title: Tennessee

text: Summers are generally hot and humid, with most of the state averaging a high of around . Winters tend to be mild to cool, decreasing in temperature at higher elevations. For areas outside the highest mountains, the average overnight lows are generally near freezing. The highest recorded temperature was at Perryville on August 9, 1930, while the lowest recorded temperature was at Mountain City on December 30, 1917.


title: Tennessee

text: While Tennessee is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, its location makes it susceptible to the remnants of tropical cyclones, which weaken over land and can cause significant rainfall. The state annually averages about 50 days of thunderstorms, which can be severe with large hail and damaging winds. Tornadoes are possible throughout the state, with West and Middle Tennessee the most vulnerable. The state averages 15 tornadoes annually. They can be severe, and the state leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes that have fatalities. Winter storms such as in 1993 and 2021 occur occasionally, and ice storms are fairly common. Fog is a persistent problem in some areas, especially in East Tennessee.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is divided into 95 counties, each of which has a county seat. The state has 340 municipalities in total. The Office of Management and Budget designates ten metropolitan areas in Tennessee, four of which extend into neighboring states.


title: Tennessee

text: Nashville is Tennessee's capital and largest city, with nearly 700,000 residents. Its 13-county metropolitan area has been the state's largest since the early 1990s and is one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas, with about 2 million residents. Memphis, with more than 630,000 inhabitants, was the state's largest city until 2016, when Nashville surpassed it. It is in Shelby County, Tennessee's largest county in both population and land area. Knoxville, with about 190,000 inhabitants, and Chattanooga, with about 180,000 residents, are the third- and fourth-largest cities, respectively. Clarksville is a significant population center, with about 170,000 residents. Murfreesboro is the sixth-largest city and Nashville's largest suburb, with more than 150,000 residents. In addition to the major cities, the Tri-Cities of Kingsport, Bristol, and Johnson City are considered the sixth major population center.


title: Tennessee

text: The 2020 United States census reported Tennessee's population at 6,910,840, an increase of 564,735, or 8.90%, since the 2010 census. Between 2010 and 2019, the state received a natural increase of 143,253 (744,274 births minus 601,021 deaths), and an increase from net migration of 338,428 people into the state. Immigration from outside the U.S. resulted in a net increase of 79,086, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 259,342. Tennessee's center of population is in Murfreesboro in Rutherford County.


title: Tennessee

text: According to the 2010 census, 6.4% of Tennessee's population were under age5, 23.6% were under 18, and 13.4% were 65 or older. In recent years, Tennessee has been a top source of domestic migration, receiving an influx of people relocating from places such as California, the Northeast, and the Midwest due to the low cost of living and booming employment opportunities. In 2019, about 5.5% of Tennessee's population was foreign-born. Of the foreign-born population, approximately 42.7% were naturalized citizens and 57.3% non-citizens. The foreign-born population consisted of approximately 49.9% from Latin America, 27.1% from Asia, 11.9% from Europe, 7.7% from Africa, 2.7% from Northern America, and 0.6% from Oceania.


title: Tennessee

text: With the exception of a slump in the 1980s, Tennessee has been one of the fastest-growing states in the nation since 1970, benefiting from the larger Sun Belt phenomenon. The state has been a top destination for people relocating from Northeastern and Midwestern states. This time period has seen the birth of new economic sectors in the state and has positioned the Nashville and Clarksville metropolitan areas as two of the fastest-growing regions in the country.


title: Tennessee

text: In 2020, 6.9% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race), up from 4.6% in 2010. Between 2000 and 2010, Tennessee's Hispanic population grew by 134.2%, the third-highest rate of any state. In 2020, Non-Hispanic or Latino Whites were 70.9% of the population, compared to 57.7% of the population nationwide. In 2010, the five most common self-reported ethnic groups in the state were American (26.5%), English (8.2%), Irish (6.6%), German (5.5%), and Scotch-Irish (2.7%). Most Tennesseans who self-identify as having American ancestry are of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. An estimated 21–24% of Tennesseans are of predominantly English ancestry.


title: Tennessee

text: Since colonization, Tennessee has always been predominantly Christian. About 81% of the population identifies as Christian, with Protestants making up 73% of the population. Of the Protestants in the state, Evangelical Protestants compose 52% of the population, Mainline Protestants 13%, and Historically Black Protestants 8%. Roman Catholics make up 6%, Mormons 1%, and Orthodox Christians less than 1%. The largest denominations by number of adherents are the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Churches of Christ. Muslims and Jews each make up about 1% of the population, and adherents of other religions make up about 3% of the population. About 14% of Tennesseans are non-religious, with 11% identifying as "Nothing in particular", 3% as agnostics, and 1% as atheists.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is included in most definitions of the Bible Belt, and is ranked as one of the nation's most religious states. Several Protestant denominations have their headquarters in Tennessee, including the Southern Baptist Convention and National Baptist Convention (in Nashville); the Church of God in Christ and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (in Memphis); and the Church of God and the Church of God of Prophecy (in Cleveland); and the National Association of Free Will Baptists (in Antioch). Nashville has publishing houses of several denominations.


title: Tennessee

text: As of 2021, Tennessee had a gross state product of $418.3 billion. In 2020, the state's per capita personal income was $30,869. The median household income was $54,833. About 13.6% percent of the population was below the poverty line. In 2019, the state reported a total employment of 2,724,545 and a total number of 139,760 employer establishments. Tennessee is a right-to-work state, like most of its Southern neighbors. Unionization has historically been low and continues to decline, as in most of the U.S.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has a reputation as a low-tax state and is usually ranked as one of the five states with the lowest tax burden on residents. It is one of nine states that do not have a general income tax; the sales tax is the primary means of funding the government. The Hall income tax was imposed on most dividends and interest at a rate of 6% but was completely phased out by 2021. The first $1,250 of individual income and $2,500 of joint income was exempt from this tax. Property taxes are the primary source of revenue for local governments.


title: Tennessee

text: The state's sales and use tax rate for most items is 7%, the second-highest in the nation, along with Mississippi, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Indiana. Food is taxed at 4%, but candy, dietary supplements, and prepared foods are taxed at 7%. Local sales taxes are collected in most jurisdictions at rates varying from 1.5% to 2.75%, bringing the total sales tax between 8.5% and 9.75%. The average combined rate is about 9.5%, the nation's highest average sales tax. Intangible property tax is assessed on the shares of stockholders of any loan, investment, insurance, or for-profit cemetery companies. The assessment ratio is 40% of the value times the jurisdiction's tax rate. Since 2016, Tennessee has had no inheritance tax.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has the eighth-most farms in the nation, which cover more than 40% of its land area and have an average size of about . Cash receipts for crops and livestock have an estimated annual value of $3.5 billion, and the agriculture sector has an estimated annual impact of $81 billion on the state's economy. Beef cattle is the state's largest agricultural commodity, followed by broilers and poultry. Tennessee ranks 12th in the nation for the number of cattle, with more than half of its farmland dedicated to cattle grazing. Soybeans and corn are the state's first and second-most common crops, respectively, and are most heavily grown in West and Middle Tennessee, especially the northwestern corner of the state. Tennessee ranks seventh in the nation in cotton production, most of which is grown in the fertile soils of central West Tennessee.


title: Tennessee

text: The state ranks fourth nationwide in the production of tobacco, which is predominantly grown in the Ridge-and-Valley region of East Tennessee. Tennessee farmers are also known worldwide for their cultivation of tomatoes and horticultural plants. Other important cash crops in the state include hay, wheat, eggs, and snap beans. The Nashville Basin is a top equestrian region, due to soils that produce grass favored by horses. The Tennessee Walking Horse, first bred in the region in the late 18th century, is one of the world's most recognized horse breeds. Tennessee also ranks second nationwide for mule breeding and the production of goat meat. The state's timber industry is largely concentrated on the Cumberland Plateau and ranks as one of the top producers of hardwood nationwide.


title: Tennessee

text: Until World War II, Tennessee, like most Southern states, remained predominantly agrarian. Chattanooga became one of the first industrial cities in the south in the decades after the Civil War, when many factories, including iron foundries, steel mills, and textile mills were constructed there. But most of Tennessee's industrial growth began with the federal investments in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Manhattan Project in the 1930s and 1940s. The state's industrial and manufacturing sector continued to expand in the succeeding decades, and Tennessee is now home to more than 2,400 advanced manufacturing establishments, which produce a total of more than $29 billion worth of goods annually.


title: Tennessee

text: The automotive industry is Tennessee's largest manufacturing sector and one of the nation's largest. Nissan's assembly plant in Smyrna is the largest automotive assembly plant in North America. Two other automakers have assembly plants in Tennessee: General Motors in Spring Hill and Volkswagen in Chattanooga. Ford is constructing an assembly plant in Stanton that is expected to be operational in 2025. In addition, the state contains more than 900 automotive suppliers. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have their North American corporate headquarters in Franklin. The state is also one of the top producers of food and drink products, its second-largest manufacturing sector. A number of well-known brands originated in Tennessee, and even more are produced there. Tennessee also ranks as one of the largest producers of chemicals. Chemical products manufactured in Tennessee include industrial chemicals, paints, pharmaceuticals, plastic resins, and soaps and hygiene products. Additional important products manufactured in Tennessee include fabricated metal products, electrical equipment, consumer electronics and electrical appliances, and nonelectrical machinery.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee's commercial sector is dominated by a wide variety of companies, but its largest service industries include health care, transportation, music and entertainment, banking, and finance. Large corporations with headquarters in Tennessee include FedEx, AutoZone, International Paper, and First Horizon Corporation, all based in Memphis; Pilot Corporation and Regal Entertainment Group in Knoxville; Hospital Corporation of America based in Nashville; Unum in Chattanooga; Acadia Senior Living and Community Health Systems in Franklin; Dollar General in Goodlettsville, and LifePoint Health, Tractor Supply Company, and Delek US in Brentwood.


