Alex Ferguson Quotes & Sayings

Don't play the occasion, play the game. — Alex Ferguson

Once you bid farewell to discipline you say goodbye to success — Alex Ferguson

You have to put all the criticism of this club down to jealousy. United have produced more players who have played for their country, more world-class players and more players who have won European Footballer of the Year than any other team in this country, so we must be doing something right. — Alex Ferguson

Players know that they can trust me which is really important. They know that I had the ability to adapt to change, and they have seen that many times over the years. I think these are important parts of being in control of footballers. — Alex Ferguson

The culmination of three trophies was the pinnacle of my career and it has been rewarded with a knighthood. — Alex Ferguson

Once you shake hands with the devil, you have to accept they are in control. — Alex Ferguson

A housefly has a longer life expectancy than the manager of a Premier League team. — Alex Ferguson

I'm privileged to have followed Sir Matt because all you have to do is to try and maintain the standards that he set so many years ago. — Alex Ferguson

The credit to them, the better team won and there's nothing we can do about that now. — Alex Ferguson

It was our worst-ever day, the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don't think I ever lost 6-1. — Alex Ferguson

If Chelsea drop points, the cat's out in the open. And you know what cats are like - sometimes they don't come home. — Alex Ferguson

There's a lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing you're doing your best, and there's even more that comes when it begins to pay off. I — Alex Ferguson

A leader who arrives in a new setting, or inherits a big role, needs to curb the impulse to display his manhood. — Alex Ferguson

I realized I was good at developing young people. Eventually I started to believe in young people. I think when you give a young person an opportunity, he always believes who gave him his first chance. You create a loyalty that lasts a lifetime. — Alex Ferguson

I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell. — Alex Ferguson

Funnily enough we have never had one enquiry for Paul Scholes. You know why? Because they all know he will never leave. in my time he would be in the top six or seven (best United players ever) without a doubt. His contribution and quality have been great, even without the fantastic goals he has scored. [ ... ] He has that wonderful velvet touch on the ball. When he gets it, it goes stone dead. It is wonderful to see that amidst all the mayhem that can happen in a football match. — Alex Ferguson

It's great news. The reality of negotiations today is that they take time. But these have always been conducted in a good spirit and we are very pleased with the outcome. We can now look forward to the future. — Alex Ferguson

Only true champions come out and show their worth after defeat- and I expect us to do that. — Alex Ferguson

The most important aspect of our system was training. Whatever happens on a Saturday afternoon has already occurred on the training ground. — Alex Ferguson

Well, football is a hard game; there's no denying it. It's a game that can bring out the worst in you, at times. — Alex Ferguson

Distinguish between power and control, delegate, be decisive - and always remember people's first names. — Alex Ferguson

You can't applaud a referee. — Alex Ferguson

I always used to say to players at half-time, 'Be patient. The last fifteen minutes throw the kitchen sink at them. It's worth a gamble'. You are going to lose the game anyway. There is nothing better than when you get to that last fifteen minutes and you actually win the game late on. The fans are going out of the gates I gave it a try and it worked. — Alex Ferguson

Jose was one of those guys on a surfboard who can stay longer on the wave than anyone else. — Alex Ferguson

I bet him he wouldn't get 15 league goals and I'm going to have to change my bet with him. If he gets to 15 I can change it and I am allowed to do that because I'm the manager. I'm going to make it 150 now! — Alex Ferguson

I had to lift players' expectations. They should never give in. I said that to them all the time: "If you give in once, you'll give in twice. — Alex Ferguson

Everyone remembers Stuart Pearce as a determined, aggressive player, who played with great heart and enthusiasm that gave him a great career in the game. — Alex Ferguson

My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f*****g perch. And you can print that. — Alex Ferguson

I am such a bloody talented guy. I might go into painting or something like that. — Alex Ferguson

Promise is one thing. Fulfilling that promise is quite another. — Alex Ferguson

At the last minute, from what I can gather, either Emmanuel Adebayor or his agent phoned us after they had agreed a deal with City and then did the same with Chelsea. He was desperate to get to either Chelsea or us. — Alex Ferguson

There is no evidence that changing your managers repeatedly leads to success, but there is evidence at Manchester United, I was managing there for 26 years I won 38 trophies. — Alex Ferguson

The way to win battles, wars and games is by attacking and overrunning the opposing side. — Alex Ferguson

If you're going to be a footballer, be a great one.If you're going to have a dream, dream big. — Alex Ferguson

