Farewell to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, guardian of the game's warrior spirit Across England, even those with reason to cheer his departure reported a strange sense of disorientation or loss. For nearly three decades Fergie has been the guardian of British football's warrior spirit. He is the link between East Stirlingshire and a Champions League final against Barcelona. Followers of the sport have seen him rise through all the levels and unite all those parts of the game. Not since Bill Shankly has there been such a clearly identifiable father of football. While his battles with match officials and the media point to a renegade tendency in his make-up, few would dispute that he has also been the most charismatic and interesting leader in British sport over the last three decades. At a time of ever-hastening churn, the country could always look to the Old Trafford touchline and see the intense, gum-chewing elder of a tribe who will struggle to absorb the enormity of the moment when he bows at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. United will change dramatically without his autocratic presence. For one, the commercial and marketing departments will probably feel emboldened to step up their commercial onslaught when Ferguson is no longer around to impose his limits. A challenge for David Moyes, the new man, will be to exert the kind of control Ferguson has been able to apply, for example, on pre-season tours and with the media. The current master of Old Trafford has always protected the football, the raison d"être. This is why he told his players on the pitch: "You know how good you are, you know the jersey you're wearing and you know what it means. Don't ever let yourselves down. Robin van Persie, a relative newcomer in these parts, spoke gushingly of the "impact he's had on me." But it seemed significant that when he walked out for a thunderous ovation before the kick-off, Ferguson strode between two large bright yellow DHL flags on poles. DHL are one of United's main sponsors and would not be denied their worldwide advertising splash. These modern realities are an age away from Ferguson's world of talent cultivation, dressing-room camaraderie and expressive football. Though he has made his accommodations with commerce, football, to him, is a game of the heart and soul. Moyes will have to decide whether it is for him, too, or whether a more cautious or calculating approach would be more sensible, given the near-impossibility of matching Ferguson's drama output. As if to confirm all the themes of his career in front of his disciples, one last time, Ferguson saw off another Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, dropped a troublesome star - Wayne Rooney - and made sure the magnificent Paul Scholes was given a proper Old Trafford salute before his second retirement. Finally, the home-grown player who best embodies his ideal of talent mixed with longevity, Ryan Giggs, came on for Javier Hernández to play his own part in the valediction. As Rooney was bombed from the 18-man match-day squad, a message from Cristiano Ronaldo flashed round the advertising boards: "Thanks for everything, boss." The contrast between Ronaldo's warmth and the chill settling over Rooney could hardly be sharper. In his last game in his fortress, Ferguson was true to one of his firmest principles: he who steps outside the circle will stay outside it for as long as the boss decrees. So in this world of £250,000-a-week wages and commercial tie-ups all over the globe, a grandfather's farewell was preceded by a play list of ballads from another era: the kind of Sinatra and Andy Williams numbers he would sing around the training ground. The 71-year-old was leaving the world of the young and said goodbye with all his grandchildren on the pitch. Providing the final Old Trafford flourish was a player who embodies the new culture, and who Ferguson made the world's most expensive defender; a player who was defended resolutely over a missed drugs test and has been helped, shaped and sometimes ticked-off by his manager for his social and business choices. With time running out for a victorious send-off, Rio Ferdinand smashed in the goal that beat Swansea City 2-1 on the day when Mancini appeared to be impaled by his employers on the other side of town. City might have been burying bad news, but United's Ferguson will have felt he buried another challenger. "When there were bad times the club stood by me, your job now is to stand by our new manager," Ferguson told his audience. His finger wagged just enough to tell them it was an order, not a request. This was his welcome present to Moyes. As they sang "we love you Fergie, we do," United fans craned their necks to see every step of his walk from the great green stage. He is going home.