Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the best British and world manager ever, with 38 trophies in his 26 years with Manchester United. But, sir Alex is also a passionate horse racing fan. So passionate in fact, that he used to talk to his bookie about which horse to bet on during the United’s training sessions.Ferguson’s question for today’s managers – why do you take notes mid-game?This interesting story was revealed by his former player Rio Ferdinand, who talked about it on his ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents Five’ podcast. Even before this story it was a well documented fact that the Scotsman rarely took control of training sessions, leaving it to his coaches, including Carlos Queiroz and Rene Meulensteen, but what he did during the sessions is certainly an interesting story.„Fergie never took sessions. He obviously did the talking and setting up of the sessions with the coaches before we went out and trained and then he’d just stand on the sidelines and observe the individuals, team, situations, the mood, the pace and intensity of training. He’s speaking to his bookie about which horse he’s backing. That’s the person he has most conversation with. Every now and again before the session he’d gather us in, maybe ahead of a big game at the weekend or after a result and say, “listen guys that game is out of your system now, I want a hard session”. So he wouldn’t be talking too much about the detail” explained Ferdinand.What a day for the legend that is Sir Alex Ferguson! 🐎🏆 The former Manchester United boss has just won the first THREE races at the #AintreeFestival.Brilliant football manager but also a very good horse racing owner 👏Hopefully #MUFC can get the win tonight now 🔴#UEL pic.twitter.com/8fLM6xKtqN— Ty Sports🎙 (@TyroneMc__) April 8, 2021 Ferguson’s love of racing if well known. One of his earliest horses was Candleriggs, named after a street in his native Glasgow. The best horse to carry his familiar red and white colors was 2000 Guineas hero Rock Of Gibraltar. Trained by Aidan O’Brien, he won seven Group 1 races. More recently, Sir Alex has been involved with jumpers. He is co‐owner of dual King George winner Clan Des Obeaux. At least, he has something to do to enjoy his retirement, unlike Arsene Wenger, who admitted he didn’t know what will he do when he retires.„I sometimes wonder what is Alex doing all day. But he looks very happy in his retirement. He is lucky because he is interested in horses as well. When he gets up in the morning, he can go to horses practise or training, which is early in the morning so that is great“ said Arsen Wenger in 2015.