Some people, when they have a holiday, just want to go to salt coats, twenty-five miles along the coast from Glasgow. Some people don't even want to that. They are happy to stay at home or watch the birds and the ducks float by in the park. And some want to go to the moon. It's all about people's AMBITIONS. — Alex Ferguson

I think that fear does come into it in some respect in the sense of when I lost my temper I didn't hide behind a bush on it in respect to the times that I did lose my temper. But you know the quality that I had when I lost my temper, I never, ever brought it back again. — Alex Ferguson

Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like. — Alex Ferguson

I feel sympathy for the working class lad. I've always championed about ticket prices and try to equate that to people's salaries. — Alex Ferguson

I was lying in bed on a Saturday morning, reading the paper, when my phone went. The caller was Rangers director, Jack Gillespie, and he offered me the manager's job at Ibrox. I was flattered but declined with thanks. John Greig was a good friend of mine and I had no intention of being involved in ousting him. — Alex Ferguson

I always said to the directors that the minute a player becomes more powerful than the manager of Manchester United, it's not Manchester United. You have lost control of the whole club. So I always made sure that I was in control. They always knew who the manager was. — Alex Ferguson

There are members of the London press who seek to antagonise me, deliberately. — Alex Ferguson

I think Paul Scholes is the best player in England. He's got the best skills, the best brain. No one can match him. There isn't a player of his mould anywhere in the world. Paul is irreplaceable. — Alex Ferguson

They say it was Cesc Fabregas who threw the pizza at me but, to this day, I have no idea who the culprit was. — Alex Ferguson

David impresses by his example on the field. He never stops running, he plays with supreme confidence, he always tries his hardest and he scores important goals.
(on David Beckham) — Alex Ferguson

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! — Alex Ferguson

I think his team are mirroring Stuart Pearce as the player he was.
(on Manchester City) — Alex Ferguson

You are not going to be happy if you lose to a goal in the last minute. It is difficult to take and difficult to get out of your mind. — Alex Ferguson

Cole should be scoring from those distances, but I'm not going to single him out. — Alex Ferguson

They (the press) have a hatred of Manchester United. — Alex Ferguson

If my parents were still alive, they would be very proud. They gave me a good start in life, the values that have driven me, and the confidence to believe in myself. — Alex Ferguson

As long as there are games to play it is not over. — Alex Ferguson

He's fiery, he's competitive, ... I think it was an unfair booking, and Wayne reacts like this against injustice. — Alex Ferguson

As long as there are games to play its not over — Alex Ferguson

I do like to try and see myself in football players. Everybody is different and express themselves in different ways. There are different kinds of talents of course and there are many who I would never have had the talent that they have when I was a player. But I still had that determination to be successful and try my best. — Alex Ferguson

Well he's only 20. Without question, he's the best youngest player I've seen in my time ... If he keeps developing and matures ? goodness knows what he will become. At the moment he's a breathe of fresh air.
(on Wayne Rooney) — Alex Ferguson

I think Sepp Blatter is in danger ... or has reached a point now, where he is being mocked within the game. Whether he's getting too old, I don't know. But things can happen to people in power. Look at some of the despots in Africa ... From a position of great power, he has uttered so many ridiculous statements that he is in danger of seriously damaging his credibility. — Alex Ferguson

As with every young player these days, Ronaldo is 18. — Alex Ferguson

It's a horrible part of the game when you have to tell a player, probably somebody who has helped you win so much that his time is up. You treat them like family, and because they are your family it becomes even more hurting in the sense that you have got to say well son, I'm sorry, you won't be a regular here, but you will still have a career elsewhere.' It's happened more than a few times but it is not an easy thing to handle. — Alex Ferguson

Kindness is a universal language regardless of age, nationality or religion. — Alex Ferguson

Myths grow all the time. If I was to listen to the number of times I've thrown teacups then we've gone through some crockery in this place. It's completely exaggerated, but I don't like people arguing back with me. — Alex Ferguson

If we can play like that every week we'll get some level of consistency. — Alex Ferguson

The work of a team should always embrace a great player but the great player must always work. — Alex Ferguson

He's such a great threat because of his power and pace.
(on Cristiano Ronaldo) — Alex Ferguson

The time I have already spent at Harvard has been a stimulating experience, and I look forward to developing my relationship and activities with the students, faculty and friends of the Harvard Business School community. — Alex Ferguson

