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Alex Ferguson's legacy seems unlikely ever to be emulated following more than 26 years at the helm of one of the biggest clubs in world football
Alex Ferguson's successor as Manchester United manager will be reminded of the gargantuan size of the task facing him every time he looks across the Old Trafford pitch at the giant stand that bears the Scot's name.
Old Trafford was a very different place when Ferguson arrived on November 6, 1986. Fourth from bottom in the old English First Division, they had gone 19 years without winning the league while hated rivals Liverpool swept all before them.
The son of a Glasgow shipbuilder, Ferguson arrived from Aberdeen with a reputation as an iron-fisted disciplinarian, having broken the Old Firm's stranglehold on the Scottish Premier Division.
His crowning glory at Pittodrie was a victory over Real Madrid in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg in 1983, but success at United initially proved elusive.
Ferguson's future at the club was reportedly at stake when United travelled to Nottingham Forest for an FA Cup tie in January 1990, but a Mark Robins goal took the away side through and the boss never looked back.