Sir Alex Ferguson expected to give an important announcement regarding his future as Manchester United boss

After a 26-and-a-half-year reign as the manager for Manchester United, there is now great speculation that Sir Alex Ferguson could retire from the club by the end of the week. The UK telegraph which first broke the story exclaimed, “Sources close to the players confirmed that the squad’s golf day had been overshadowed by suggestions that the Scot would be making an announcement”.

After taking the club to 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 Champions League Titles and building an up a value estimate of $3.17 billion by Forbes, Ferguson’s positive impact on the club is definite. With such a prominence in the sport as a whole it is expected that much controversy will come from the alleged announcement until it does indeed occur or Manchester United releases an official statement saying otherwise.

It is of no surprise to some that an announcement of this type was soon to come given Ferguson’s age and recent health issues. At the age of 71 he certainly isn’t getting any younger and would be finding it more difficult to be as involved as he has been in the past. In 2004 he had to have a pacemaker inserted due to a heart irregularity and is set to have hip surgery after the club returns from its pre-season tour this year. It is noted by many that Ferguson has always said that his health would dictate how long he remained at the top of Man United and with another operation soon to come and a recent replenishment of the Premier League Crown over arch rivals Manchester City, the timing would make sense.

This expectation has also been verified by the actions of bookmakers in the UK, surrounding odds of football manager and executive movements. Particular to these changes is the slashing of odds regarding movements of Everton manager David Moyes to Manchester United. The chance of this has brought forward another possible action by Ferguson, in staying with the club and instead either having more assistance in his managing department or stepping down into a less important role. This standpoint has been taken by The Mirror newspaper in the UK.  

A triumphant Ferguson.