will inevitably turn to Wayne Rooney. Of course, he has previous in this sort of thing. In 2010, he threatened to quit and even put in a formal transfer request. On that occasion he felt that the club were not making any substantial transfer signings; a comment he subsequently withdrew after high level talks with Sir Alex to set out his vision for the future of the club. He subsequently signed a new 5 year deal. That deal runs out in 2 years’ time in 2015.

Not just the EPL, but the whole world is buzzing today (including the New York Stock Exchange) over the news Manchester United Legendary and iconic manager Sir Alex Ferguson will retire at the end of the 2013 season.

After much speculations the past few days, Manchester United confirmed the news on its website this morning.

Said Sir Alex in his press release "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly...It is the right time."

Ferguson will manage two more games before his retirement becomes official including this Sunday’s game at home against Swansea, and his last game away at West Bromfield on May 19.

Ferguons further added: "It was important to me to leave an organization in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so."

Ferguson and Manchester United have already wrapped up the club's 20th Premier League title (13th of Ferguson's career at Old Trafford).

After 26 years as Manchester United manager, Ferguson will stay on with the club as the director. 

After a day of turmoil in the media and surrounding Manchester United Football Club it has been discovered that David Moyes has spoken to Everton Chairman, Bill Kenwright, about taking the Manchester United job. He has done this as a matter of courtesy as he and Kenwright are close friends as well as working partners.

Manchester United have been prepared for this moment for a long time; David Gill is on record as stating that the club has made contingency plans for this very day and they had made arrangements to put the necessary machinery into action to make sure that the transition to the new manager would be as seamless as possible.

After having spoken to his chairman, David Moyes has been in touch with his agents and they in turn have spoken to Manchester United representatives about taking the job. Needless to say, they will want to get this done and dusted very quickly to avoid any unnecessary media frenzy that might disrupt the club.

My information is that David Moyes will be announced as the new manager and will take over at the end of the season. This will be announced tomorrow (Thursday).

I have been fortunate during my lifetime to have seen the greats in football, music and film. Today we are highlighting the career of the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson.

I started to watch football in 1958. My father used to put me on a coach outside my house every Saturday morning and I would go to Manchester United, Old Trafford one week and Manchester City, Maine Road the next. I saw Duncan Edwards, possibly the best player this country has ever produced. I remember seeing grown men crying on the streets of my Hometown, Stockport and found that the team had been wiped out at the Munich disaster. I also remember how Sir Matt Busby rebuilt the team from the ashes and won the European Cup, later called the Champions League. Sir Matt retired after that but stayed on as a director. It was a disaster, as the ageing team was not renewed, managers were sacked and Sir Matt tried to come back and rescue the team. It ended in failure and United were relegated in 1975. After a procession of managers, some of whom had limited success; it fell to an unknown Scot to take over the reins in 1986.