It's been nearly nine years since he last sat in a dugout but Craig Brown reckons lifelong pal Sir Alex Ferguson ’s incredible managerial legacy has actually been enhanced since his retirement.
Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, just ask Manchester United fans.
A succession of big name managers at the Old Trafford club have failed to hit the heights achieved during Sir Alex’s sensational 27-year reign as the king of British football.
As he turns 80 today, his old buddy is even more convinced of his status as the greatest gaffer of all time.
Brown typically chuckles at the thought of his old mucker hitting the milestone 18 months after he got there.
The pair first met nearly 70 years ago as part of the Scottish Schoolboys set up and have been close ever since.
Brown said: “Sir Alex has always taken great delight in saying he’s younger than me.
“When I was at Aberdeen every time someone retired he’d text me I was the oldest manager in Scotland.
“Then it would be the oldest manager in Britain. Then Europe.
“He was the one who actually persuaded me to eventually retire. We were out in the cold on the training ground each day and Archie Knox’s jacket was getting thicker and my knees were getting dodgier.
“I decided it was time and straight away I was on to him – ‘you’re the oldest now!’ Maybe that’s why he packed it in so soon after me!
“Everyone knows his legacy. He’s the best manager of all time in my opinion.
“But his achievements at Manchester United look even more impressive when you see the struggles they have had since he left.”
The great man celebrating his 80th gives admirers a chance to reflect on his stellar career.
Brown can remember when Ferguson was just a determined centre-forward playing with lads in the year above. Even then there was a steel that served him right through his career and beyond.
Brown said: “We played in the same Scotland schoolboys side in the 50s, along with Billy McNeill.
“I like to remind him there were two European Cup winners in that team but I was their captain.
“Even back then Alex had a huge drive. He was a winner, but he was also a very underrated player. He had superb touch and he was absolutely fearless.
“He played up front at a time when centre-halves could commit grievous bodily harm and get away with it and he always gave as good as he got.
“I played against him a good few times over the years and I only managed to kick him once when I was at Falkirk and he was at Dunfermline, but he didn’t hold it against me.”
It was Ferguson who set Brown on the path to the Scotland manager’s job.
The then Aberdeen manager stepped in following the sudden death of Jock Stein and assembled a coaching staff to head to Mexico for the 1986 World Cup.
He decided against taking the role on a permanent basis and returned to the Dons before making the move to Manchester United.
The rest is history, as the cliche goes, for both of them.
Brown was bowled over when the surprise call came for national service, even if he feared it might cost him his real job.
He said: “You could say he set me on the road to the Scotland job, and things like the World Cups and European Championships.
“I was part-time manager at Clyde when he called me up and said, ‘Broony, do you fancy the holiday
of a lifetime?’
“He told me to take unpaid leave from my day job with Ayrshire education and took myself and Archie as his assistants to the World Cup in Mexico.
“I had to ask my employers to let me go but thankfully they saw it as a honour and even continued to pay me! The honour was all mine.
“When Alex turned down he job afterwards and Andy Roxburgh and myself took over, that was us
on our way.”
Brown eventually led Scotland to the Euros and World Cup but he marvelled as his pal took Manchester United to the stratosphere.
It’s not just his stunning achievements at St Mirren, Aberdeen and Old Trafford that makes Ferguson a colossus in the game and in general life following his retirement.
There’s the often unspoken charity work, the influence he had on tactics and man management, and also his incredible willingness to help other managers trying to follow in his footsteps.
Brown said: “The greatest, simple as that. The statistics say it all, but not only that, he was the greatest manager, coach, tactician, man manager, you name it. He was a visionary and his success speaks for itself.
“Alex has this reputation for being tough – and you could fill a book with the names of the people he banned from his grounds – but he has always been very generous with his time and everything else. You ask any young Scottish manager and they’ll all tell you he’s a major influence. He’s always been at the end of a phone to help them out.
“He loves nothing more than seeing Scottish managers being successful.
“That’s another one of his legacies. Any Scot who does well in management, chances are he’ll have Alex to thank in one way or another.
“I’m sure he won’t be short of birthday cards.”
