From the Govan shipyards to the Treble: BBC Football's Sir Alex Ferguson documentary

The film runs past an hour and a half, and its comment section has filled with people thanking Ferguson for their childhoods, from Kenya to South Africa.

Channel: BBC Football Story of October 9, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 65,269 views a day, 13 times a normal first day on this channel (4,969).

How Sir Alex Ferguson Became Football's Greatest Manager

"How Sir Alex Ferguson Became Football's Greatest Manager" is something BBC Football rarely posts: a full documentary, more than an hour and a half long. According to the description, it is told by people who played alongside Ferguson and for him.

Its chapters move through the whole career. They begin in Govan, the Glasgow shipbuilding district where he grew up, then go to his first managing job at East Stirlingshire and on to Aberdeen. There he broke the hold of Celtic and Rangers on Scottish football and beat Real Madrid in a European final. At Manchester United the film covers the rebuild that began in 1986 and a chapter called "The Goal That Saved Ferguson's Man Utd Career". Most accounts give that role to Mark Robins' FA Cup winner at Nottingham Forest in January 1990. After that come the Class of '92 gamble, the 1999 Treble, the departure of David Beckham, the Ronaldo and Rooney years and his retirement in 2013.

Twelve hours after it went up, it had about 45,000 views. A long video on this channel usually ends its whole first day near 5,000. BBC Football posted a short companion clip the same day, Rio Ferdinand's "He knew everything!", which reached about 12,500. A day earlier the channel's panel had answered viewers' questions about the guilty verdict in Manchester City's financial case.

The comments read like a reunion. Many come from people who say Ferguson's United shaped their childhood, writing from Kenya, South Africa and elsewhere. A long thread brings Pep Guardiola into it, and the main evidence on Ferguson's side is what he did at Aberdeen. One viewer simply wants Nicky Butt remembered for his night in Barcelona in 1999.

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The numbers

A ninety-minute film is a big ask on a weekday, and this one opened at many times the pace of the channel's usual long videos.

the video's first day

usual first day here

4,969

this video

65,269

subscribers

104,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

126,746,047

views per day

138,748

typical day: 117,450

the video

views

45,045

likes

1,031

comments

222

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

Zac Djellab

121,000

Forever United TV

110,000

Hull City

106,000

Fútbol X

106,000

BBC Football

104,000

Terry Flewers TV

101,000

As of October 9, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.