Alex Ferguson Quotes

Once you shake hands with the devil, you have to accept they are in control.

But there is always that unpredictability about a derby match and that's what it was today.

If I have my health I can carry on. There will be a point when I do quit but I have absolutely no idea when that is.

You can't applaud a referee.

He's a novice - he should keep his opinions to Japanese football

The most important thing in a game like that is to win it.

I understand the intensity of the supporters. I wonder how they could turn up for work on Monday morning after we lost 5-1 to Manchester City.

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 neighbor and have to live with it.

Cole should be scoring from those distances, but I'm not going to single him out.

I am such a bloody talented guy. I might go into painting or something like that.

You have to put all the criticism of this club down to jealousy. United have produced more players who have played for their country, more world-class players and more players who have won European Footballer of the Year than any other team in this country, so we must be doing something right.

The culmination of three trophies was the pinnacle of my career and it has been rewarded with a knighthood.

Everywhere I go the coaches all tell me that Scholsey is the player they admire. But if they think they'll get him they're wasting their time! Paul is a Manc lad pure and simple. He loves the club and there's no chance of him leaving here. If ever he decided to go there would be a stampede, but he won't be going, he's here for life.

It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him.

At the last minute, from what I can gather, either Emmanuel Adebayor or his agent phoned us after they had agreed a deal with City and then did the same with Chelsea. He was desperate to get to either Chelsea or us.

I was lying in bed on a Saturday morning, reading the paper, when my phone went. The caller was Rangers director, Jack Gillespie, and he offered me the manager's job at Ibrox. I was flattered but declined with thanks. John Greig was a good friend of mine and I had no intention of being involved in ousting him.

I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork.

I have nothing but praise for the boy. He is easily the best player in the world. His contribution as a goal threat is unbelievable. His stats are incredible. Strikes at goal, attempts on goal, raids into the penalty box, headers. It is all there. Absolutely astounding.

The credit to them, the better team won and there's nothing we can do about that now.

All they can talk about is Manchester United.

We got anxious at the end of the weekend in our urgency to try to score the winning goal. Ended up playing far too many long balls forward. That style of play doesn't suit Manchester United. We must continue to play football and enjoy the game. If we do that, eventually things will come right for us.

When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure.

Jose understands winning and losing are twins in a way. When you win you don't gloat and when you lose you don't go bananas.

I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could, I would have carried on playing.

Gianfranco Zola once sent Gary Pallister the wrong way to such an extent that he needed a ticket to get back in.

Critics have always questioned whether players like Pele from the 50s could play today. Lionel Messi could play in the 1950s and the present day, as could Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff because they are all great players. Lionel Messi without question fits into that category.

In any normal season, most of the teams below Chelsea would think they are doing quite well.

I'm privileged to have followed Sir Matt because all you have to do is to try and maintain the standards that he set so many years ago.

The work of a team should always embrace a great player, but the great player must always work.

Promise is one thing. Fulfilling that promise is quite another.

It was time for me to spend more time with my wife. I'm not saying I do spend more time with my wife, because she would throw me out of the house, but we have breakfast together. I never did.

Kindness is a universal language regardless of age, nationality or religion.

I'm no f****** talking to you. He's a f****** great player. Yous are f******* idiots.

The lads really ran their socks into the ground.

Pippo Inzaghi was born in an offside position.

As long as there are games to play its not over

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.

Liverpool can play for only five minutes and win the game, that is the way they are. They pump the ball into the box and with good set-piece delivery they keep you under pressure.

Sometimes in football you have to hold your hand up and say, yeah, they're better than us.

Lampard, for me, was a marvellous servant for Chelsea, but I didn't think of him as an elite international footballer. And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player.

You are not going to be happy if you lose to a goal in the last minute. It is difficult to take and difficult to get out of your mind.

Everyone remembers Stuart Pearce as a determined, aggressive player, who played with great heart and enthusiasm that gave him a great career in the game.

You can't do anything about them.

I think Rafael Benítez was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous.

As with every young player these days, Ronaldo is 18.

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 your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that way.

I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb.

It was our worst-ever day, the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don't think I ever lost 6-1.