Five Interesting Facts About Manchester United Legend Alex Ferguson You May Not Know

Few topics of conversation in footbal have a general consensus – however, everyone seems to be in agreement that Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager Manchester United have ever had.

Everyone knows that he is one of the most successful head coaches of all time – but we’d like to impart a few nuggets of knowledge that you may not know about Fergie.

From his often-forgotten playing career to his love for a certain Scottish club, we have left no stone unturned for this list.

He managed the Scotland National Team

Here is something that doesn’t get brought up very often – Fergie had a brief, not to mention unsuccessful, run as manager of the Scotland national team from 1985-1986.

Ferguson took the reins after previous manager Jock Stein unexpectedly died shortly after a game against Australia. With little time to prepare before the 1986 World Cup, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

The World Cup did not go well for Scotland, as they finished bottom of their group after picking up just a single point – Fergie resigned from his post after the tournament concluded.

He was bought for a record-breaking fee as a player

Fergie’s playing career was impressive – he made over 300 appearances for a range of reputable clubs during it. As such, he attracted big-money bids for his services.

In 1967, while playing for Dunfermline, Ferguson was the subject of a £65,000 from a fellow club in Scotland – at the time, it was a record-breaking transfer fee between two Scottish clubs.

He completely merited such a price – at Dunfermline, Fergie scored a total of 66 goals in 89 league games.

He never played for a club outside of Scotland

Alex Ferguson was Scottish to his very core. So much so, that he never played for a cub outside of the country – even with clubs such as Nottingham Forest reportedly showing an interest in him during the early 1970s.

During his active playing career, Ferguson played for Queen’s Park, St. Johnstone, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Ayr United and one other team that we’ll get around to shortly.

Fergie assumed the role of striker as a player – he was prolific, too, as he scored 171 goals over the course of his career.

He won siverware for every club team he managed – except one

Fergie’s penchant for gathering silverware has been documented time and time again. He didn’t just win trophies at Manchester United – he collected them almost everywhere he went.

However, there was one club that even Fergie couldn’t guide to a trophy – East Stirlingshire. He took the job aged just 32, in a part-time capacity.

His run there was nothing to write home about – however, considering that the club did not have a senior goalkeeper upon his arrval, we would say he did an admirable job.

He was a boyhood Rangers fan

That’s right – Alex Ferguson grew up as a fan of Rangers in his youth. Born in Glasgow during a successful period for the club, it isn’t hard to see why.

He realised his dreams in 1967 when he signed for the club – he would go on to make 41 appearances and score 25 goals for the Gers.

He had a decent run with the Light Blues – he made 41 appearances and scored 25 goals, before leaving in 1969 to join Falkirk.