title: Tennessee

text: Since the 1990s, the geographical area between Oak Ridge and Knoxville has been known as the Tennessee Technology Corridor, with more than 500 high-tech firms in the region. The research and development industry in Tennessee is also one of the largest employment sectors, mainly due to the prominence of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Y-12 National Security Complex in the city of Oak Ridge. ORNL conducts scientific research in materials science, nuclear physics, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, and national security, and is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy (DOE) system by size. The technology sector is also a rapidly growing industry in Middle Tennessee, particularly in the Nashville metropolitan area.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee's electric utilities are regulated monopolies, as in many other states. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) owns over 90% of the state's generating capacity. Nuclear power is Tennessee's largest source of electricity generation, producing about 43.4% of its power in 2021. The same year, 20.2% of the power was produced from 22.4% from coal, 17.8% from natural gas, 15.8% from hydroelectricity, and 1.3% from other renewables. About 59.7% of the electricity generated in Tennessee produces no greenhouse gas emissions. Tennessee is home to the two newest civilian nuclear power reactors in the U.S., at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Rhea County. Tennessee was also an early leader in hydroelectric power, and today is the third-largest hydroelectric power-producing state east of the Rocky Mountains. Tennessee is a net consumer of electricity, receiving power from other TVA facilities in neighboring states.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has very little petroleum and natural gas reserves, but is home to one oil refinery, in Memphis. Bituminous coal is mined in small quantities in the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains. There are sizable reserves of lignite coal in West Tennessee that remain untapped. Coal production in Tennessee peaked in 1972, and today less than 0.1% of coal in the U.S. comes from Tennessee. Tennessee is the nation's leading producer of ball clay. Other major mineral products produced in Tennessee include sand, gravel, crushed stone, Portland cement, marble, sandstone, common clay, lime, and zinc. The Copper Basin, in Tennessee's southeastern corner in Polk County, was one of the nation's most productive copper mining districts between the 1840s and 1980s, and supplied about 90% of the copper the Confederacy used during the Civil War. Mining activities in the basin resulted in a major environmental disaster, which left the surrounding landscape barren for more than a century. Iron ore was another major mineral mined in Tennessee until the early 20th century. Tennessee was also a top producer of phosphate until the early 1990s.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is the 11th-most visited state in the nation, receiving a record of 126 million tourists in 2019. Its top tourist attraction is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the U.S., with more than 14 million visitors annually. The park anchors a large tourism industry based primarily in nearby Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, which includes Dollywood, the most visited ticketed attraction in Tennessee. Attractions related to Tennessee's musical heritage are spread throughout the state. Other top attractions include the Tennessee State Museum and Parthenon in Nashville; the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis; Lookout Mountain, the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel, Ruby Falls, and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga; the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, the Bristol Motor Speedway, Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, and the Hiwassee and Ocoee rivers in Polk County.


title: Tennessee

text: The National Park Service preserves four Civil War battlefields in Tennessee: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Stones River National Battlefield, Shiloh National Military Park, and Fort Donelson National Battlefield. The NPS also operates Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Tennessee is home to eight National Scenic Byways, including the Natchez Trace Parkway, the East Tennessee Crossing Byway, the Great River Road, the Norris Freeway, Cumberland National Scenic Byway, Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byway, The Trace, and the Cherohala Skyway. Tennessee maintains 56 state parks, covering . Many reservoirs created by TVA dams have also generated water-based tourist attractions.


title: Tennessee

text: A culturally diverse state, Tennessee blends Appalachian and Southern flavors, which originate from its English, Scotch-Irish, and African roots, and has evolved as it has grown. Its Grand Divisions also manifest into distinct cultural regions, with East Tennessee commonly associated with Southern Appalachia, and Middle and West Tennessee commonly associated with Upland Southern culture. Parts of West Tennessee, especially Memphis, are sometimes considered part of the Deep South. The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville chronicles the state's history and culture.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is perhaps best known culturally for its musical heritage and contributions to the development of many forms of popular music. Notable authors with ties to Tennessee include Cormac McCarthy, Peter Taylor, James Agee, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Thomas S. Stribling, Ida B. Wells, Nikki Giovanni, Shelby Foote, Ann Patchett, Ishmael Reed, and Randall Jarrell. The state's well-known contributions to Southern cuisine include Memphis-style barbecue, Nashville hot chicken, and Tennessee whiskey.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has played a critical role in the development of many forms of American popular music, including blues, country, rock and roll, rockabilly, soul, bluegrass, Contemporary Christian, and gospel. Many consider Memphis's Beale Street the epicenter of the blues, with musicians such as W. C. Handy performing in its clubs as early as 1909. Memphis was historically home to Sun Records, where musicians such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Charlie Rich began their recording careers, and where rock and roll took shape in the 1950s. Stax Records in Memphis became one of the most important labels for soul artists in the late 1950s and 1960s, and a subgenre known as Memphis soul emerged. The 1927 Victor recording sessions in Bristol generally mark the beginning of the country music genre and the rise of the "Grand Ole Opry" in the 1930s helped make Nashville the center of the country music recording industry. Nashville became known as "Music City", and the "Grand Ole Opry" remains the nation's longest-running radio show.


title: Tennessee

text: Many museums and historic sites recognize Tennessee's role in nurturing various forms of popular music, including Sun Studio, Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, the Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, National Museum of African American Music, and Music Row in Nashville, the International Rock-A-Billy Museum in Jackson, the Mountain Music Museum in Kingsport, and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame, an online site recognizing the development of rockabilly, is also based in Nashville. Several annual music festivals take place throughout the state, the largest of which are the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Bonnaroo in Manchester, and Riverbend in Chattanooga.


title: Tennessee

text: Education in Tennessee is administered by the Tennessee Department of Education. The state Board of Education has 11 members: one from each Congressional district, a student member, and the executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), who serves as ex-officio nonvoting member. Public primary and secondary education systems are operated by county, city, or special school districts to provide education at the local level, and operate under the direction of the Tennessee Department of Education. The state also has many private schools.


title: Tennessee

text: The state enrolls approximately 1 million K–12 students in 137 districts. In 2021, the four-year high school graduation rate was 88.7%, a decrease of 1.2% from the previous year. According to the most recent data, Tennessee spends $9,544 per student, the 8th lowest in the nation.


title: Tennessee

text: Public higher education is overseen by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), which provides guidance to the state's two public university systems. The University of Tennessee system operates four primary campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, and Pulaski; a Health Sciences Center in Memphis; and an aerospace research facility in Tullahoma. The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), also known as The College System of Tennessee, operates 13 community colleges and 27 campuses of the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT). Until 2017, the TBR also operated six public universities in the state; it now only gives them administrative support.


title: Tennessee

text: In 2014, the Tennessee General Assembly created the Tennessee Promise, which allows in-state high school graduates to enroll in two-year post-secondary education programs such as associate degrees and certificates at community colleges and trade schools in Tennessee tuition-free, funded by the state lottery, if they meet certain requirements. The Tennessee Promise was created as part of then-governor Bill Haslam's "Drive to 55" program, which set a goal of increasing the number of college-educated residents to at least 55% of the state's population. The program has also received national attention, with multiple states having since created similar programs modeled on the Tennessee Promise.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has 107 private institutions. Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the nation's leading research institutions. Nashville is often called the "Athens of the South" due to its many colleges and universities. Tennessee is also home to six historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is home to more than 120 newspapers. The most-circulated paid newspapers in the state include "The Tennessean" in Nashville, "The Commercial Appeal" in Memphis, the "Knoxville News Sentinel", the "Chattanooga Times Free Press", and "The Leaf-Chronicle" in Clarksville, "The Jackson Sun", and "The Daily News Journal" in Murfreesboro. All of these except the "Times Free Press" are owned by Gannett.


title: Tennessee

text: Six television media markets—Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Tri-Cities, and Jackson—are based in Tennessee. The Nashville market is the third-largest in the Upland South and the ninth-largest in the southeastern United States, according to Nielsen Media Research. Small sections of the Huntsville, Alabama and Paducah, Kentucky-Cape Girardeau, Missouri-Harrisburg, Illinois markets also extend into the state. Tennessee has 43 full-power and 41 low-power television stations and more than 450 Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-licensed radio stations. The "Grand Ole Opry", based in Nashville, is the longest-running radio show in the country, having broadcast continuously since 1925.


title: Tennessee

text: The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is the primary agency that is tasked with regulating and maintaining Tennessee's transportation infrastructure. Tennessee is currently one of five states with no transportation-related debts.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has of roads, of which are maintained by the state. Of the state's highways, are part of the Interstate Highway System. Tennessee has no tolled roads or bridges but has the sixth-highest mileage of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, which are utilized on freeways in the congestion-prone Nashville and Memphis metropolitan areas.


