Sir Alex Ferguson had been the king of Manchester since the 1990s and his retirement left a hole the club is yet to fill
Sir Alex Ferguson cemented his legacy as Manchester United boss with one final Premier League triumph in the 2012/13 season. Over almost three decades at Old Trafford, the Scottish manager won an incredible amount of trophies.
These included a record 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, five FA Cups, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. He is regarded as the greatest coach the English top-flight has ever seen and became the man many clubs loved to hate.
After announcing his departure from the club in May 2013, Fergie helped the club to another Premier League title and qualification for the UEFA Champions League. United beat their closest opponents, Manchester City, by 11 points and lost just five games throughout the season.
In his farewell interview with Sky Sports, the boss was questioned on several topics. But two things struck me specifically in relation to the modern game.
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The reporter questioned the absence of Wayne Rooney in the starting line-up and the bench. Ferguson was extremely honest and revealed that the United icon had requested a move – and he even gave a reason for Rooney’s decision.
At the time, Fergie said: “I don’t think Wayne was keen to play simply because he’s asked for the transfer.
“I think he wants to think it through in his mind, I think that’s a good idea. We’re not going to let him go and I think he’s maybe just a little bit frustrated [after] being taken off once or twice in the last few weeks.”
This revelation would never happen in the Premier League today with many managers opting to protect their players by keeping transfers as under wraps as possible. And it seems like even though Ferguson left in 2013, he still held stature at the club afterwards, as Rooney didn’t end up leaving Manchester until 2017 – four years after Ferguson’s departure.
Another shocking claim made by Sir Alex was the fact that the club was “leaking” information. This was in relation to his planned exit from United being shared around in the public before his official announcement.
When asked why he waited for months to reveal the departure – after making his decision during the festive season – Ferguson stated that he wanted to keep it secret as long as he could. After telling family members and his squad of players on the Tuesday, rumours began to circulate.
The United icon said: “Unfortunately there were rumours going around on Tuesday [but] wherever it comes from, you never know. Our club’s a sieve, stuff leaks out and it shouldn’t leak out but we then started to speed it up a bit.”
This is a pattern that continued over the years at United, with an internal investigation being launched just weeks ago in January 2026 to find the source of current leaks. This decision came after the starting XI was ‘leaked’ to press hours before the club’s 2-0 derby win over City.
Ferguson’s legacy at United is one that is unlikely to be tainted given just how successful he was at the helm. But he laid down a few home truths in his final words as the manager of one of the most successful teams in England.
![Heathrow has said passenger numbers were 60% lower in November than before the coronavirus pandemic and there were “high cancellations” among business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas for Christmas as Omicron spreads. The UK’s largest airport said the government’s travel restrictions had dealt a fresh blow to travel confidence and predicted it was likely to take several years for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels. This week ministers said passengers arriving in the UK would have to take a pre-departure Covid test, as well as a post-flight test, because of fears about the spread of the new variant. “[The] high level of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing shows the potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions,” the airport said in an update. Heathrow said the drop in traveller confidence owing to the new travel restrictions had negated the benefit of reopening the all-important corridor to North America for business and holiday travel last month. Eleven African countries have been added to the government’s red list, requiring travellers to quarantine before reuniting with families. “By allowing Brits to isolate at home, ministers can make sure they are reunited with their loved ones this Christmas,” said John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow. “It would send a strong signal that restrictions on travel will be removed as soon as safely possible to give passengers the confidence to book for 2022, opening up thousands of new jobs for local people at Heathrow. Let’s reunite families for Christmas.” Heathrow said that if the government could safely signal that restrictions would be lifted soon, then employers at Heathrow would have the confidence to hire thousands of staff in anticipation of a boost in business next summer. The airport is expecting a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with about 45 million passengers – just over half of pre-pandemic levels. This week Tui, Europe’s largest package holiday operator, said it expected bookings for next summer to bounce back to 2019 levels. However, Heathrow said on Friday not to expect the aviation industry to recover for several years. “We do not expect that international travel will recover to 2019 levels until at least all travel restrictions (including testing) are removed from all the markets that we serve, at both ends of the route, and there is no risk of new restrictions, such as quarantine, being imposed,” the airport said.](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_1100012546-scaled-400x240.jpg)
![Heathrow has said passenger numbers were 60% lower in November than before the coronavirus pandemic and there were “high cancellations” among business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas for Christmas as Omicron spreads. The UK’s largest airport said the government’s travel restrictions had dealt a fresh blow to travel confidence and predicted it was likely to take several years for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels. This week ministers said passengers arriving in the UK would have to take a pre-departure Covid test, as well as a post-flight test, because of fears about the spread of the new variant. “[The] high level of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing shows the potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions,” the airport said in an update. Heathrow said the drop in traveller confidence owing to the new travel restrictions had negated the benefit of reopening the all-important corridor to North America for business and holiday travel last month. Eleven African countries have been added to the government’s red list, requiring travellers to quarantine before reuniting with families. “By allowing Brits to isolate at home, ministers can make sure they are reunited with their loved ones this Christmas,” said John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow. “It would send a strong signal that restrictions on travel will be removed as soon as safely possible to give passengers the confidence to book for 2022, opening up thousands of new jobs for local people at Heathrow. Let’s reunite families for Christmas.” Heathrow said that if the government could safely signal that restrictions would be lifted soon, then employers at Heathrow would have the confidence to hire thousands of staff in anticipation of a boost in business next summer. The airport is expecting a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with about 45 million passengers – just over half of pre-pandemic levels. This week Tui, Europe’s largest package holiday operator, said it expected bookings for next summer to bounce back to 2019 levels. However, Heathrow said on Friday not to expect the aviation industry to recover for several years. “We do not expect that international travel will recover to 2019 levels until at least all travel restrictions (including testing) are removed from all the markets that we serve, at both ends of the route, and there is no risk of new restrictions, such as quarantine, being imposed,” the airport said.](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_1100012546-scaled-80x80.jpg)
