Fergie: His Legacy

The world of football - and bookmakers - has been thrown into the biggest news frenzy and shock it has seen in a long time. Close football followers - or rather followers of social and news media - might have seen the signs earlier today having noticed the lack of denials from Old Trafford as you normally would get each season since 2001.

Nevertheless, this is definitely the biggest and most explosive piece of news to hit British football for quite a long time and will definitely have seismic ramifications for some time yet - especially in regards to who will succeed him in the manager's role at Old Trafford.

Ferguson will not completely depart the picture at Man U - he will take a role as director and ambassador at the club meaning that whoever will be manager at Old Trafford from next season will still have to work under Fergie - which does cut down the number of potential candidates including Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger.

David Moyes 

Everton's David Moyes has been the perennial favourite for the role but could be a huge gamble by Manchester United given that he has not won any titles yet and hasn't shown that he can take on a side full of superstars - mind you, Fergie himself was a big gamble when he was first appointed in November 1986 by a Manchester United who were consistently losing at home to the likes of Derby County, Liverpool, and Nottingham Forest.

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has been another name mentioned in recent times but it would again be a huge gamble given his style of football differs to what Manchester United fans have grown accustomed to. However, he does have a good relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson despite having managed against him during his time at Porto, Chelsea, Internazionale and more recently, Real Madrid. In fact, Mourinho's visit to Manchester United earlier in the season with his under-fire Real Madrid side was hailed as a preview of the future.

Jurgen Klopp

However, another man worth a punt on is Jurgen Klopp who many say has impressed the Manchester United top brass with the way he has returned Borussia Dortmund to its current glory times and has worked well with Dortmund's highly successful academy.

The Guardian has jokingly mentioned Mark Robins at Huddersfield and heck, former Hull manager, Phil Brown. At this rate, Ricki Herbert is a favourite for the role at Manchester United.

So pulling aside any eye patches we have against United as Liverpool or non-United fans, what is Ferguson's legacy?

Firstly, his statistics do not lie - at United, 13 league titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 Champions League titles and 1 each of the Intercontinental Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

Add his 3 Scottish Premier League titles, 4 Scottish Cups, Scottish League Cup, Cup Winners Cup at Aberdeen and without a doubt, Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in British football history ahead of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and streets ahead of Brian Clough and Alf Ramsey.

Therefore, the title of greatest football manager ever in Britain is one Ferguson certainly warrants credit for even from the most biased of Liverpool and City fans.

Sure his antics over the years have made him an easy target for abuse and criticism especially with the referee and the BBC. But no one else in the game knows the game as well as Ferguson has and no one probably will ever manage in the style Ferguson has done. Ferguson was the last of a generation of managers who has now given way to the thinkers of the game, the Pep Guardiolas, Jose Mourinhos, Andre Villas-Boas and Rafa Benitez's of the game.

Ooh ah Cantona

Captain Keano

CR7

What cannot be denied is his ability to dismantle and rebuild a great team over such a long period of time. Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes were eventually replaced by Jaap Stam, Roy Keane and Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole who were eventually replaced by Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. Ferguson was never afraid to court controversy with getting rid of his best players - Roy Keane and David Beckham are testament to this and his once lynch pins were quietly forced out of Old Trafford when they got too big for the club in Fergie's opinion - but in the end, Fergie appeared to get each move right.

Ryan Giggs has been key to Fergie's success

The one player Fergie appeared to love dearly was Ryan Giggs - the one-time enigmatic winger, now holding midfielder in his late 30s is one of the few players to survive Fergie's hairdryer treatment and one wonders now about whether Giggs' time at Old Trafford is at an end sooner rather than later.

His ultimate legacy is that we will all somewhat miss seeing this enigmatic, animated Scotsman who knows the game better than anyone else, on the other side of the touchline, orchestrating his side to score a last gasp equaliser or winner against our side. His longevity in the game has meant that for many of us, Ferguson is the only manager that we've known at United and just as it will be when the Queen of England eventually passes on and hands over the throne to Prince Charles, there will be that void that we miss yet deny that we miss simply because we didn't know anyone else who was there.

A sight we've all grown up with but won't be seeing for much longer...

Here in my opinion is Ferguson's greatest ever team -

Peter Schmeichel (GK), Denis Irwin, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona

SUBS: Edwin van der Saar (GK), Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Robin van Persie