Latest Alex Ferguson Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• It was time for me to spend more time with my wife. I'm not saying I do spend more time with my wife, because she would throw me out of the house, but we have breakfast together. I never did.

  Alex Ferguson

  Wife, House, Together

• 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

  Years, Trophies, Manchester United

• 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

  Loyalty, Believe, Opportunity

• If you were in a game of football always think you need maybe eight to win the game. Three can on an off day or semi off day but you always hard. And the players recognize that and they'll do that extra to make sure they get winning. The essence of the team is to understand and trust each other and to trust me.

  Alex Ferguson

  Football, Team, Winning

  Sir Alex Ferguson's PBS Interview Transcription, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• 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

  Winning, Player, Games

  "Read the Fergie interview transcript... on holding grudges, listening to American Civil War tapes on the way to work, handling Man United's millionaires and why he thinks Pele is THE all-time No 1". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  Hurt, Sorry, Son

  "Fergie reveals all: Why I turned down Abramovich, Moyes IS the right man for United... and you'll be throwing your money down the drain betting on me coming back (I'll be at the Kentucky Derby!)". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  Powerful, Player, Clubs

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• 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

  Player, Thinking, Years

  "Read the Fergie interview transcript... on holding grudges, listening to American Civil War tapes on the way to work, handling Man United's millionaires and why he thinks Pele is THE all-time No 1". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• You start with what you believe in. I believe in building a football club rather than building a football team.

  Alex Ferguson

  Football, Team, Believe

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• There was one or two offers that did come along during my time at United, but I always came back to this point; why would you leave United? Where is the bigger challenge? And the thing about challenges is, once you have won something, you can't live on that. Not at Manchester United - you have got to win the next one. And that's the challenge. Maintaining that consistency of winning which is a mentality that I have had.

  Alex Ferguson

  Winning, Two, Consistency

  RedNews interview, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  Football, Determination, Successful

  "Read the Fergie interview transcript... on holding grudges, listening to American Civil War tapes on the way to work, handling Man United's millionaires and why he thinks Pele is THE all-time No 1". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  School, Player, Average

  "Fergie reveals all: Why I turned down Abramovich, Moyes IS the right man for United... and you'll be throwing your money down the drain betting on me coming back (I'll be at the Kentucky Derby!)". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  Thinking, Quality, Doe

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• I always say prepare to be a coach to anybody who wants to be a coach. At 24 years of age when I left engineering to become full time in football, I made sure that I was never going back to engineering.

  Alex Ferguson

  Football, Engineering, Years

  "Read the Fergie interview transcript... on holding grudges, listening to American Civil War tapes on the way to work, handling Man United's millionaires and why he thinks Pele is THE all-time No 1". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• 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

  Player, Thinking, Balls

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• Manchester United might not win Premier League every year, but we'd always be up there competing for it every year.

  Alex Ferguson

  Winning, Years, League

  "Read the Fergie interview transcript... on holding grudges, listening to American Civil War tapes on the way to work, handling Man United's millionaires and why he thinks Pele is THE all-time No 1". Interview with Charlie Rose, www.dailymail.co.uk. October 2, 2013.

• I'm a Pele fan from way back when I was a kid, and then there was always this thing later about Pele and Maradona. I was young and impressionable as a kid but it was always Pele for me.

  Alex Ferguson

  Kids, Fans, Back When

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.

• I never worried about teams who spend what they want to spend. It never bothered me. At the moment we have a lot of Middle Eastern owners, we have American owners of course, Russian owners. It never bothered me one bit. All I was concerned about was that we at United maintained our level of expectation, be competitive, be at the top part of the Premier League.

  Alex Ferguson

  Team, League, Expectations

  Interview with Charlie Rose, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. March 10, 2013.