What could possibly be better than being coached by one of the greatest, if not the greatest manager of all time?
For anyone whose played under Sir Alex Ferguson, this is a reality.
It’s a goldmine filled with unparalleled guidance and knowledge spanning decades for some.
This can provide the perfect platform for these former pros to take the step up into management.
But coaching is a different world to playing football.
Many can seem destined for management but quickly fall short of the needed qualities to conquer this realm.
For Ferguson’s disciples, it’s no different.
Some have become good manager’s, but others have failed miserably.
Teddy Sheringham
An Old Trafford hero.
This thanks to his equaliser in 1999 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, which sparked the momentum for Manchester United to go on and secure the treble.
He played under Ferguson’s guidance for four years at United, but this didn’t do much for him when he became the boss.
Sheringham started out as a forward’s coach at boyhood club West Ham. He did this for just a year, before making the step up to be the manager at Stevenage.
The former England international lasted just over half a season before he was sacked. Stevenage were eight points above the relegation zone having picked up three points in their last eight matches.
A couple years later, Sheringham returned to management but this time on the other side of the world. He joined Indian Super League team ATK. 10 matches later he was gone.
He hasn’t returned to management since.
Phenomenal on the pitch but not so much off it.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
From one elite striker to another.
Van Nistelrooy was as deadly as the Manchester weather.
He was at United for five years.
After retiring, Van Nistelrooy returned to Dutch football.
He initially acted as the Netherland’s assistant manager from 2014/15 to 2015/16, before becoming a forward’s coach at former team PSV’s U17’s.
Van Nistelrooy worked his way up to first team manager, with an additional stint as the assistant coach of the Netherlands again in between.
He won the Dutch Cup and Dutch Super Cup before leaving due to a lack of support.
Van Nistelrooy has returned to Manchester to become Erik ten Hag’s assistant manager, after the departure of former assistant Mitchell van der Gaag.
The lethal striker seems destined to have a great career as a manager following his success at PSV and transition to United as an assistant. He could become one of Ferguson’s best disciples to come.
Gary Neville
19 years at the club. One of the greatest servants of United ever. A class of 92 hero. Neville did it all at United.
This gave him the chance to learn off Ferguson for almost two decades.
An opportunity few ever got.
When Neville did venture into coaching though, this wisdom and knowledge didn’t show.
He was assistant manager for the England national team from 2012 to 2016, before stepping down after the Three Lion’s humiliating loss to Iceland in Euro 2016.
In December 2015, he took on the job at Valencia in Spain but lasted less than four months before he was sacked.
He hasn’t gone into management since.
Roy Keane
When someone says leader, many will think of Keane.
He was the vocal point of that United dressing room for 13 years. From 1993 to his exit in 2006.
Such qualities would certainly help in management compared to the quieter personalities like Neville.
Keane started his management career at Sunderland. He was an instant success taking the Black Cats from 20th in the Championship, to the title that very season.
The following year he kept Sunderland up in the Premier League but left due to a fallout with the then-owner, Ellis Short.
His spell as manager at Ipswich Town wasn’t as successful. He spent a lot of money on players like Tamas Priskin and Lee Martin who didn’t live up to expectation. Likewise, he fell out with a lot of key players like Jon Walters, Damien Delaney, Pablo Counago, Kevin Lisbie and Ben Thatcher.
In an autobiography, Keane admitted he managed badly at Ipswich.
He wrote: “I don’t think I’m a bad manager, but at Ipswich I managed badly.
“I spoke to some people like something on the bottom of my shoe.”
Manchester United legend Roy Keane on why he decided not to sign Robbie Savage for Sunderland. pic.twitter.com/JEeE5GNuYc
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) February 25, 2015
He was sacked at Ipswich and then didn’t return to any sort of football management until 2013/14, when he became the assistant manager of the Ireland team. Gary O’Neil was the manager.
He was in this role till 2018, when he and O’Neil were asked to leave. In 2014 he took a role as the assistant manager at Aston Villa, alongside his duties for Ireland. He left after just a few months to focus on his national team work.
In January 2019, he became Nottingham Forest’s assistant manager under Gary O’Neil again. But he left at the end of the season because he wanted to focus on his managerial career again.
Five years later and Keane hasn’t gone back into management.
Although he’s not had huge success as a manager, he did well at Sunderland, which is better than some of the others on this list.
Laurent Blanc
He was only at United for two years, but 24 months with Ferguson is invaluable.
Blanc started out his managerial journey at French side Bordeaux.
In his first year he guided the club to second place in Ligue 1, and won manager of the year.
The following year, Blanc won Ligue 1, also winning the French League Cup.
In 2010, Blanc left Bordeaux to manage the French national team.
He stepped down after France’s 2012 Euros defeat to Spain in the quarter finals.
The following year he was appointed the manager of PSG.
He won the league in all three of the seasons he was there, winning 11 trophies in total but he was removed from his role due to his failure to get the club past the quarter finals of the Champions League.
7 – Unai Emery won seven of the eight domestic competitions he competed in with Paris Saint-Germain (Trophée des Champions x2, Coupe de la Ligue x2, Ligue 1, Coupe de France x2); only Laurent Blanc (11) won more trophies at the club. Winner. pic.twitter.com/kqiJaGOeKA
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 23, 2018
Blanc took four years out of management before returning at Al-Rayyan SC in Qatar. He was removed within two years due to bad results.
Later that year, Blanc became manager at Lyon. But he was sacked here as well due to bad form which left Lyon bottom after four games.
In July 2024 he was appointed the manager of Al-Ittihad.
Blanc is definitely one of the most successful of Ferguson’s disciples. His time at Bordeaux and PSG especially were incredibly successful, he’s just struggled in recent years.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
The hero of 99.
Solskjaer had to be in this list.
After retiring from football in the summer of 2007, the Norwegian remained at the club but as a forward’s coach.
He did this for a year before becoming United’s reserves manager.
After two years, an opportunity in his home country at Molde FK came up. He left the United reserves to manage them instead.
He won two league titles and a Norwegian cup, before returning to the Premier League. He took the Cardiff City job.
Solskjaer lasted just over nine months before he was sacked.
He returned to Molde a year later.
But his dream job became available back in Manchester after the sacking of Jose Mourinho.
Solskjaer became the caretaker manager of United in December 2018.
He led the Red Devils for just under three years before he was sacked.
He’s not gone into management since, only working as an analysist for UEFA.
While he won’t be remembered for bringing trophies to Old Trafford, he will be remembered for bringing the spark back to the club after the major toxicity at the end of Mourinho’s reign.
Ultimately, being a great player clearly doesn’t guarantee success as a manager, but some of Ferguson’s disciples have succeeded, while a lot haven’t. This was just a fraction of the total players that’ve played under Ferguson and gone onto manage.
With many of Ferguson’s players only just retiring, there still could yet be a world class disciple of his.