The best have the courage and I say this all the time. The courage to take the ball all the time, the courage to make sure that they are not going to be intimidated by their opponents, and the courage to express themselves at all times and I think that all the great players have got that. — Alex Ferguson

Onde you bid farewell to discipline you day goodbye to success — Alex Ferguson

I was doing all the coaching schools so that I'd be able to stay in the game, and I gave myself a chance by doing that. I was only an average player, could score a goal or two, that sort of thing, but I wasn't a Bobby Charlton or a Messi, or Ronaldo. There are very, very few really great players who have become great coaches. — Alex Ferguson

Scholes was probably the best English midfielder since Bobby Charlton. He was such a brilliant long passer that he could choose a hair on the head of any team-mate answering the call of nature at our training ground. Gary Neville once thought he had found refuge in a bush, but Scholesy found him from 40 yeards. He inflicted a similar long-range missile strike, once, on Peter Schmeichel, and was chased round the training ground for his impertinence. Scholesy would have made a first class-sniper. — Alex Ferguson

Hard work will always overcome natural talent when natural talent does not work hard enough. — Alex Ferguson

I tell the players that the bus is moving. This club has to progress. And the bus wouldn't wait for them. I tell them to get on board. — Alex Ferguson

If he was an inch taller he'd be the best center half in Britain. His father is 6 ft 2 in - I'd check the milkman. — Alex Ferguson

You would have thought that I had left 11 corpses on the steps of a funeral home. — Alex Ferguson

Football management is such a pressurised thing - horseracing is a release. I'm also learning to play the piano - I'm quite determined - it's another release from the pressure of my job. — Alex Ferguson

Liverpool can play for only five minutes and win the game, that is the way they are. They pump the ball into the box and with good set-piece delivery they keep you under pressure. — Alex Ferguson

In England, it's a rare thing to see a player smoking but, all in all, I prefer that to an alcoholic. The relationship with alcohol is a real problem in English football and, in the short term, it's much more harmful to a sportsman. It weakens the body, which becomes more susceptible to injury. — Alex Ferguson

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 honor to be associated with such a player. — Alex Ferguson

The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. — Alex Ferguson

Keeping players happy is not easy and I think anyone with a big squad will tell you that. — Alex Ferguson

He could start a row in an empty house. — Alex Ferguson

Go make your mistakes in the first team. You'll learn more in a month in the first team than you will in two years in the reserves. — Alex Ferguson

I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cockier spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind. — Alex Ferguson

Pardew has come out and criticized me. He is the worst at haranguing referees. He shoves them and makes a joke of it. How he can criticize me is unbelievable. He forgets the help I gave him, by the way. The press have had a field day. The only person they have not spoken to is Barack Obama because he is busy. It is unfortunate but I am the manager of the most famous club in the world. Not Newcastle, a wee club in the North-East. I was demonstrative. I am always demonstrative. Everyone knows that. I am an emotional guy but I was not abusive. — Alex Ferguson

We once went 13 games without winning. There's always pressure here. Winning is always important here. How do you handle yourself and compose yourself is important.
(on Manchester United) — Alex Ferguson

I understand the intensity of the supporters. I wonder how they could turn up for work on Monday morning after we lost 5-1 to Manchester City. — Alex Ferguson

The lads really ran their socks into the ground. — Alex Ferguson

The philosophy of a lot of European teams, even in home matches, is not to give a goal away. — Alex Ferguson

Lampard, for me, was a marvellous servant for Chelsea, but I didn't think of him as an elite international footballer. And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player. — Alex Ferguson

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. — Alex Ferguson

the best leaders tend to be missionaries rather than mercenaries. — Alex Ferguson

Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles. — Alex Ferguson

Sometimes in football you have to hold your hand up and say, yeah, they're better than us. — Alex Ferguson

drive means a combination of a willingness to work hard, emotional fortitude, enormous powers of concentration and a refusal to admit defeat. — Alex Ferguson

All they can talk about is Manchester United. — Alex Ferguson

I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb. — Alex Ferguson

Critics have always questioned whether players like Pele from the 50s could play today. Lionel Messi could play in the 1950s and the present day, as could Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff because they are all great players. Lionel Messi without question fits into that category. — Alex Ferguson

You can't do anything about them ... — Alex Ferguson

Jose understands winning and losing are twins in a way. When you win you don't gloat and when you lose you don't go bananas. — Alex Ferguson

One mark of a leader is his willingness to share information. — Alex Ferguson

That lad must have been born offside. — Alex Ferguson

Don't lie, don't steal and always be early. — Alex Ferguson