The Retirement Sweepstake

Sir Alex Ferguson is still cagey about the exact date he might retire. The only clue he seems to have given is that he doesn't intend to be there when he's seventy (31 December 2011, as a matter of interest).

One date that might hover in the reaches of his mind is 2010, the point at which he will have been manager for longer than Sir Matt Busby, who lasted 24 consecutive seasons as United manager, before ushering in that period of gloom and destruction for the club that was the early 70s. (He also spent an additional period as manager after the interlude that was Wilf McGuinness).

Busby is the longest serving football club manager of the modern era (although Dario Gradi came very close to surpassing him).

All of them have a long way to go to come near the longest serving manager of all time. Fred Everiss of West Brom was appointed in August 1902 and apparently spent 46 seasons in charge (I suspect they have cheated, because I don't think they called them managers in those days and, indeed, WBA themselves didn't call anyone "manager" until Everiss had retired).

Anyway, the closer he comes, SAF would hardly be human if he didn't find that bit of history enticing. Well, perhaps he is hardly human, of course.

Source

http://www.leaguemanagers.com/manager/longest-historical.html