This should be a good watch over Christmas
A new two-part documentary celebrating the life and career of legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will air on BBC over Christmas.
The documentary titled Sir Alex will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from Boxing Day and will air on BBC Scotland on New Year’s Day and January 2.
The documentary, created by BBC Sport and BBC Scotland, will be accompanied by a six-part podcast available on BBC Sounds also from Boxing Day.
The podcast will also air on BBC Radio 5 Live across the festive period while BBC One will show the documentary sometime next year.
Sir Alex includes first-hand accounts from a host of former players and adversaries including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Gordon Strachan and Sir Kenny Dalglish who all reveal what it was like to play for Sir Alex’s all-conquering Manchester United and Aberdeen teams, while exploring the Scot’s origins.
Legends including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Nicky Butt, Jaap Stam and Denis Irwin provide a fascinating insight into how Ferguson’s unwavering belief in youngsters enabled him to create a footballing dynasty at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex built a team around David Beckham, Paul Scholes and their ‘Class of 92’ cohort, who would ultimately become European champions and Treble winners in 1999.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho also share stories of their rivalry with the Scot.
Meanwhile, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Rooney and Ferdinand share their accounts of the post-1999 years and explain how their manager showed his ruthless side, bringing through the likes of Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as he reinvented the team and returned to the top of English, and then European football, for a second time in 2008.
His humble upbringing in Glasgow and his playing career are also touched upon as is the incredible underdog story at Aberdeen – the club where he first reaped the rewards of his youth policy with victory in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup over continental giants Real Madrid.
BBC Director of Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski said: “There are few more pivotal people in the history of British sport than Sir Alex Ferguson. So it is a honour for us to tell his story.
“Featuring behind-the-scenes footage, entertaining dressing room anecdotes and fascinating insight from his former players, assistant managers and coaches, as well as journalists who have followed his incomparable career every step of the way, this documentary digs deep into the character traits that explain how and why the son of a Scottish shipbuilder became one of the most influential figures in football. This is BBC Sport at its finest and we hope you enjoy it.”
The podcast series called Sporting Giants: Sir Alex Ferguson, which accompanies the documentary, will offer a slightly deeper dive into Ferguson’s story.
