Done and dusted: Ferguson's career quotes

Alex Ferguson is to retire after more than 26 years in charge of Manchester United. Following is a list of his best quotes as he took Manchester United to trophy after trophy; quotes that made him loved and hated in equal measure. Here’s a walk down memory lane… in Ferguson’s own words: “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. Football. Bloody hell.” On winning the Champions League in 1999 “My greatest challenge is not what is happening right at this moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their perch. And you can print that.” On his greatest challenge – 2002 “It was really (his wife) Cathy’s idea. If she hadn’t come up with it and the boys (his sons, Mark, Darren and Jason) hadn’t given full support, I wouldn’t have considered a change of mind. But I do have to confess that maybe it was an idea I was hoping deep down that she would come up with.” On his retirement u-turn in February 2002 [caption id=“attachment_763733” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ferguson certainly had the gift of the gab. Reuters[/caption] “He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.” On the first time he saw Ryan Giggs “Do you think I would enter into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I would not sell them a virus. That is a ‘No’ by the way. There is no agreement whatsoever between the clubs.” On Real Madrid’s attempts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo – December 2008 “He was blessed with great stamina, the best of all the players I’ve had here. After training, he’d always be practising, practising, ­practising. But his life changed when he met his wife. She’s in pop and David got another image. He’s developed this ‘fashion thing’ - I saw his transition to a different person.” On Beckham after his United departure in 2003 “It’s getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it.” On the title run in with Arsenal in 2003 “Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour. You cannot do anything about that. They will always be noisy. You just have to get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up a bit louder.” On the challenge of City and their newfound wealth - 2009 “I read that Scolari is more experienced than me. What have I been doing for the last 34 years? I must have missed something or been asleep somewhere. They are saying because of Scolari’s experience, Chelsea are going to win the league. I don’t understand that.” On the challenge of new Chelsea manager ‘Big’ Phil Scolari - August 2008 “In the tunnel Wenger was criticising my players, calling them cheats, so I told him to leave them alone and behave himself. To not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It’s a disgrace, but I don’t expect Wenger to ever apologise, he’s that type of person.” On Arsene Wenger and Pizzagate – 2004 “I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he’ll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous.” On Rafa Benitez’ infamous ‘fact’ based rant in 2009 “When an Italian tells me it’s pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen.” On Italians “That lad must have been born offside.” On Filippo Inzaghi “He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper.” On José Mourinho “You must be joking. Do I look as if I’m a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?” On whether Liverpool would win the title in 2007