title: Tennessee

text: Interstate 40 (I-40) is the longest Interstate Highway in Tennessee, traversing the state for . Known as "Tennessee's Main Street", I-40 serves the major cities of Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, and throughout its entire length in Tennessee, one can observe the diversity of the state's geography and landforms. I-40's branch interstates include I-240 in Memphis; I-440 in Nashville; I-840 around Nashville; I-140 from Knoxville to Maryville; and I-640 in Knoxville. In a north–south orientation, from west to east, are interstates 55, which serves Memphis; 65, which passes through Nashville; 75, which serves Chattanooga and Knoxville; and 81, which begins east of Knoxville, and serves Bristol to the northeast. I-24 is an east–west interstate that enters the state in Clarksville, passes through Nashville, and terminates in Chattanooga. I-26, although technically an east–west interstate, begins in Kingsport and runs southwardly through Johnson City before exiting into North Carolina. I-155 is a branch route of I-55 that serves the northwestern part of the state. I-275 is a short spur route in Knoxville. I-269 runs from Millington to Collierville, serving as an outer bypass of Memphis.


title: Tennessee

text: Major airports in Tennessee include Nashville International Airport (BNA), Memphis International Airport (MEM), McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) outside of Knoxville, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI) in Blountville, and McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport (MKL) in Jackson. Because Memphis International Airport is the hub of FedEx Corporation, it is the world's busiest cargo airport. The state also has 74 general aviation airports and 148 heliports.


title: Tennessee

text: For passenger rail service, Memphis and Newbern are served by the Amtrak City of New Orleans line on its run between Chicago and New Orleans. Nashville is served by the Music City Star commuter rail service. Tennessee currently has of freight trackage in operation, most of which are owned by CSX Transportation. Norfolk Southern Railway also operates lines in East and southwestern Tennessee. BNSF operates a major intermodal facility in Memphis.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee has a total of of navigable waterways, the 11th highest in the nation. These include the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers. Five inland ports are located in the state, including the Port of Memphis, which is the fifth-largest in the United States and the second largest on the Mississippi River.


title: Tennessee

text: The Constitution of Tennessee was adopted in 1870. The state had two previous constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee was admitted to the union, and the second in 1834. Since 1826, Nashville has been the capital of Tennessee. The capital was previously in three other cities. Knoxville was the capital from statehood in 1796 until 1812, except for September 21, 1807, when the legislature met in Kingston for a day. The capital was relocated to Nashville in 1812, where it remained until it was relocated back to Knoxville in 1817. The next year, the capital was moved to Murfreesboro, where it remained until 1826. Nashville was officially named Tennessee's permanent capital in 1843.


title: Tennessee

text: Like the federal government, Tennessee's government has three branches. The executive branch is led by the governor, who holds office for a four-year term and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The governor is the only official elected statewide. The current governor is Bill Lee, a Republican. The governor is supported by 22 cabinet-level departments, most headed by a commissioner the governor appoints. The executive branch also includes several agencies, boards, and commissions, some of which are under the auspices of one of the cabinet-level departments.


title: Tennessee

text: The bicameral legislative branch, the Tennessee General Assembly, consists of the 33-member Senate and the 99-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and House members serve two-year terms. Each chamber chooses a Speaker, who is elected by a joint session of the legislature. The Speaker of the Senate also serves as the lieutenant governor, a practice found only in one other state, and the House Speaker is third in line for the governorship. The legislature can override a veto by a simple majority, and the state has no "pocket veto". The legislature convenes at noon on the second Tuesday in January and meets for a total of 90 days over two sessions, usually adjourning in late April or early May. Special sessions may be called by the governor or by two-thirds of the members of both chambers.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee's highest court is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. No more than two justices can be from the same Grand Division. The Supreme Court of Tennessee appoints the state's Attorney General, a practice only found in Tennessee. Both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals have 12 judges, who are evenly from each Grand Division. Under the Tennessee Plan, the governor appoints justices on all three courts to eight-year terms; they must be retained by the voters during the first general election after appointment and at the end of their term. Tennessee is divided into 31 judicial districts, each with a circuit and chancery court, and a district attorney and judges elected to eight-year terms. Separate criminal courts serve 13 of the 31 judicial districts; circuit courts handle criminal cases in the remaining districts. Local courts include general sessions, juvenile and domestic, and municipal courts.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee maintains four dedicated law enforcement agencies: the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The Highway Patrol is the primary entity that enforces highway safety regulations and general non-wildlife state laws. It is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Safety. The TWRA is an independent agency tasked with enforcing all wildlife, boating, and fishery regulations outside of state parks. TDEC enforces state environmental laws and regulations. The TBI is the primary state-level criminal investigative department. State park rangers are responsible for all activities and law enforcement inside the Tennessee State Parks system. Capital punishment is legal in Tennessee and has existed at various times since statehood. Lethal injection is the primary means of execution, but electrocution is also allowed.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is divided into 95 counties, with 92 county governments that use a county commission legislative body and a separately elected county executive. The governments of Davidson (Nashville), Moore (Lynchburg), and Trousdale (Hartsville) are consolidated with their county seats. Each county elects a sheriff, property assessor, trustee, register of deeds, and county clerk. Tennessee has more than 340 municipalities. Most cities and towns use the weak mayor-council (mayor-aldermen), strong-mayor council, city commission, or council–manager forms of government. Local law enforcement is divided between county sheriff's offices and municipal police departments. In every county except Davidson, the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee sends nine representatives to the United States House of Representatives. The current delegation consists of seven Republicans and two Democrats. Its U.S. senators are Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both Republicans. Tennessee is under the jurisdiction of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over three district courts in the state: the Eastern, Middle, and Western districts.


title: Tennessee

text: The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is Tennessee's only federally recognized Native American tribe. It owns in Henning, which the tribe placed into federal trust in 2012. This is governed directly by the tribe.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee's politics are currently dominated by the Republican Party. Republicans currently hold the state's U.S. Senate seats, 7 out of 9 Congressional seats, 73 out of 99 state House seats, and 27 out of 33 state Senate seats. Democratic strength is largely concentrated in Nashville, Memphis, and parts of Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Clarksville. Several suburban areas of Nashville and Memphis also contain significant Democratic minorities. Tennessee is one of thirteen states which holds its presidential primaries on Super Tuesday. Tennessee does not require voters to declare a party affiliation when registering. The state is one of eight states which require voters to present a form of photo identification. In a 2020 study, Tennessee ranked 21st on the "Cost of Voting Index", a measure of "the ease of voting across the United States".


title: Tennessee

text: Between the end of the Civil War and the mid-20th century, Tennessee was part of the Democratic Solid South, but had the largest Republican minority of any former Confederate state. During this time, East Tennessee was heavily Republican and the western two thirds mostly voted Democratic, with the latter dominating the state. This division was related to the state's pattern of Unionist and Confederate loyalism during the Civil War. Tennessee's 1st and 2nd congressional districts, based in the Tri-Cities and Knoxville, respectively, are among the few historically Republican districts in the South. The first has been in Republican hands continuously since 1881, and Republicans or their antecedents have held it for all but four years since 1859. The second has been held continuously by Republicans or their antecedents since 1855.


title: Tennessee

text: During Reconstruction, freedmen and former free blacks were granted the right to vote; most joined the Republican Party. Numerous African Americans were elected to local offices, and some to state office. Following Reconstruction, Tennessee continued to have competitive party politics, but in the 1880s, the White-dominated state government passed Jim Crow laws, one of which imposed a poll tax requirement for voter registration. These served to disenfranchise most African Americans, and their power in state and local politics was markedly reduced. After the disenfranchisement of blacks, the Republican Party became a primarily white sectional party supported mostly in East Tennessee. In the early 1900s, the state legislature approved legislation allowing cities to adopt a commission form of government based on at-large voting as a means to limit African American political participation. Not until after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were African Americans able to regain their full voting rights.


title: Tennessee

text: Between the end of Reconstruction and the mid-20th century, Tennessee voted consistently Democratic in Presidential elections, except in two nationwide Republican landslides in the 1920s. Tennesseans narrowly supported Warren G. Harding over Ohio Governor James Cox in 1920, and more decisively voted for Herbert Hoover over New York Governor Al Smith in 1928. During the first half of the 20th century, state politics were dominated by the Democratic Crump machine in Memphis. For most of the second half of the 20th century, Tennessee was a swing state in presidential elections. During this time, Democratic presidential nominees from Southern states, including Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, tended to fare better in Tennessee than their Northern counterparts, especially among split-ticket voters outside the metropolitan areas. In the 1950s, Tennessee twice voted for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Allied Commander of the Armed Forces during World War II. Howard Baker, first elected in 1966, became the first Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee since Reconstruction. The Republican Southern strategy did not have as much of an effect in Tennessee as in most Southern states, but the elections of Winfield Dunn as governor and Bill Brock to the U.S. Senate in 1970 further helped make the GOP competitive among Whites in statewide elections. In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, who had previously served as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee, failed to carry his home state, an unusual occurrence but indicative of strengthening Republican support.


