Fergie: Good Chairman Is Key

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes the key to a young manager's success is having a good chairman.

Managers have become increasingly dispensable in the modern game, with four Premier League bosses having been shown the door this season.

And 69-year-old Ferguson, who has spent 25 years at the Old Trafford helm, believes the most important thing young managers can hope for is someone dependable in charge of the club.

Ferguson said: "More than ever, management is a precarious industry. I say to all young managers that the first thing they need is a good chairman.

"They also need luck and they need to make sure they're prepared to make sacrifices for the job, because this is an unremitting industry.

"It's a results industry, as we all know, but you can help yourself by being totally committed to that alone."

Ferguson is often the first man to speak up in support of axed managers, and was particularly disappointed by Roberto Di Matteo's departure from West Brom earlier in the season.

"My sympathy goes out to managers who lose their jobs," added the Scot.

"There's been a lot of unusual sackings lately, which I've found hard to understand."

Ferguson, meanwhile, says there is no chance of him getting carried away with his success because his wife, Cathy, will not even let him keep his silverware at home.

He said: "I prefer to think about what's ahead and what next I can achieve, and I think that has kept my feet on the ground quite well. I've never got carried away with it.

"My wife, Cathy, is fed up with the whole thing. When Alastair Campbell phoned her about my knighthood she said to him, 'Do you not think he's had enough rewards?'

"You'll not find a thing about my career in the house at all. She's unbelievable. I can't even take a football book home or she'll say, 'What are you doing with that?"'