When Sir Alex Ferguson waved to the crowd at a stadium just outside Birmingham (U.K.) this Sunday, he was ostensibly saying goodbye to the most distinguished coaching career in the history of professional soccer, but in reality he was bringing down the curtain on one of the great displays of leadership in the past quarter of a century.
Alex Ferguson took over the role of Manager of Manchester United when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, Margaret Thatcher lived at 10 Downing Street, Deng Xiaoping was undoing the calamity of the Cultural Revolution and Cristiano Ronaldo was just starting to cut his teeth. In the annals of American sports, Ferguson’s accomplishments dwarf those of Vince Lombardi who coached the Green Bay Packers for nine years, or John Wooden who led the UCLA basketball team for 17 years. (In top-level American sports only Mike Krzyzewski's run at Duke is longer.) Ferguson’s 27 year run at the helm outstrips Steve Jobs' 14-year reign as CEO of Apple or Andy Grove’s 11 years as CEO tenure of Intel.
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