title: Tennessee

text: Beginning in the early 21st century, Tennessee transitioned into a solid Republican state, primarily due to rural white voters who have rejected the increasing liberalism of the Democratic Party. In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush increased his margin of victory in the state to 14% from 4% in 2000. In 2007, Ron Ramsey became the first Republican Speaker of the State Senate since Reconstruction, and the following year the Republicans gained control of both houses of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Voters, however, continued to elect moderate Republicans, such as centrists Bill Haslam and Lamar Alexander, until the late 2010s with the rise of Trumpism in the GOP at a nationwide scale. Since 2016, Tennessee has been the most populous state to vote Republican by more than 60% in presidential elections, and in 2020 voted Republican by the largest margin of any state in terms of number of votes.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is home to four major professional sports franchises: the Tennessee Titans have played in the National Football League (NFL) since 1997, the Nashville Predators have played in the National Hockey League (NHL) since 1998, the Memphis Grizzlies have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2001, and Nashville SC has played in Major League Soccer (MLS) since 2020.


title: Tennessee

text: The state is also home to eight minor league teams. Four of these are Minor League Baseball clubs. The Nashville Sounds, which began play in 1978, and Memphis Redbirds, which began in 1998, each compete in the International League at the Triple-A level, the highest before Major League Baseball. The Tennessee Smokies, which have played continuously since 1972, and Chattanooga Lookouts, which have played continuously since 1976, are members of the Double-A classification Southern League. Tennessee has three minor league soccer teams. Memphis 901 FC has played in the second-tier USL Championship since 2019. Chattanooga Red Wolves SC has been a member of the third-tier USL League One since 2019. Founded in 2009, Chattanooga FC began playing in the third-tier National Independent Soccer Association in 2020. The state has one minor league ice hockey team: the Knoxville Ice Bears, which began play in 2002 and are members of the Southern Professional Hockey League.


title: Tennessee

text: The state is home to 12 NCAA Division I programs. Four of these participate in the top level of college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision. In Knoxville, the Tennessee Volunteers college teams play in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In Nashville, the Vanderbilt Commodores are also members of the SEC. The Memphis Tigers are members of the American Athletic Conference, and Murfreesboro's Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders play in Conference USA. Nashville is also home to the Belmont Bruins, members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) but moving to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in July 2022; Tennessee State Tigers, OVC members with no plans to change conferences; and the Lipscomb Bisons, members of the ASUN Conference. Tennessee State plays football in Division I's second level, the Football Championship Subdivision, while Belmont and Lipscomb do not have football teams. Through the 2021–22 school year, the OVC also includes the Austin Peay Governors from Clarksville, the UT Martin Skyhawks from Martin, and the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles from Cookeville. UT Martin and Tennessee Tech will remain in the OVC, while Peay will move to the ASUN. The Chattanooga Mocs and Johnson City's East Tennessee State Buccaneers are full members, including football, of the Southern Conference.


title: Tennessee

text: Tennessee is also home to the Bristol Motor Speedway, which features NASCAR Cup Series racing two weekends a year, routinely selling out more than 160,000 seats on each date. The Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, which previously held Nationwide and IndyCar races until it was shut down in 2011, reopened to host the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021. Tennessee's only graded stakes horserace, the Iroquois Steeplechase, is held in Nashville each May. The WGC Invitational is a PGA Tour golf tournament that has been held in Memphis since 1958.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time and has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Ferguson is often credited for valuing youth during his time with Manchester United, particularly in the 1990s with the "Class of '92", who contributed to making the club one of the richest and most successful in the world.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson played as a forward for several Scottish clubs, including Dunfermline Athletic and Rangers. While playing for Dunfermline, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league in the 1965–66 season. Towards the end of his playing career he also worked as a coach, then started his managerial career with East Stirlingshire and St Mirren. Ferguson then enjoyed a highly successful period as manager of Aberdeen, winning three Scottish league championships, four Scottish Cups and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1983. He briefly managed Scotland following the death of Jock Stein, taking the team to the 1986 World Cup.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 1986. During his 26 years with Manchester United he won 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, and two UEFA Champions League titles. He was knighted in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours list for his services to the game. Ferguson is the longest-serving manager of Manchester United, having overtaken Sir Matt Busby's record on 19 December 2010. He retired from management at the end of the 2012–13 season, having won the Premier League in his final season.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born at his grandmother's home on Shieldhall Road in the Govan district of Glasgow on 31 December 1941, the son of Elizabeth (née Hardie) and Alexander Beaton Ferguson. His father was a plater's helper in the shipbuilding industry. He grew up in a tenement at 667 Govan Road, which has since been demolished, where he lived with his parents and his younger brother Martin, who also became a footballer. He attended Broomloan Road Primary School and later Govan High School. He began his football career with Harmony Row Boys Club in Govan, before progressing to Drumchapel Amateurs, a youth club with a strong reputation for producing senior footballers. He also took an apprenticeship as a toolmaker at a factory in Hillington, being appointed a union shop steward.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson's playing career began as an amateur with Queen's Park, where he made his debut as a striker, aged 16. He described his first match as a "nightmare", but scored Queen's Park's goal in a 2–1 defeat against Stranraer. Perhaps his most notable game for Queen's Park was the 7–1 defeat away to Queen of the South on Boxing Day 1959 when ex-England international Ivor Broadis scored four of the Queen of the South goals. Ferguson was the solitary Queen's Park goalscorer.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Despite scoring 20 goals in his 31 games for Queen's Park, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to St Johnstone in 1960. Ferguson was on a part-time contract with St Johnstone, and he combined working in a Govan shipyard with training at night in Perth. Although he regularly scored goals for St Johnstone, he was unable to command a consistent place in their team. He regularly requested transfers, and even considered emigrating to Canada. St Johnstone's failure to sign another forward led the manager to select Ferguson for a match against Rangers, in which he scored a hat-trick in a surprise 3–2 victory at Ibrox.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Dunfermline signed him the following summer (1964), and Ferguson became a full-time professional footballer. In the following season (1964–65) Dunfermline were strong challengers for the Scottish league title and reached the Scottish Cup Final, but Ferguson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against St Johnstone. Dunfermline lost the final 3–2 to Celtic, then failed to win the League by one point. The 1965–66 season saw Ferguson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Dunfermline. Along with Joe McBride of Celtic, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league with 31 goals.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson then joined Rangers for £65,000, which was a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs. He performed well in Europe during his two seasons with the club, scoring six goals in nine appearances in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup including two against 1.FC Köln in the 1967–68 competition, and an important strike against Athletic Bilbao in the 1968–69 edition which helped Rangers into the semi-finals, but on both occasions they were knocked out by English opposition. He was blamed for a goal conceded in the 1969 Scottish Cup Final, in a match in which he was designated to mark Celtic captain, Billy McNeill, and was subsequently forced to play for the club's junior side instead of for the first team. According to his brother, Ferguson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: There have been claims that he suffered discrimination at Rangers due to his marriage to a Catholic, Cathy Holding. Ferguson said in a 2021 documentary film about his life and career ("") that he 'assumed' that his exclusion from the first team after the 1969 cup final was due to her religion. His autobiography noted that Rangers had known of his wife's religion when he joined the club. In March 2021, he added that when he was signed, a Rangers director had questioned whether the Fergusons had been married in a (Catholic) chapel, and that the director had replied "oh, that's okay" when told they had married in a registry office. Ferguson left Rangers reluctantly, as he had grown up locally and had dreamed of succeeding there. He was upset by how newspapers would refer to him as an "ex-Rangers player" after he had left, and rarely attended gatherings of their former players.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The following October, Nottingham Forest wanted to sign Ferguson, but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time, so he went to Falkirk instead. He remained at Brockville for four years, gaining more league appearances than he had elsewhere; in recognition of his experience he was promoted to player-coach, but when John Prentice became manager he removed Ferguson's coaching responsibilities. Ferguson's time at Falkirk was soured by this, and he responded by requesting a transfer and moved to Ayr United, where he finished his playing career in 1974.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson's only involvement with the Scotland national team was during an overseas tour in 1967. For many years none of the tour matches were recognised by the Scottish Football Association as full internationals, and so Ferguson was deemed to have never played for Scotland. A "BBC Sport" article in June 2020 identified him as one of the best Scottish players to have never played a full international. The SFA announced in October 2021 that some of the tour matches would be reclassified as full internationals, which meant that Ferguson was belatedly awarded an international cap.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In June 1974, Ferguson was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire, at the comparatively young age of 32. It was a part-time job that paid £40 per week, and the club did not have a single goalkeeper at the time. He gained a reputation as a disciplinarian, with club forward Bobby McCulley later saying he had "never been afraid of anyone before but Ferguson was a frightening bastard from the start."


