Alex Ferguson Quotes

I don't thrive on control. I'm not looking for control. I think I get better results when I don't control things.

No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?

I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.

I don't feel that I have to control every aspect of things that I appear in. You learn a lot performing someone else's writing.

I have made it totally clear to the players that my door will always be open.

Time is about the need to control. Let go of control and embrace what happens.

When you send a clerk on business to a distant province, a man of rigid morals is not your best choice.

I don't care whether I play on the right or in the centre. All I want is for the coach to have faith in me.

Mark Hughes convinced me to come to Stoke, he has helped me and showed his trust in me from the beginning.

Sometimes you're going to have someone on your team who's just not comfortable with being open. You have to ask yourself, 'Is this person going to allow us to be a real team?' Maybe they're not right for your team. You have to be willing to lose someone sometimes.

I'm not an idiot; I can make adjustments to my life. But I like having a schedule.

I like to keep teams off balance.

You see, a potter can only mold the clay when it lies completely in his hand. It requires complete surrender.

I want everybody to feel he has a chance to get into a game when he comes to the ballpark. I play guys when I want to so they'll be ready when I have to. I don't consider myself a motivator of players. I think it's an insult to a ballplayer to have to be motivated.

I think you've got to accept that certain things are in process that you can't change, that you can't overwhelm. The chaos of our cities, the randomness of our lives, the unpredictability of where you're going to be in ten years from now - all of those things are weighing on us, and yet there is a certain glimmer of control. If you act a certain way, and talk a certain way, you're going to draw certain forces to you.

I'm not a big believer in linear paths. I would always have these sort of five-year plans and think, 'Ok, I wouldn't mind to try to get here in five years.'

Dhoni backs players as well. People like (Suresh) Raina, (Ravindra) Jadeja, and Rohit Sharma have developed under him as players and has some terrific qualities as a leader.

I try not to plan ahead. I just kind of try to think in the moment. I always believe everything will work out the way it's supposed to.

I want a church I can stay in for years. I don't want surprises, scandals, or secrets from my church leaders.

I'm good at giving up control to people who know where they're going and what they want to do. I can sit in the back of a car and ride cross-country if you know where you're going and you know how to take me there.

I really have always thought of myself as somebody who lives in the middle of the wheel and is able to go to the extreme, to the outside of the wheel in any direction. The best case scenario for me is to be able to be centered and then go out.

In football there is very rarely a "typical day" - there are always issues and challenges that arise from nowhere, and as manager you have to be ready to deal with them.

What is success? I think the most important thing is to achieve what you set out to achieve. Just being a CEO in itself is not success. I would not relate success to a title or a position. My career has had a level of serendipity all along. I've never planned anything out more than a few years.

Leaders should be reliable without being predictable. They should be consistent without being anticipated

Never, never, never think - that's one lesson you should have in life. Never think that lack of variability is stability.