Most people would perhaps want to retire
as soon as possible if they knew even after they retire, they would
still be earning £108,000 (N32m) per day.
Think again if you thought Sir Alex
Ferguson was going to spend his retirement walking the dog and fondling
his wife. Not Fergie, as he’s popularly called by some fans!
The former Manchester United manager got
himself a nice little earner in his dotage – as a club ambassador –
just after his retirement.
Reports stated that the 74-year-old
would be paid £2m (N604m) for 20 appearances a year, or put another way,
about £108,000 (N32m) per day.
Ferguson retired as Manchester United
manager in 2013 after 26 years at the helm, during which time the club
enjoyed an unprecedented era of success. In addition to 13 Premier
League titles and five FA Cup triumphs, Ferguson also guided United to
two Champions League trophies.
Ferguson stands out as an absurdly
well-paid retiree whose last significant act for his club was to arrange
the appointment of a dud successor.
Sir Bobby Charlton, another of the club’s ambassadors, earns £105,000 (N31.7m) a year – less than Ferguson’s daily rate.
It’s estimated that Ferguson earns at least 14 times as much as the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.
A successful football manager
Ferguson was a football manager and
player who managed Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. His time at the
club has led to him being regarded as one of the most successful,
admired and respected managers in the history of the game.
He is from Scotland.
Ferguson played as a forward for several
Scottish clubs and was a top goal scorer in the Scottish league in the
1965–66 season. Towards the end of his playing career, he also worked as
a coach, then started his managerial career with East Stirlingshire and
St. Mirren.
Ferguson then enjoyed a highly
successful period as manager of Aberdeen, winning three Scottish league
championships, four Scottish Cups and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983.
He briefly managed Scotland following the death of Jock Stein, taking the team to the 1986 World Cup.
Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 1986.
During his 26 years with Manchester
United, he won 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA
Cups and two UEFA Champions League titles.
He was knighted in the 1999 Queen Elizabeth of England’s Birthday Honours list for his services to the game.
He was the longest-serving manager of
Manchester United as he overtook Sir Matt Busby’s record on December 19,
2010. He retired from management at the end of the 2012/13 season,
having won the Premier League in his final season.
Known to generations of football
followers purely for his management of Manchester United, Ferguson has
been deeply involved in the beautiful game since 1957, when he joined
Queen’s Park in his native Glasgow as an amateur centre-forward straight
from school.
Few fans perhaps know that the
successful Ferguson once ran a pub. Yes, he once worked outside
football, starting out as an apprentice toolmaker and shop steward in
Glasgow, Scotland, and much later running a pub that he renamed Fergie’s
with a downstairs bar named the Elbow Room in memory of his physical
style as a player.
The ex-football manager loves playing golf and snooker in his free time.
Wealthiest football manager in Britain
Sir Ferguson was reportedly the wealthiest manager in Britain while he was coaching Manchester United.
He was worth around £34m (N10bn), according to the 2013 Sunday Times Sports Rich List.
The list was based on identifiable
wealth, which includes land, property, other assets such as art and
racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies, but
which excludes bank accounts.
Prior to the publisher’s list,France
Football 2012’s list of highest-paid managers also included Ferguson as
one of the top ten richest.
The then 71-year-old also earned in the region of £7m (N2.1bn) a year at Old Trafford and owns a string of racehorses.
Ferguson was also reported to have
created $385m (N76bn) in value for the club, more value than any other
head coach in football history.
By estimation, he was responsible for
the creation of 11 per cent of the publicly-traded English soccer team’s
enterprise value of $3.5bn (N696bn) as of 2013.
Ferguson accomplished this feat by
consistently winning on the pitch and leading with class, which enabled
Manchester United to build one of the most valuable brands in sports.
The strong brand, in turn, fuelled the revenue growth which was superior
to the club’s rivals.
Ferguson is a member of the Eclipse 35 film investment partnership, which the tax tribunal has ruled cannot claim tax relief.
He is also a member of three similar partnerships: Clyde Films, Cherwell Films and Scotts Atlantic Partners.
It was once predicted that even when he retired, Ferguson was unlikely to disappear from public view.
He fits his keen interest in horse
racing around his commitments in the dugout as he owns or part-owns
several horses, including Harry The Viking, which started favourite on
April 2012 Scottish Grand National.
Home and cars
Ferguson lives in a mansion in Wilmslow,
Cheshire in England. The place is called Fairfields, named after the
shipyard where his father worked.
Some would perhaps think sports cars are
only for the twenty- and thirty-somethings, but even though he is 74,
Ferguson had never been afraid to modernise, as his latest sports car
purchase reveals.
The septuagenarian bought himself a Chevrolet Volt car in 2013.
When running in its near-silent electric
mode, the Volt has a range of around 50 miles, capable of getting
Fergie to and from United’s training ground at Carrington while he was
still the manager.
“I think the Volt is absolutely
phenomenal,” said Ferguson. “A friend of mine drove one in the United
States and kept going on and on about it, so when I had the opportunity,
I said yeah, I’m going to try it because it’s the car of the future,
really. I’m very pleased with it.”
Sir Ferguson also owns other sports car brands, including a Lamborghini.
Meanwhile, when it comes to wears, he has been often seen rocking the Nike brand.
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