Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson reflected on his 25 years at the English power's helm, which has included 48 trophies, including two UEFA Champions League crowns, 12 Premier League titles and five FA Cups. His coaching career started 12 years earlier in his native Scotland:

"When I first started out in management 37 years ago there were no agents. Imagine that! There was no freedom of contract either, so players were totally tied to their clubs. A change in that sense was inevitable, though I think that now the scales tipped completely in the other direction and I’m not sure it’s good for the game. Of course the way the media works has changed too, there’s a lot of pressure on journalists to publish huge news stories – not just about sport but about everything – and that’s had an impact on us, no doubt about it."

On how he came to sign Mexican striker Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez:

"Let me use  as an example. Our chief scout had a contact in Mexico who mentioned the lad’s name, which was the first step. He got hold of some videos of Chivas' matches and showed me them. When we watched them we thought, 'This lad’s got promise,' but you can’t decide to sign someone just by watching them on a screen. So I sent my chief scout over to Mexico for a month, with a view to seeing what the player was like on and off the pitch. And that’s how we discovered that his father and his grandfather had both played at World Cups and that the lad was on the verge of national team selection. After all that, it was a pretty easy decision. We carried out all the necessary steps and managed to sign him before South Africa 2010, which was important as his value would have increased afterwards."