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In October 1974, Ferguson was invited to manage St Mirren. While they were below East Stirlingshire in the league, they were a bigger club and although Ferguson felt a degree of loyalty towards East Stirlingshire, he decided to join St Mirren after taking advice from Jock Stein.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson was manager of St Mirren from 1974 until 1978, producing a remarkable transformation of a team in the lower half of the old Second Division watched by crowds of just over 1,000, to First Division champions in 1977, discovering talent like Billy Stark, Tony Fitzpatrick, Lex Richardson, Frank McGarvey, Bobby Reid and Peter Weir while playing superb attacking football. The average age of the league winning team was 19 and the captain, Fitzpatrick, was 20.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: St Mirren have the distinction of being the only club ever to sack Ferguson. He claimed wrongful dismissal against the club at an industrial tribunal but lost and was given no leave to appeal. According to a "Sunday Herald" article on 30 May 1999, the official version is that Ferguson was sacked for various breaches of contract, including unauthorised payments to players. He was counter-accused of intimidating behaviour towards his office secretary because he wanted players to get some expenses tax free. He did not speak to her for six weeks, confiscated her keys and communicated only through a 17-year-old assistant. The tribunal concluded that Ferguson was "particularly petty" and "immature". It was claimed during the tribunal by St Mirren chairman, Willie Todd, that Ferguson had "no managerial ability".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In 2008, "The Guardian" published an interview with Todd (then aged 87), who had sacked Ferguson many years earlier. Todd said that the fundamental reason for the dismissal was a breach of contract relating to Ferguson having agreed to join Aberdeen. Ferguson told journalist Jim Rodger of the "Daily Mirror" that he had asked at least one member of the squad to go to Aberdeen with him. He told the St Mirren staff he was leaving. Todd expressed regret over what happened but blamed Aberdeen for not approaching his club to discuss compensation.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In 1977, Ferguson turned down the manager's job at Aberdeen. The role went to Billy McNeill, who returned to Celtic after only a year, leaving the role available for Ferguson once again.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson joined Aberdeen as manager in June 1978, replacing Billy McNeill who had only managed the club for one season before he was offered the chance to manage Celtic. Although Aberdeen were one of Scotland's major clubs they had won the league only once, in 1955 under Dave Halliday. The team had been playing well, however, and had not lost a league match since the previous December, having finished second in the league the previous season. Ferguson had now been a manager for four years, but was still not much older than some of the players and had trouble winning the respect of some of the older ones such as Joe Harper. The season did not go especially well, with Aberdeen reaching the semi-final of the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup Final, but losing both matches and finishing fourth in the league.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Aberdeen lost the 1979–80 Scottish League Cup Final, this time to Dundee United after a replay. Ferguson took the blame for the defeat, saying he should have made changes to the team for the replay.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Aberdeen had started the 1979–80 season poorly but their form improved dramatically in the new year and they won the Scottish league that season with a 5–0 win on the final day. It was the first time in 15 years that the league had not been won by either Rangers or Celtic. Ferguson now felt that he had the respect of his players, later saying: "That was the achievement which united us. I finally had the players believing in me".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: He was still a strict disciplinarian, though, and his players nicknamed him "Furious Fergie". He fined one of his players, John Hewitt, for overtaking him on a public road, and kicked a tea urn at the players at half time after a poor first half. He was dissatisfied with the atmosphere at Aberdeen matches, and deliberately created a "siege mentality" by accusing the Scottish media of being biased towards the Glasgow clubs, to motivate the team. The team continued their success with a Scottish Cup win in 1982. Ferguson was offered the manager's job at Wolverhampton Wanderers but turned it down as he felt that Wolves were in trouble and his "ambitions at Aberdeen were not even half fulfilled".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson led Aberdeen to even greater success the following season, 1982–83. They had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as a result of winning the Scottish Cup the previous season, and impressively knocked out Bayern Munich, who had beaten Tottenham Hotspur 4–1 in the previous round. According to Willie Miller, this gave them the confidence to believe that they could go on to win the competition, which they did, with a 2–1 victory over Real Madrid in the final on 11 May 1983. Aberdeen became only the third Scottish team to win a European trophy and Ferguson now felt that "he'd done something worthwhile with his life". This was followed up with victory in the European Super Cup in December 1983, when Hamburger SV, the reigning European Cup champions, were beaten 2–0 over two legs. Aberdeen had also performed well in the league that season, and retained the Scottish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Rangers, but Ferguson was not happy with his team's play in that match and upset the players by describing theirs as a "disgraceful performance" in a televised interview after the match, a statement he later retracted.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: After a sub-standard start to the 1983–84 season, Aberdeen's form improved and the team won the Scottish league and retained the Scottish Cup. Ferguson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1985 New Year Honours, and was offered the managers' jobs at Rangers and Arsenal during the season. Aberdeen retained their league title in the 1984–85 season. In 1985–86, Aberdeen won both domestic cups, but finished fourth in the league. Ferguson had been appointed to the club's board of directors early in 1986, but that April he told Dick Donald, their chairman, that he intended to leave that summer.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson had been part of the coaching staff for the Scottish national side during qualifying for the 1986 World Cup, but manager Jock Stein had collapsed and died on 10 September 1985 – at the end of the game in which Scotland qualified from their group for a play-off against Australia. Ferguson promptly agreed to take charge of the Scottish national side against the Australians and subsequently at the World Cup. To allow him to fulfil his international duties he appointed Archie Knox as his co-manager at Aberdeen. However, after Scotland failed to progress past the group stages of the World Cup, Ferguson stepped down as national team manager on 15 June 1986.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Around this time, Tottenham Hotspur offered Ferguson the chance to take over from Peter Shreeves as manager, but he rejected this offer and the job went to Luton Town's David Pleat instead. There was also an offer for Ferguson to replace Don Howe as Arsenal manager, but he rejected this offer as well, and fellow Scot George Graham took the post instead. That summer, there had been speculation that he would take over from Ron Atkinson at Manchester United, who had slumped to fourth in the English top flight after a ten-match winning start.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: It was not the first time that Ferguson had been linked with a move to England. In February 1982, Wolverhampton Wanderers had approached him about succeeding John Barnwell as manager as they were heading for relegation from the First Division. He rejected this offer, perhaps concerned about the club's financial stability, as they were more than £2 million in debt at the time and narrowly avoided going out of business. At the end of the 1984–85 season, it was reported that Ferguson was being considered for the Liverpool manager's job after the retirement of Joe Fagan was announced, but the job was quickly accepted by Liverpool striker Kenny Dalglish.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Although Ferguson remained at Aberdeen over the summer, he did eventually join Manchester United when Atkinson was sacked in November 1986.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson was appointed manager at Old Trafford on 6 November 1986. He was initially worried that many of the players, such as Norman Whiteside, Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were drinking too much and was "depressed" by their level of fitness, but he managed to increase the players' discipline and United climbed up the table to finish the season in 11th place, having been 21st (second from bottom) when he took over.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: His first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat at Oxford United on 8 November, followed seven days later by a goalless draw at newly promoted Norwich City, and then his first win (1–0 at home to Queens Park Rangers) on 22 November. Results steadily improved as the season went on, and by the time they recorded what would be their only away win of the league campaign at title challengers and rivals Liverpool on Boxing Day, it was clear that United were on the road to recovery. 1987 began on a high note with a 4–1 victory over Newcastle United and United gradually pulled together in the second half of the season, with relatively occasional defeats on the way, and finished 11th in the final table. Ferguson's mother Elizabeth died of lung cancer, aged 64, three weeks after his appointment. Ferguson hired Archie Knox, his assistant at Aberdeen, in the same role at Manchester United in 1986.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In the 1987–88 season, Ferguson made several major signings, including Steve Bruce, Viv Anderson and Brian McClair. The new players made a positive contribution to a United team who finished in second place, nine points behind Liverpool. Liverpool's points lead, however, had been in double digits for most of the season and while United had lost only five league games all season, they drew 12 games and there was clearly still some way to go before United could be a match for their north western rivals.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: During the season, United played two friendly matches in Bermuda against the Bermuda national team and the Somerset Cricket Club. In the match against Somerset, both Ferguson himself and his assistant Archie Knox took to the field, with Knox even getting on the scoresheet. The match was Ferguson's only appearance for the Manchester United first team.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: United were expected to do well when Mark Hughes returned to the club two years after leaving for Barcelona, alongside Jim Leighton from Aberdeen; but the 1988–89 season was a disappointment for them, finishing 11th in the league and losing 1–0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup sixth round. They had begun the season slowly, going on a nine-match winless run throughout October and November (with one defeat and eight draws) before a run of generally good results took them to third place and the fringes of the title challenge by mid February. However, another run of disappointing results in the final quarter of the season saw them fall down to mid-table.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: For the 1989–90 season, Ferguson further boosted his squad by paying large sums of money for midfielders Neil Webb, Mike Phelan, and Paul Ince, as well as defender Gary Pallister and winger Danny Wallace. The season began well with a 4–1 win over defending champions Arsenal on the opening day, but United's league form quickly turned sour. In September, United suffered a humiliating 5–1 away defeat against fierce rivals Manchester City. Following this and an early season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games, a banner declaring, "Three years of excuses and it's still crap ... ta-ra Fergie." was displayed at Old Trafford, and many journalists and supporters called for Ferguson to be sacked. Ferguson later described December 1989 as "the darkest period [he had] ever suffered in the game", as United ended the decade just outside the relegation zone.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Following a run of seven games without a win, Manchester United were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup. Forest were performing well that season and were in the process of winning the League Cup for the second season running, and it was expected that United would lose the match and Ferguson would consequently be sacked, but United won the game 1–0 due to a Mark Robins goal and eventually reached the final. This cup win is often cited as the match that saved Ferguson's Old Trafford career, even though it has since been stated that his job was never at risk. United went on to win the FA Cup, beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the final replay after a 3–3 draw in the first match, giving Ferguson his first major trophy as Manchester United manager. United's defensive frailties in the first match were blamed on goalkeeper Jim Leighton. Ferguson dropped Leighton for the replay, bringing in Les Sealey.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Although United's league form improved greatly in 1990–91, they were still inconsistent and finished sixth. There were some excellent performances that season, including a 6–2 demolition of Arsenal at Highbury, but results like an early 2–1 loss at newly promoted Sunderland, a 4–0 September hammering by Liverpool at Anfield, and a 2–0 home defeat by Everton in early March (the game where 17-year-old talented prospect Ryan Giggs made his senior debut) showed that United still had some way to go.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Even after the FA Cup victory in the previous season, some still had doubts about Ferguson's ability to succeed where all the other managers since Matt Busby had failed – to win the league title. They were runners-up in the League Cup, losing 1–0 to Sheffield Wednesday. However, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating that season's Spanish champions Barcelona 2–1. It would be United's only Cup Winners' Cup title. After the match, Ferguson vowed that United would win the league the following season, and at long last he seemed to have won over the last of his sceptics after nearly five years in the job.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: During the 1991 close season, Ferguson's assistant Archie Knox departed to Rangers to become assistant to Walter Smith, and Ferguson promoted youth team coach Brian Kidd to the role of assistant manager in Knox's place. He also made two major signings – goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and defender Paul Parker – to bolster his side. There was much anticipation about the breakthrough of the young Ryan Giggs, who had played twice and scored once in the 1990–91 campaign, and the earlier emergence of another impressive young winger in the shape of Lee Sharpe, who despite their youth had made Ferguson feel able to resist plunging into the transfer market and buying a new player to take over from the disappointing Danny Wallace on the left wing. He had also added Soviet midfielder Andrei Kanchelskis to the right wing, giving him a more attacking alternative to older midfielders Mike Phelan and Bryan Robson.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The 1991–92 season did not live up to Ferguson's expectations and, in Ferguson's words, "many in the media felt that [his] mistakes had contributed to the misery". United won the League Cup and European Super Cup; both for the first time, but lost out on the league title to rivals Leeds United after leading the table for much of the season. A shortage of goals and being held to draws by teams they had been expected to beat in the second half of the campaign had proved to be the undoing of a United side who had performed so well in the first half of the season. Ferguson felt that his failure to secure the signing of Mick Harford from Luton Town had cost United the league, and that he needed "an extra dimension" to the team if they were to win the league the following season.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: During the 1992 close season, Ferguson went on the hunt for a new striker. He first attempted to sign Alan Shearer from Southampton, but lost out to Blackburn Rovers. He also made at least one approach for the Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst, but manager Trevor Francis rejected all offers and the player stayed put. In the end, he paid £1 million for 23-year-old Cambridge United striker Dion Dublin – his only major signing of the summer.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: After a slow start to the 1992–93 season by sitting 10th at the beginning of November, it looked as though United would miss out on the league title yet again. However, after the purchase of French striker Eric Cantona from Leeds for £1.2 million, the future of Manchester United, and Ferguson's position as manager, began to look bright. Cantona formed a strong partnership with Mark Hughes. On 10 April 1993, United were second in the league when they faced Sheffield Wednesday at home. United were losing with four minutes to go before Steve Bruce equalised. After 7 minutes of injury time – which was subsequently dubbed "Fergie Time", alluding to extra minutes allegedly being granted to Ferguson's teams to get a goal – Bruce scored the 97th minute winner, with Ferguson celebrating the goal by running from his dugout on to the touch line, while assistant Brian Kidd ran on to the field. Seen as being a decisive victory, it put United top of the league, where they remained. Winning the title ended United's 26-year wait for a league title, and also made them the first Premier League champions. United finished with a ten-point margin over runners-up Aston Villa, whose 1–0 defeat at Oldham Athletic on 2 May 1993 had given United the title. Ferguson was later voted Manager of the Year by the League Managers' Association.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The 1993–94 season brought more success. Ferguson added Nottingham Forest's 22-year-old midfielder Roy Keane to the ranks for a British record fee of £3.75 million as a long term replacement for Bryan Robson, who was nearing the end of his career. United led the 1993–94 Premier League table virtually from start to finish. Ferguson was the first winner of the Premier League Manager of the Month award, introduced for the start of the 1993–94 season, when he collected the accolade for August 1993. Cantona was top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions despite being sent off twice in the space of five days in March 1994. United also reached the League Cup final but lost 3–1 to Aston Villa, managed by Ferguson's predecessor, Ron Atkinson. In the FA Cup final, Manchester United achieved an impressive 4–0 scoreline against Chelsea, winning Ferguson his second League and Cup Double, following his Scottish Premier Division and Scottish Cup titles with Aberdeen in 1984–85, though the League Cup final defeat meant that he had not yet achieved a repeat of the treble that he had achieved with Aberdeen in 1983.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson made only one close-season signing, paying Blackburn £1.2 million for David May. There were newspaper reports that Ferguson was also going to sign highly rated 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton from Norwich City, but the player headed for Blackburn instead. 1994–95 was a harder season for Ferguson. Cantona assaulted a Crystal Palace supporter in a game at Selhurst Park, and it seemed likely he would leave English football. An eight-month ban saw Cantona miss the final four months of the season. He also received a 14-day prison sentence for the offence but the sentence was quashed on appeal and replaced by a 120-hour community service order. United paid a British record fee of £7 million for Newcastle United's prolific striker Andy Cole, with young winger Keith Gillespie heading to the north-east in exchange. The season also saw the breakthrough of young players Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, who provided excellent cover for the long periods that United were left without some of their more experienced stars. However, the championship slipped out of Manchester United's grasp as they drew 1–1 with West Ham United on the final day of the season, when a win would have given them a third successive league title. United also lost the FA Cup final in a 1–0 defeat by Everton.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson was heavily criticised in the summer of 1995 when three of United's star players were allowed to leave and replacements were not bought. First Paul Ince moved to Internazionale of Italy for £7.5 million, long-serving striker Mark Hughes was sold to Chelsea in a £1.5 million deal, and Andrei Kanchelskis was sold to Everton. Ferguson felt that United had a number of young players who were ready to play in the first team. The youngsters, who would be known as "Fergie's Fledglings", included Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who would all go on to be important members of the team. And so the 1995–96 season began without a major signing, at a time when the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle were making the headlines with big-money signings.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: A youthful United team lost 3–1 in their opening league game of the 1995–96 season, against Aston Villa. On "Match of the Day", pundit Alan Hansen criticised their performance, ending his analysis with the words, "You can't win anything with kids." United won their next five matches and were boosted by the return of Cantona, who made his comeback against Liverpool in October 1995. For much of the season, the team trailed league leaders Newcastle and found themselves ten points behind by Christmas; this later was narrowed to seven points after defeating them on 27 December 1995. The gap increased to 12 points, but a series of wins, coupled with Newcastle dropping points, meant by late March, United moved to the top of the table. In a televised outburst after his team's win against Leeds, Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan responded angrily to Ferguson's comments: "We're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough ... I would love it if we beat them, love it." A win against Middlesbrough on the final day sealed the title for United and the team beat Liverpool by a goal to nil to win the 1996 FA Cup Final; this was their second double in three years. A week after the cup final, Ferguson agreed a four-year contract to remain at United.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: United started the following season thrashing the previous year's league runners-up Newcastle 4-0 in the Charity Shield. They went on to win their fourth league title in five seasons at the end of the 1996–97 campaign, made easier by the fact that their rivals were "not up to the job". Under Ferguson, the team made a better go in the Champions League and reached the semi-final stage for the first time in 28 years. United did not advance any further, after defeat by Borussia Dortmund of Germany. Norwegian signings Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Ronny Johnsen were the notable additions to the squad, with the former ending the season as the club's top goalscorer. In May 1997, Cantona informed Ferguson of his decision to retire from football. The player "felt exploited by United's merchandising department" and questioned the ambition of the club, reasons which Ferguson understood. Striker Teddy Sheringham was signed as Cantona's replacement from Tottenham Hotspur, with Blackburn defender Henning Berg the other significant purchase that summer. In the close season, United appointed Keane as their new captain. Ferguson described him as "the best all-round player in the game" after the team's 1997 FA Charity Shield win and believed Keane had "all the right ingredients" to succeed from Cantona.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Defeat by Leeds United in September 1997 was the team's first league loss in seven months; Keane during the match injured himself and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season with ligament damage. Goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was placed as captain in his absence. By November, United opened up a four-point lead in the league, which prompted talk of whether any team could catch them. After Arsenal's defeat of United in the same month, Ferguson acknowledged a one-horse race was "not good for the game" and admitted his opponents "... deserved to win on their second-half performance". The fallibilities of Liverpool, Chelsea and Blackburn as league challengers allowed United during the winter to extend their lead by 11 points, albeit with Arsenal having games-in-hand. This was enough for Manchester bookmaker Fred Done to pay out on punters who backed the champions retaining their title.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Arsenal collected maximum points, sealing the title with a win against Everton on 3 May 1998. Ferguson congratulated his opponent Arsène Wenger, who in his first full season at the club, later completed the double: "I think it's good for my young players to lose on this occasion. I wholeheartedly acknowledge what Arsenal achieved between Christmas and the end of the season." United straight after paid £10.75 million for PSV defender Jaap Stam, a new club record fee. Ferguson wanted to strengthen the squad's attacking options and identified Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke as his main target. Attempts to sign Yorke were rebuffed at first, before Ferguson persuaded Edwards to increase United's initial offer of £10 million. A £12.6 million deal was reached a week into the league campaign; Yorke signed minutes before the deadline to submit United's squad for the Champions League.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: United opened the 1998–99 season with a 3–0 loss to Arsenal in the 1998 FA Charity Shield. The beating did not concern Ferguson, though he described his team's defeat by Arsenal in September 1998 as "a lot less tolerable". In December 1998, Kidd left his role as assistant to become the manager of Blackburn Rovers. Ferguson instructed Eric Harrison and Les Kershaw to find suitable replacements, "in terms of coaching ability and work ethic." Both recommended Steve McClaren, the assistant to Jim Smith at Derby County. McClaren was Ferguson's initial choice and appointed him in February 1999. His first game as assistant was United's 8–1 victory over Nottingham Forest.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson felt United's bid to regain the Premier League began indifferently because of their commitments to other competitions. He was willing to "pay for the progress" made in the Champions League; the team finished second in their Champions League "group of death", behind Bayern Munich and ahead of Barcelona. United's win against Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round was a portent for the remainder of the season. A goal down after three minutes, the team equalised in the 86th minute and scored the winning goal through Solskjær in stoppage time. On reflection, Ferguson said it was "a demonstration of the morale that was to be every bit as vital as rich skill in the five months that lay ahead of United".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In the final weeks of the league season, Arsenal emerged as a creditable challenger to United. Both clubs were also paired together in the semi-final of the FA Cup, decided by a replay as the original game finished goalless. Keane was sent off in the second half and United conceded a penalty late into the match with the score 1–1. Dennis Bergkamp's effort was saved by Peter Schmeichel. Ferguson hoped his team "could at least take it to a penalty shoot-out", but instead the match was settled in extra time: Giggs ran the length of the pitch and evaded several Arsenal players to score the winning goal. United went on to beat Newcastle United in the FA Cup final and completed the double – a week earlier the team had regained the Premiership title.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: United's progression in the Champions League was promising compared to previous seasons. The team eliminated Inter Milan at the quarter-final stage and faced Juventus in the last four of the competition. A late goal scored by Giggs in the first leg earned the team a 1–1 draw, but in spite of conceding an away goal, Ferguson was adamant of United's chances of reaching the final: "... something tells me we are going to win. The nature of our club is that we torture ourselves so much that the only way to get relief is by winning over there." At the Stadio delle Alpi, striker Filippo Inzaghi scored twice to put Juventus 3–1 up on aggregate. Keane headed in a Beckham cross to halve the deficit just before half-time, but was later shown a yellow card for a foul on Edgar Davids, which prevented him from playing in the final. Yorke equalised, before Cole added a third to win the match outright. Keane's performance merited praise from Ferguson:


