Arguably the greatest Premier League manager of all time and certainly the most successful one, Alexander Chapman Ferguson has humble roots, born and raised in a tenement building in Govan, Glasgow.
Football-mad as a child, and with notable talent, he began his sporting journey with Drumchapel Amateurs before signing for Queen’s Park, aged 16. Soon after, he joined St Johnstone where the bustling striker became a regular goal-scorer.
Nowadays, he remains involved at Manchester United in an ambassadorial role and you can see how much the Scot earns below...
| Per year | €2,349,120 | £2,000,033 |
| Per month | €195,760 | £166,669 |
| Per week | €45,175 | £38,461 |
| Per day | €6,435 | £5,478 |
| Per hour | €268 | £228 |
| Per minute | €4 | £3 |
Still part-time with the Saints, he would train at night and continue to work as a toolmaker in a Goven shipyard but that all changed when Dunfermline came calling in 1964. The Pars were a big top-flight club at the time and Ferguson scored 45 goals in 51 games for them.
Rangers were next, the £65,000 fee making him the most expensive Scottish player in that era, and though his two years at Ibrox ended on a sour note, Ferguson loved playing for his boyhood club.
His playing career drew to a close at Ayr United in the early Seventies.
Hanging up his boots aged just 32, he entered management at East Stirling, his salary a mere £40 a week, but it was at St Mirren when he really began to make his name. In four seasons at Love Street he transformed the club’s fortunes.
That gained the attention of Aberdeen, a big club long starved of success and it was on the east coast of Scotland where traits now closely associated with Alex Ferguson came to the fore.
His intimidating nature had the player nickname him ‘Furious Ferguson’, behind his back of course. He created a siege mentality at Pittodrie to good effect. And he was enormously successful.
In eight seasons there, Aberdeen won three league titles, four Scottish Cups, and even achieved continental success, winning the European Cup Winners Cup.
All of which led to Manchester United wondering if he could replicate such feats south of the border.
In 1986 he was appointed at Old Trafford. The rest, as they say, is history.
How Much Is Sir Alex Ferguson Worth?
Eleven years in to a much-deserved retirement, Sir Alex Ferguson has an estimated wealth of £56m, a figure that is increasing all the time as profitable endeavours continue to reap dividends.
Two such examples of this are royalties from his autobiography, that sold over one million copies, and the ability to charge £100,000 a pop for motivational speeches.
Even at the ripe old age of 82 the money keeps rolling in for one of the richest men in football.
Indeed, late last year it was revealed that Ferguson’s company ACF Sports Promotions holds assets worth £27.2m, the company itself being valued at £22.7m after paying off creditors.
Such assets include a sporting memorabilia collection, said to be worth in excess of £2m while an investment portfolio tops £19m. There is additionally £2.8m residing in a bank account.
Interestingly, the former manager remains on Manchester United’s payroll too, paid £2m a year for a club ambassadorial role.
So much of Ferguson’s fortune of course has derived from the game that he first fell in love with at such a young age.
Already remunerated handsomely for bringing so much silverware to Old Trafford, a deal was struck in 2010 that ensured no player would earn more than the legendary boss.
Considering that era included Wayne Rooney – on £250,000 basic at the time – we can conservatively guess at £14m per annum for the final three years of Ferguson’s reign.
It's all a world away from the £40 a week earned when he started out.
Manchester United
The Red Devils were a faded force when Ferguson took on the reins in 1986, having not won a league title in two decades. Subsequently – inevitably – it took Ferguson some time to turn things around, enduring struggles along the way.
Famously, he was one result away from the sack in 1990.
Coinciding with the birth of the Premier League however, ‘Fergie’ eventually forged a formidably successful side, one that he remarkably managed to remodel every few years, maintaining them at the top.
Between 1992 and 2013, Manchester United were the dominant force in English football, consistently short-priced in the football betting. Thirteen league titles were won. Four FA Cups.
The Reds were feared on the continent too, with the much-coveted Champions League twice attained.
Moreover, under Ferguson’s guidance, great players became iconic players, the most notable among them being Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
Family Life
In 1964, aged 23, Ferguson met Cathy Holding, a lady who provided a ‘bedrock of stability and encouragement’ throughout his life in football. They married in 1966, going on to have three sons, Mark, and later twins Jason and Darren.
Darren became a professional footballer himself, playing for Manchester United and Wolves before following in his father’s footsteps and moving into management. He is currently in the Peterborough dug-out.
Sadly, in 2023 Lady Cathy Ferguson passed away.
Controversies And Fallouts
With his explosive personality there were naturally occasions when Ferguson fell out with individuals or organisations, these disputes sometimes turning into long-running feuds.
For a spell across Ferguson’s 27 years at United it was impossible to split them and Arsenal in the online betting. Subsequently a tit-for-tat began with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger that became box-office.
Fall-outs with players were also commonplace, two high-profile examples being Gordon Strachan at Aberdeen and Roy Keane.
Ferguson also had a reputation for intimidating – and being overly critical of – referees. Touchline bans and fines littered his long time at Old Trafford.
Perhaps the most infamous controversy occurred when Ferguson questioned the stud rights of a racehorse called Rock of Gibraltar.
Believing himself to be a part-owner, he sued horse racing colossus John Magnier, who also happened to be a major shareholder in Manchester United at the time.
The case was eventually settled out of court but the damage caused to United was substantial, with Magnier selling his shares to the immensely unpopular Glazer family.
Legacy Will Live Forever
That Ferguson has a statue outside two different grounds demonstrates the immeasurable impact he had on the clubs he is most associated with.
Bronze likenesses of the great man stand proudly outside Pittodrie and Old Trafford.
And rightly so, because Sir Alex Ferguson was the very best of a dying breed of managers, who moulded a club in his own image and ran it from top to bottom.
By every metric, not least that he won 50 trophies in just shy of 40 years in the dug-out, he is the most successful manager in British football history.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
