Fergie will always be one of the greats.

Reports emerging today that Sir Alex Ferguson has missed his chance to become one of the greatest managers of all time are absolutely ridiculous and naïve. Ferguson’s Manchester United side lost last night in the Champions League final and many reporters are now saying his chance at true greatness has been missed.

Well it is hard to believe this when you bear in mind the 35 trophies he has already won including 11 Premier League crowns and two European Cups. The point is that any manager would have suffered last night and it is difficult to think of a team that actually would have beaten Barcelona, regardless of the way United had played.

Barca manager, Pep Guardiola, himself commented before the game that even if his side won that Fergie would always been an idol to him and to other managers because he has achieved so much in a huge career. The Scot will be hungry for more as well, he is a human being and will be feeling as gutted as anyone else on the United plane when it comes home.

No doubt he will want to right this wrong at some point and has already stated that he will not retire until it is clearly obvious that he can’t take a moment more of the excitement and fast pace of the domestic game.

So to suggest his chance for greatness has slipped away is a stupidly naïve statement to make. His side came up against another side that played perfectly in every single area on the pitch. This is something that can sometimes render tactics irrelevant. It seemed that however Fergie tinkered with his team then Barca would play around that problem until it worked for them.

When he does eventually retire then he will be considered as one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest manager in the last two decades. It is impossible to win absolutely everything all of the time and although there was talk of a quintuple this year for United it was an unlikely scenario. This is a side that went for everything and as a result have come out with only the Premier League, World Club Championship and Carling Cup to show for it.

However, at least they had a go. It would take a very special side to win everything they were playing for in a single season. It would take a team with a squad so deep it would seem like they had contracted players walking the streets, ready to play when necessary. It would also take a manager who wouldn’t appear to be a human being, the sort of man that has an answer for everything and knows how to turn literally any game in five minutes so it works to his advantage.

It is very easy to ignore just how well Barca played last night and look at how United clearly were the worse team. It’ll be a hard push for Barca to get into the final again next year as there are a lot of teams who will be gunning for them when the competition starts again. It is certain however, that the statues being made of Fergie are not going to be smashed to bits because of one final defeat.