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Days after the FA Cup final, United travelled to Barcelona, the setting for the UEFA Champions League final. Ferguson contemplated his team selection against Bayern Munich; suspensions to Scholes and Keane ruled both players out of the match. Beckham was positioned in centre midfield, while Giggs moved to the right wing and Blomqvist started on the left – changes the manager felt would prevent the opposition from playing narrow. United conceded in the first six minutes of the final, from a Mario Basler's free kick. Sheringham, who came on for Blomqvist, equalised from a corner in the first minute of additional time. McClaren told Ferguson to get the team organised for extra time, to which he replied, "Steve, this game isn't finished." Three minutes into added time, Solskjær scored the winner, which for United completed an unprecedented treble. Ferguson, interviewed moments after, said, "I can't believe it. Football, bloody hell. But they never gave in and that's what won it." He and Schmeichel, the stand-in captain, jointly lifted the cup during the trophy presentation.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: A crowd of over 500,000 people turned out on the streets of Manchester to greet the players, who paraded through the city in an open-top bus. As European champions, United were invited to play in the Intercontinental Cup. The club also entered the inaugural Club World Championship, which was held in Brazil. This brought about a potential fixture congestion so United accepted the FA's recommendation of withdrawing from the FA Cup, the first holders to do so. In later years, Ferguson elaborated on the club's decision: "We did it to help England's World Cup bid. That was the political situation. I regretted it because we got nothing but stick and terrible criticism for not being in the FA Cup when really, it wasn't our fault."


