The worst tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson

(GETTY IMAGES)

No, it’s not Piers Morgan’s Twitter tirade. Sir Alex’s retirement from Manchester United today has brought plenty of fresh tributes to the most successful managerial career football has ever seen (and possibly ever, given the tumbling average tenure of most managers nowadays). But long before he decided to hang up his hairdryer, the ageing Scot has been beatified by fans around the world.

Which brings us to this (above). From “The World Red Army”, "Red is the Man" could pass as a cod-folk parody of North Korean-style propaganda in a footballing context. At first listen, piped into the cold night air of Old Trafford in November and drawing 0-0 with QPR it was hard to take it as anything but.

Dig a little deeper though and it's clearly a masterpiece of the genre. It stumbles prosaically from the highly specific (“Born in Govan on the night of New Years Eve”) to the joyfully vague:

“Like the greats from before,

And others we adore”

(The “others we adore” is a truly glorious piece of filler.)

Elsewhere, the deep secret that kept Ferguson's United at the top of their game for 26 years is revealed:

"We play all out in attack, and solid at the back,
and thats what make the club united"

Words won’t do it justice; give it a listen above, and let us know what you think in the comments or with the reactions below.