Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is rightly highly-acclaimed and world-renowned as one of the best managers in the world and dominated the Premier League during his long tenure as the boss at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
And the long-enduring doyen has insisted he only ever had four world-class players while in charge at Manchester United, during which time his Red Devils team dominated the Premier League for decades, making a massive haul of trophies with seemingly effortless ease along the way.<\/p>\n
The highly-revered Scotsman has a stand named after him at Old Trafford as a mark of respect to the 27 years in spent in the dugout, along with\u00a013 Premier League trophies, and a collection of FA Cups, League Cups and Champions League\u00a0trophies adorning the showcase.<\/p>\n
Fergie’s squads in the past boasted the biggest and best names in England, including the likes of Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Gary Neville and Roy Kenae, to name but a few. However, none were branded world-class by the big man himself, who chose to name only four players under his stewardship who earned that distinction.<\/p>\n
In his book ‘Leading’, Ferguson gave a run-down of the stars he coached.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you read the papers or listen to the television commentators, we seem to be awash with \u2018world-class\u2019 footballers,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mean to demean or criticise any of the great or very good footballers who played for me during my 26-year career at United, but there were only four who were world class: Cantona, Giggs, Ronaldo and Scholes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of the four Cristiano was like an ornament on the top of a Christmas tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
“But these players elevated themselves above all that,” he added.<\/p>\n
“The younger breed like Ryan and Scholes were just fantastic players and the thing about those two was longevity.<\/p>\n
“Are there players who have played right through the whole of the Premier League and performed at the level they have? There are none, absolutely none.<\/p>\n
“Of course Ronaldo was just a complete genius of a player.”<\/p>\n
As for the likes of Rooney and Beckham, as well as Rio Ferdinand and Peter Schmeichel, Ferguson insisted they were just “great players”.<\/p>\n
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