Alex Ferguson retires: Manchester United manager's greatest quotes

Sir Alex Ferguson's trophy-laden reign at Manchester United has been illuminated by his often fiery rhetoric. From withering put-downs to sparkling praise, the Scot has eye for an apposite phrase and has created a catalogue of memorable quotes. 

 

Quick quip: Sir Alex Ferguson is the king of the one-liners

Here, we look at some of the most notable....

 
On his mission after being appointed to the post:
"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ing perch. And you can print that."

On whether Liverpool would win the title in 2007:
"You must be joking. Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?"

On Manchester City's emergence as a Premier League force:
"There has been a lot of expectation on Manchester City and with the spending they have done, they have to win something. Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour and have to live with it. You can't do anything about them."

On Manchester City's Carlos Tévez poster:
"It's City, isn't it? They are a small club, with a small mentality. All they can talk about is Manchester United, that's all they've done and they can't get away from it."

  On Jose Mourinho:
"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 Arsene Wenger:
"They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!"
 
On Rafael Benitez:
"I think he is very concerned about his CV, he refers to it quite a lot."
 
On his bust-up with Newcastle boss Alan Pardew:
"The press have had a field day. The only person they have not spoken to is Barack Obama because he is busy."
 
On the infamous incident during which former midfielder David Beckham was struck on the head by a flying boot:
"It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!" 

On the mind games employed by Italian teams:
"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 seeing Ryan Giggs as a schoolboy:
"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."
 
On the 2003 title race:
"It's getting tickly now - squeaky-bum time, I call it."
 
On Gary Neville:
"If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in - I'd check the milkman." 

  On Wayne Rooney's decision to sign a new contract:
"Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in the field."
 
On Real Madrid's hopes of signing Cristiano Ronaldo:
"Do you think I would get into a contract with that mob? Jesus Christ, no chance. I wouldn't sell them a virus."
 
On Italians:
"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 Filippo Inzaghi:
"That lad must have been born offside." 


 
On United's dramatic Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich in 1999:
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell."
 
On media criticism of Juan Sebastián Verón:
"On you go. I'm no f****** talking to you. He's a f****** great player. Yous are f****** idiots."
 
On referee Alan Wiley:
"The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous."
 
On retirement:
"The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time."