End of an Era

It's not many football managers who get to influence events at, arguably the world's leading stock exchange - the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

But that's what happened yesterday with the announcement that Sir Alex Ferguson would be retiring from his position at Manchester United - the club that he has served so loyally and managed so successfully for the past 26 years.

Now it's fair to say that Ferguson's job was on a 'shaky nail' in his first season - as he struggled to find the magic formula that seems to comes so easily to the wily Scot these days.

Luckily senior figures at the club - including Sir Bobby Charlton - refused to be panicked and insisted that Ferguson be given the time to properly establish himself and fashion a team in his own image - a luxury in the game these days that's as rare as hen's teeth.

And that's exactly what Ferguson did, season after season, building and rebuilding great teams, around brilliant individual players - though none were ever bigger than the manager or the club itself.

So it's a rare moment in sporting history that the football world will unite to tip its hat to a great manager - a curmudgeon at times, a terrible loser for sure - but the most successful manager of his generation. 

I wonder if he could be tempted to play a role on behalf of the Scottish national football team - we could certainly do with some of his magic dust.