Following the announcement that Sir Alex Ferguson is set to retire at the end of the season, we pick out 10 classic quotes from his managerial career at Manchester United.

1. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell!"

Fergie's reaction to United's dramatic victory in the 1999 Champions League final is probably one of his most famous utterances.

2. "My greatest challenge is not what is happening right at this moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their perch. And you can print that." – On his greatest challenge, overtaking Liverpool's 18 league titles, 2002.

3. "If I'd tried it 100 times or a million times, it wouldn't happen again. If it did, I would carry on playing."

Fergie on the infamous flying boot that hit David Beckham in the face in 2003.

4. "In the tunnel Wenger was criticizing my players, calling them cheats, so I told him to leave them alone and behave himself. To not apologize for the behavior of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It's a disgrace, but I don't expect Wenger to ever apologize, he's that type of person."

Giving both barrels to Arsene Wenger after Pizzagate, 2004.

5. "He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

Fergie describes the first time he saw Ryan Giggs play.

6. "Sometimes you have a noisy neighbor. You cannot do anything about that. They will always be noisy. You just have to get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up a bit louder."

Fergie putting City in their place with his infamous "noisy neighbors" comment - 2009.

7. "When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen."

Wise, if slightly ambiguous, advice before United played Inter Milan in the 1999 Champions League quarter-final.

8. "Do you think I would enter into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I would not sell them a virus. That is a ‘No' by the way. There is no agreement whatsoever between the clubs."

Fergie making it crystal clear in 2008 that he wasn't going to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, shortly before selling him. To Real Madrid.

9. "Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that way."

Fergie's bovine-speckled explanation of Wayne Rooney's 2010 transfer request.

10. "He was certainly full of it, calling me "Boss" and "Big Man" when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."

Ferguson's first impressions of Jose Mourinho, who got the better of him when Porto dumped United out of the Champions League in 2004.

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