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Schmeichel's decision to leave United after eight seasons prompted Ferguson to bring in replacements: Mark Bosnich from Aston Villa and Italian Massimo Taibi. The latter featured in four matches, the last of which a 5–0 defeat at Chelsea in October 1999; he was not selected again by Ferguson. United ended the 1999–2000 league season as champions, with just three defeats and a record points margin of 18. In December 1999, the club beat Palmeiras in Tokyo to win the Intercontinental Cup, but a month later exited at the group stage of the inaugural Club World Championship, although Ferguson stated the tournament was "fantastic". United failed to retain the Champions League, as they lost in the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Real Madrid. Ferguson sought to strengthen his squad and signed Fabien Barthez from Monaco for £7.8 million. He also monitored the progress of Ruud van Nistelrooy, "a striker of the highest calibre". He met the player and his agent in Manchester to discuss formalities and was informed of Van Nistelrooy's troubled right knee. Ferguson was not agitated by this; he recalled from experience a similar niggle that did not stop his playing career. Van Nistelrooy, however, failed his medical, but Ferguson reassured him that "we might yet find a way out of the nightmare". The deal was resurrected in April 2001 for a British record transfer fee of £19 million.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In the 2000–01 season, United retained the league title for a third season, becoming only the fourth side in history to do so. The achievement was overshadowed by reports of a rift between the club's board and Ferguson. He told the club's television channel MUTV that he was prepared to sever all ties with the club, once his contract ended the following year: "The decision has been taken. I'm going to leave the club. I'm disappointed with what has happened because I was hoping something would be sorted out. It hasn't happened as I thought it would and that's all there is to it." Both parties eventually reached a compromise which pleased Ferguson: "I am delighted we've settled this. When you have been at the club as long as I have it gets in your blood." Age was one of the factors in Ferguson's decision to retire: reaching 60 acted as a "psychological barrier ... It changed my sense of my own fitness, my health."


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In May 2001, McClaren left to become Middlesbrough manager, with Jimmy Ryan being named assistant to Ferguson for the duration of the campaign. United once more broke their transfer record with the purchase of Juan Sebastián Verón from Lazio for a reported £28.1 million. In August 2001, Stam was transferred to Lazio for £16 million. The player reportedly moved because of claims in his autobiography "Head to Head"; Stam implied that Ferguson illegally contacted him about a move to Manchester United, before informing PSV. Ferguson said he sold the player because the club needed to cut back on its "massive wage bill". He replaced the defender with Laurent Blanc, a long sought-after target. In an interview with Alastair Campbell eight years after, Ferguson described his biggest mistake at the club was "letting go of Jaap Stam. No question".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The club endured a poor first half to the season and languished in ninth position after a home defeat by West Ham in December 2001. On the night of Christmas Day, Ferguson shelved his retirement plan. His family convinced him to remain in charge of United and Ferguson informed Watkins of his u-turn the following day.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Once Ferguson publicised his decision to remain in February 2002, United's form improved. The team won 13 out of 15 matches, though finished third in the league behind Arsenal and Liverpool. United were unsuccessful in Europe, losing their Champions League semi-final on away goals to Bayer Leverkusen. Early exits from the League Cup and FA Cup meant they ended the season trophyless. Ferguson himself said that the decision to announce his retirement had resulted in a negative effect on the players and on his ability to impose discipline.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In June 2002, Ferguson appointed Carlos Queiroz as his new assistant. The recommendation came from Andy Roxburgh, at a time when United began scouting for southern-hemisphere footballers and wanted a multilingual coach. Ferguson was so impressed with Queiroz after their first meeting, he offered him the job "right away". In July 2002, United paid £29.3 million for Leeds United defender Rio Ferdinand. The club broke the British transfer record once more, though this did not concern Ferguson: "We have the right to try and improve ourselves and there's nothing wrong with that."


