Dave Stringer enjoyed an enviable record as a manager against Alex Ferguson – winning their first five meetings when he was Norwich City boss.

But Stringer acknowledged the Manchester United great's place in football history as news broke of his retirement.

'I can't see his record ever being broken – when you consider the average time for a manager in one job in present day football is less than three years,' he said.

Between 1988 and 1990, the Canaries won five Division One fixtures in a row against Ferguson's United, two of them at Old Trafford, and knocked them out of the FA Cup in 1991 when they were holders.

'It was when he first came into United and was getting a team together,' said Stringer. 'He bought one or two of our players – Steve Bruce and Mike Phelan – but in the early days he was struggling a bit for results.

'We had a good run of results against them and we knocked them out of the FA Cup, but he soon got it together.

'I didn't have a lot of contact with him at matches but I do remember that he came down in very sad circumstances for the funeral of Bryan Gunn's daughter, which said a lot about him.'