Alex Ferguson was born on December 31st 1942 in Govan, Glasgow. He became a professional footballer in Scotland and played for Queen's Park, St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr United. His time as a journeyman centre forward ended and he became the manager of one of the smallest Scottish football clubs, East Stirling. After this he had a period in charge of St. Mirren, winning them promotion to the Scottish Premier League, before in 1978 being appointed manager of Aberdeen.
He went to on to lead them to their most successful period, breaking the stranglehold the old firm of Rangers and Celtic had over Scottish football, winning the Scottish Premier League 3 times, the Scottish Cup 4 times, and in 1983 brought Aberdeen victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup, with a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in rain-soaked Gothenburg. He also managed Scotland to the 1986 World Cup after Jock Stein's untimely demise.
Then in November 1986, Ferguson was appointed as manager of Manchester United. However he had to wait for success in England, and many observers felt he was fortunate to avoid being fired before winning the FA Cup in 1990. The following year he went on to win the European Cup Winners' Cup for the second time. Then in 1993 Ferguson lead Manchester United to their first English League title for over 20 years, and the first ever English Premier League. The next season Manchester United did the double (that is won both league and cup), and repeated the feat two years later.
Despite this dominance in England, Manchester United were still struggling to make an impact in the European Champions League. All this changed in 1999 when Manchester United staged a remarkable comeback scoring 2 goals in the final moments of the game to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 at the Nou Camp in Barcelona. This capped an unprecedented treble, for Manchester United had already completed the double for a third time that season. Ferguson has lead Manchester United to the English Premier League 7 times. Ferguson announced his attention to retire at the end of the 2002 season, but with his retirement approaching, in February 2002 Ferguson announced that with the support of his family he had changed his mind, and as Manchester United had failed to line up a suitable replacement, Ferguson agreed a further 3 year contract which makes him Manchester United manager until 2005.