Sir Alex Ferguson will become the longest-serving manager in Manchester United's history this month, passing Sir Matt Busby in the club's record books and predicting that the achievement will never be bettered, almost a quarter of a century since arriving at Old Trafford.
When Ferguson takes his place in the dugout for the match at Chelsea on 19 December he will have been in charge of the club for 24 years, one month and 14 days, one more than Busby's total during two stints – from October 1945 to January 1969 and December 1970 to June 1971.
"I didn't know that," Ferguson admitted when told he would soon pass the man who survived the Munich air disaster in 1958 to rebuild the club and win United's first European Cup a decade later. "That will be a nice moment. I never imagined I'd be here so long, particularly in the modern game. I don't think it will happen again and I feel lucky to have been here all this time."
Ferguson took charge of his first United match in November 1986, a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United that offered few clues of the dynasty that would follow, with 11 league titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups and two European Cups making him the most successful, as well as the longest-serving, manager in the game.
"There's absolutely no doubt that what this club is today is built around what Matt started and the vision he had for United," Ferguson said. "He created a lot of firsts here. It was his idea to introduce executive boxes at Old Trafford, he took the team into European competition for the first time and, of course, under Matt United became the first English team to win the European Cup."
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