London: With each trophy Alex Ferguson delivers for Manchester United comes the realisation that he'll have to be replaced one day. But even at the age of 71, and after more than 26 years as manager, Ferguson shows no sign of relinquishing one of the most coveted jobs in world football. Especially not when he's just won his 13th English Premier League title by reclaiming the trophy from neighbours Manchester City.
"Look at me - it's taken 10 years off me!" Ferguson said after Monday's 3-0 victory over Aston Villa produced United's record-extending 20th English title, quipping: "It's these tablets. They are great."
Few other managers have discovered the formula for such longevity. Every challenge Ferguson has faced he has seen off. In the Premier League era since 1992, apart from United, only Chelsea have been able to win consecutive titles when Jose Mourinho was in charge.
"We are talking about someone with incredible ability and an ability to keep himself fresh," England coach Roy Hodgson said of Ferguson on Tuesday. "If we're going to talk about magicians in football, then the only magicians I know are people like Sir Alex Ferguson, who year after year keeps producing incredible performances from his teams and his players and keeps being able to rebuild teams from the ashes of his previous team," Hodgson added.
That ability to rebuild teams without making sweeping changes is now central to United's success. The American-owned club is wary about giving any details of the plan to eventually replace Ferguson, but chief executive David Gill has disclosed that any manager wanting to rip apart the squad to impose his own vision completely can forget about the job.
"The quality of the squad, the composition of that squad, means that any new manager coming in will inherit a great squad of players," Gill said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And yes, he may, whenever that is ... clearly want to bring in one or two of his own people, new players. But he won't want to change the squad wholesale because he won't be our manager. We've got to be consistent with that and that's what we are planning on."
United vice chairman Ed Woodward said recently that the succession plan is "in the drawer and long may it stay in the drawer."
What will be hard to replace when age finally catches up with Ferguson is the same determination to never be beaten. Rather than being cowered by the emergence since 2008 of Manchester City as a force, flush with Abu Dhabi cash and denying United the title on goal difference last season, Ferguson has responded to the challenge with gusto.
With five games to go, City are 16 points behind United.
"To lose it like we did last year on goal difference was hurtful," Gill said from his Old Trafford office. "I think it demonstrated the resilience of the club and the ability of Alex with his coaches and the players - both new and old - to bounce back and win it [the Premier League]. "I think that's what we've done over the years very successfully and that's down to the manager."
Rather than panicking at City winning the English title for the first time in 44 years, Ferguson tweaked his squad in the last off-season and pulled off the stunning signing of Robin van Persie from rival Arsenal.
"[Ferguson] is a winner, and we went out and analysed what the issues were, hopefully improved the team in certain areas and then delivered," Gill said. "So nothing surprises me with Alex - he's just an amazing manager."
And Ferguson plans to stay around the club even after eventually leaving the managerial hot seat by joining the board of directors where he will continue to be able to assist attracting top talent.
"There will be certain players we can't get because they want to go to another team," Gill said. "But if a player wants to come to a club with a great feel for it, a great tradition, history and heritage of winning - and get paid a hell of a lot of money quite rightly - then why wouldn't you want to come to Manchester United?"
United will be hoping the same applies to their eventual managerial target - whether the leading figures such as Pep Guardiola and Mourinho are chased or a veteran player like Ryan Giggs is elevated.
For now, Giggs is one of those players paying glowing tributes to Ferguson. "His appetite is second to none," said the 39-year-old midfielder, who has featured in each of Ferguson's title-winning teams. "Every day at the training ground, he's the first there, his enthusiasm is brilliant and that feeds through the club, he is the club.
"Everything comes from the manager, getting players in, getting the right staff in, and he's just an unbelievable manager and an unbelievable person, and he deserves everything that he gets."
And he'll be a hard act to follow - eventually.
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