Squeaky Bum Time

To wish him well for his retirement, Aurum has reissued a collection of classic quotations from British football's most outspoken and acerbic boss.

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Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired from Manchester United as the most successful manager English football has ever seen, was simultaneously the most admired and feared manager in British football. During almost forty years in the dugout, and over half a century in the professional game, he's torn up the record books, amassed a treasure trove of silverware, and unleashed the hairdryer - as well as the odd football boot - on countless players, rival managers, referees and journalists. But amid the sound, the fury and the mind-games lurks one of sport's greatest wits. So here we present Sir Alex Ferguson: uncompromising, unrivalled and uncut. On Arsene Wenger: 'They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I've got a fifteen-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages.' On Dennis Wise: 'He could start a row in an empty house.' On referees: 'Can anyone tell me why they give referees a watch? It's certainly not for keeping the time.' On his humble beginnings: 'People say mine was a poor upbringing. I don't know what they mean. It was tough, but it wasn't bloody poor. We maybe didn't have a TV. We didn't have a car. We didn't even have a phone.
But I thought I had everything, and I did: I had a football.' After the winning the European Cup in 1999: 'I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football, eh? Bloody hell.'