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The 2002–03 season began rather poorly for United; the club made their worst start to a league campaign in 13 years. In a column for "The Daily Telegraph", Hansen said Ferguson "will recognise this difficult start to the season for what it is: the greatest challenge of his career". Ferguson's response was typically bullish:


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Several players were sent away for surgery in this period, a "minor gamble" Ferguson took in the hope they would return energised. Defeats, such as the one to Manchester City at Maine Road in November 2002, forced United to change their playing style. The team "moved the ball forward more and quicker rather than concentrating on possession ratios," and the coaching staff tried accommodating Diego Forlán with Ruud van Nistelrooy, before settling with Paul Scholes. United's league form improved as the season went on despite defeat by Liverpool in the 2003 Football League Cup Final and they overhauled Arsenal to win the Premier League for an eighth time in May 2003. The team were eliminated in the Champions League quarter-final to Real Madrid over two legs; Ferguson described the second match, a 4–3 win at Old Trafford as "epic".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: After a season at United, Queiroz left to manage Real Madrid in June 2003. Ferguson anticipated his deputy would return – "Three months later, he was wanting to quit Madrid," and for that reason did not appoint a replacement. In the summer, David Beckham also moved to Real Madrid, while Juan Sebastián Verón joined Chelsea. United in the meantime rebuilt their team: Tim Howard replaced Barthez in goal and Kléberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Cristiano Ronaldo came in to bolster the squad. Ronaldinho might have also joined "had he not said yes, then no, to our offer".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In December 2003, Rio Ferdinand was banned from playing football for eight months after he failed to present himself at a drugs test. Ferguson in his autobiography ten years later blamed the drug testers, who "...didn't do their job. They didn't go looking for Rio". The absence of Ferdinand hampered United's defence of the Premier League in the 2003–04 season; the team finished third behind Arsenal's "Invincibles" and Chelsea. In Europe, they experienced defeat at the hands of eventual winners Porto. Ferguson felt it was possible "not because of the performance of the players but because of the referee", who disallowed a legitimate Scholes goal that would have been enough to progress. United ended the campaign as FA Cup winners, beating Millwall 3–0 in the 2004 final.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, teenage striker Wayne Rooney (the world's most expensive teenager at more than £20 million) and Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze joined United while Cristiano Ronaldo continued where he had left off the previous season by putting in more match-winning performances. But the lack of a striker after Ruud van Nistelrooy spent most of the season injured saw the club finish third for the third time in four seasons. In the 2004–05 FA Cup, they lost on penalties to Arsenal in the final. A second-round exit from the Champions League at the hands of Milan and a semi-final exit from the League Cup at the hands of eventual winners Chelsea (who also clinched the Premier League title) meant that 2004–05 was a rare instance of a trophyless season for United. During the season, Ferguson managed his 1,000th game in charge of United in a 2–1 home win against Lyon.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson's preparations for the 2005–06 season were disrupted by a high-profile dispute with major shareholder John Magnier, over the ownership of the racehorse Rock of Gibraltar. When Magnier and business partner J. P. McManus agreed to sell their shares to American business tycoon Malcolm Glazer, it cleared the way for Glazer to acquire full control of the club. This sparked violent protests from United fans, and disrupted Ferguson's plans to strengthen the team in the transfer market. In spite of this, United looked to solve their goalkeeping and midfield problems. For this, they signed the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar from Fulham and Korean star Park Ji-sung from PSV.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The season was one of transition. On 18 November, Roy Keane officially left the club, his contract ended by mutual consent. United failed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the UEFA Champions League. In the January transfer window, Serbian defender Nemanja Vidić and French full-back Patrice Evra were signed, and the side finished in second place in the league, behind runaway winners Chelsea. Winning the League Cup was a consolation prize for lack of success elsewhere. Ruud van Nistelrooy's future at Old Trafford was in doubt after not starting in the League Cup final, and he departed at the end of the season.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Before the start of the new season, Ferguson received much criticism, particular in the guise of an article in "The Guardian" titled "Shredding his legacy at every turn".


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In 2006, Michael Carrick was signed to take Roy Keane's place in the team for a fee that eventually rose to £18 million. United started the season well, and for the first time ever won their first four Premier League games, United's best start since 1985. They set the early pace in the Premier League and never relinquished top spot from the tenth match of the 38-game season. The January 2006 signings had a huge impact on United's performances – Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidić came in to form a solid back line along with Rio Ferdinand and skipper Gary Neville. The signing of Carrick brought stability and further creativity in the United midfield, forming an effective partnership with Paul Scholes. Park Ji-sung and Ryan Giggs both underlined their value to the first team squad by adding significant pace and incisiveness in attack with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Ferguson celebrated the 20th anniversary of his appointment as manager of Manchester United on 6 November 2006. Tributes also came from Ferguson's players, both past and present, as well as his old foe, Arsène Wenger. The party was spoiled the following day when United endured a single-goal defeat at the hands of Southend United in the fourth round of the League Cup. On 1 December it was announced that Manchester United had signed 35-year-old Henrik Larsson on loan, a player that Ferguson had admired for many years, and attempted to capture previously. On 23 December 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the club's 2,000th goal under Ferguson in a match against Aston Villa.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Manchester United subsequently won their ninth Premier League title but were denied a unique fourth double by Chelsea's Didier Drogba scoring a late goal in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. In the Champions League, the club reached the semi-finals, recording a 7–1 home win over Roma in the quarter-final second leg, but lost at the San Siro to Milan 3–0 in the second leg of the semi-final after being 3–2 up from the first leg.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: For the 2007–08 season, Ferguson made notable signings to reinforce United's first team. Long-term target Owen Hargreaves joined from Bayern Munich, young Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian playmaker Anderson joined soon after, while the last summer signing was West Ham and Argentina striker Carlos Tevez after a complex and protracted transfer saga.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Despite getting some retribution on Chelsea by beating them in the Community Shield, United suffered their worst start to a league season under Ferguson, drawing their first two league games before suffering a 1–0 defeat by local rivals Manchester City. United, however, recovered and began a tight race with Arsenal for the title. After a good run of form, Ferguson claimed that throughout his time at Manchester United, this was the best squad he had managed to assemble thus far.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: On 16 February 2008, United beat Arsenal 4–0 in an FA Cup fifth round match at Old Trafford, but were knocked out by eventual winners Portsmouth in the quarter-final on 8 March, losing 1–0 at home. United having had a penalty claim turned down, Ferguson alleged after the game that Keith Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, was "not doing his job properly". Ferguson was subsequently charged by The FA with improper conduct, which he decided to contest. This was the second charge Ferguson faced in the season, following his complaints against the referee after United lost 1–0 at Bolton Wanderers – a charge he decided not to contest.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: On 11 May 2008, Ferguson led Manchester United to a tenth Premier League title, exactly 25 years to the day after he led Aberdeen to European glory against Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup. Nearest rivals Chelsea – level on points going into the final round of matches, but with an inferior goal difference – could only draw 1–1 at home to Bolton, finishing two points adrift of the champions. United's title win was sealed with a 2–0 win over Wigan Athletic, managed by former United captain Steve Bruce.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: On 21 May 2008, Ferguson won his second European Cup with Manchester United as they beat Chelsea 6–5 on penalties in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, following a 1–1 draw after extra time in the first ever all-English UEFA Champions League Final. A penalty miss from Cristiano Ronaldo meant that John Terry's spot-kick would have given the trophy to Chelsea if successfully converted, but Terry missed his penalty and in the end it was Edwin van der Sar's blocking of a Nicolas Anelka penalty which gave the trophy to Manchester United for the second time under Ferguson and for the third time overall.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: Although the team had a slow start to the 2008–09 season, United won the Premier League with a game to spare, making Ferguson the first manager in the history of English football to win the top division three times consecutively, on two separate occasions. Ferguson had now won 11 league titles at Manchester United, and the 2008–09 season title success put them level with Liverpool as league champions on a record 18 occasions in total. They also won the League Cup on penalties after a goalless draw in the final against Tottenham, after becoming the first British club to win the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2008.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: They contested the Champions League final against Barcelona on 27 May 2009 but lost 2–0, thus failed to defend the trophy.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: In 2009–10 season, Ferguson added another League Cup to his honours list as United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 in the final on 28 February 2010, United's first ever successful knockout cup defence. However, his dreams of a third European Cup were ended a few weeks later when United were edged out of the competition in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich on away goals. And their hopes of a record 19th league title were ended on the last day of the season when Chelsea beat them to the Premier League title by one point, crushing Wigan Athletic 8–0 and rendering United's 4–0 win over Stoke City meaningless.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: He ended the following season by winning his 12th and Manchester United's 19th league title and thus overtaking Liverpool's record of 18. Manchester United faced Barcelona again on 28 May 2011 in the 2011 Champions League final, their third in four years, but United lost 3–1. Analyst Alan Hansen stated that he believed Ferguson was "the key component" in United's success that season, so key in fact that "[he] would have claimed the crown with any of the other top sides had he been in charge of them". With Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes all retiring in 2011, Ferguson spent big by signing defender Phil Jones from Blackburn and winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa for around £17 million each, and goalkeeper David de Gea from Atlético Madrid for around £19 million.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The following season United managed to beat rivals Manchester City in the 2011 FA Community Shield and eliminated them in the FA Cup third round, but ended the season below City, who won their first Premier League title on goal difference. This bitter and slim defeat prompted Ferguson to sign star-striker Robin van Persie, who was the Premier League Golden Boot title-holder, from another arch-rival Arsenal on 17 August 2012.


title: Alex Ferguson

text: The 2012–13 season saw Ferguson guide United to become league champions for the 20th time, claiming the title with a 3–0 home win over Aston Villa on 22 April 2013 with four matches to spare; Van Persie scored all the goals with a first half hat-trick en route to retain the Golden Boot. His final game in charge, his 1,500th in total, saw United play out a 5–5 draw with West Bromwich Albion. The result meant United finished the season 11 points ahead of runners-up Manchester City. Earlier in the season, on 2 September 2012, Ferguson managed his 1,000th league game with United playing against Southampton. United won the game 3–2 thanks to another hat-trick from Van Persie. Two weeks later, he won his 100th game in the Champions League with a 1–0 win over Galatasaray at Old Trafford.