Sir Alex Ferguson: The story of football's greatest manager

Sir Alex Ferguson will go down as one of – if not the – greatest football manager of all time.

His long and successful 26-year reign as Manchester United manager is fondly remembered by football fans all around the world.

Sir Alex has won more trophies than any other manager in his career, so let's take a look at the most successful managerial reign in all of football.

Prior to his managerial career, Ferguson had a decent playing career as a forward in Scotland, having had most of his success with Dunfermline, Falkirk, and Rangers.

In a 17-year playing career in Scotland, the Scot made 317 appearances and scored 171 goals.

His early managerial career took shape at the helm of East Stirlingshire and St Mirren, where at the latter, he got his first taste of managerial success, winning the Scottish First Division.

After success in Scotland's lower leagues, Ferguson got his first major job – taking the reigns of Aberdeen in July 1978.

In his first year as boss, Ferguson lost in the semi-final of both major cup competitions and finished fourth in the league. However, this was just the start of an exceptional reign...

With Aberdeen, Ferguson won a staggering 11 pieces of silverware in his time at the club, including three Scottish titles, four Scottish Cups, one European Cup Winners Cup, and a European Super Cup.

Ferguson had been part of the coaching staff in Scotland's World Cup qualifying campaign but due to the collapse of manager Jock Stein, Sir Alex was asked to manage the side at the 1986 World Cup.

Sir Alex failed to take Scotland beyond the group stages of the tournament, resulting in him stepping down from the job in June 1986.

Sir Alex took over at Manchester United in November 1986, managing to pull a relegation-threatened United team to an 11th-place finish in his first season.

After a dark spell at the back end of 1989, Ferguson started to turn the team around at the start of the 1990s, winning an FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners Cup, despite average performances in the league.

After bringing in French superstar Eric Cantona to partner Mark Hughes, United shot from tenth to first in the latter stages of the season, decisively going top with Steve Bruce's 97th-minute goal against Sheffield Wednesday to end the 26-year title drought.

The nineties domination Ferguson had become accustomed to cemented his legacy in footballing history.

His team would go on to win another four League titles, three FA Cup titles, and a Champions League in the decade, winning all three in one historic season.

Perhaps the best and most legendary season in Ferguson's career as a manager was the 1998/99 season.

His side beat Arsenal to the Premiership by a point, convincingly saw off Newcastle in the FA Cup final, and dismantled Bayern Munich with less than five minutes remaining in the Champions League final to win a first-ever domestic and European treble.

Ferguson's team won the league three years on the bounce from 1999-2001, but a fierce competitor in London was starting to take shape.

Ferguson vs Wenger and Keane vs Viera became the box-office attraction in the 2000s, with both winning the league and fighting for the top spot.

With the influx of new players hitting their peak, like a young Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Ferguson wasn't finished reigning mightily over English football.

Ferguson's final years with United would finish with a bang. Between 2007 and 2013, he secured five more Premier League titles, two League Cups, and another Champions League winners medal in 2008.

Ferguson retired in 2013 after winning nearly 40 pieces of silverware in his long managerial career as the boss of Manchester United.

As of now, Ferguson lives in Cheshire with his wife Cathy and is still seen regularly at Manchester United games to this day.