That is why Fergie is one of the greatest: If you get bored of winning - you will be beaten

The greatest. Without a doubt in the UK, probably on the planet as well. After all, 37 trophies in 27 years accurately illustrate the influence of Sir Alex Ferguson on both Manchester United and global football.

And it was not only the trophies - the way and style of playing and (or) the discovery and nurturing of some of the world's most influential players that marked the stay of the Scottish expert at Old Trafford.

It was also the hunger for success, an amazing motivation to reaffirm - when he won everything, he found a motive to start all over again.

To all that, the simplicity in the explanations, even when they asked him if he was never fed up with the victory, he responds with sentences that reveal why he is the best.

'Well, the alternative is enjoying getting beat! That was not part of my life,' he added. 'Listen, I could encapsulate it in this way. If I’m going to walk into the training ground at Carrington as the manager of Manchester United, and I look out on that football field and I see this fantastic training ground, why wouldn’t I want to go in there every day? The only way you can do that is being successful.

'So, being bored? I was never bored in my life, about anything.'

Greatness. Amongst other things, because he knew who he was bringing to the Theater of Dreams. Not everyone could pass the Fergie's scanner.

A high level of football knowledge was necessary, however, it was not crucial. The key factor was the psychological aspect of the player.

'Some players I had were absolute natural footballers, with natural talent. But there were other players who shared my determination, who maybe weren’t the best players but they made themselves the best players, because they had something inside them too.

Some the best moves of Sir Alex are the transfer of the "class '92" (Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt, Solskjaer, the Neville brothers), the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Eric Cantona... Of course, there were also flops in that section, but Ferguson did not want players who lacked a winning mentality.

'I believe in instinct. I had a good instinct about players and I had a good instinct about watching players who I maybe wanted to buy. 'I knew that, looking at certain players, I could see traits that told me they were Manchester United players, or Aberdeen players, or St Mirren players. I could see that in certain players I watched. Instinct was really important.'

Sir Alex Ferguson (©Clive Brunskill/Gallo Images)

And that is also something you learn with time, with training, by personal example.

'I go back to one of my first defeats as a manager, at 32 years of age. I didn’t expect it. I went into the game eyes wide open, that this was going to be easy. We lost 5-2 to Albion Rovers. I was the manager of East Stirling, the players were on £5 a week, or something like that. 'I came home and I said "if I don’t get Alec Ferguson in my team, I’m not going to succeed". So I made sure that my players had a mental toughness about them, from that moment on.'

That is why Sir Alex got that far. To be called one of the greatest.