20 May 2005    
Interview: Sir Alex Ferguson's FA Cup memories
(Octagon CSI)

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Sir Alex Ferguson is by no means a stranger to big games. Saturday will be his seventh FA Cup Final since taking the reigns at Manchester United and he's also collected his fair share of League and European honours, too.

As United’s manager since November 1986, Ferguson has overseen five Final victories in 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2004.

Other glories have included The Premiership eight times and, in 1999, he masterminded the club's first European Cup victory in 31 years, which completed the illustrious treble, helping him become one of the game's most successful managers ever.

That year United had to get past Arsenal, their opponents in Cardiff this weekend, in an epic Semi-Final on their way to lifting The FA Cup at Wembley and Ferguson has some fond memories of that games.

"Incredible season," he says, "it was actually a very tough programme we had that year.

"We were 1-0 down to Liverpool with three or four minutes to go and beat them 2-1.  We drew with Chelsea at home, then beat them 2-0 down there. Then Fulham in the Quarter-Final and a Semi-Final against Arsenal."

Ferguson adds: "We should have won the first game [against Arsenal], and we had a goal chalked off. But in the second game I made a lot of changes. I used my whole pool because we had a game against Juventus coming up.

"We started off really well. But Arsenal got the deflected goal to take it to extra-time. Then Ryan Giggs' goal will always stand out.

"He had no-one to play with, we were all defending, and one by one he was slicing through them. It was a fantastic goal.

"When he started running I was on my feet going 'go on, go on', like watching as a horse comes to each hurdle.   

"The final itself was the easiest final we've ever had," he says, "I left out Stam, Giggs, Yorke and Cole with the European Final on the Wednesday night.

"We were on such a run and the momentum was picking up; there was only going to be one winner."

To watch the full interview with Sir Alex Ferguson in which he talks about some of his memorable FA Cup moments, click on the links above, or to watch Giggs' classic goal against Arsenal in 1999, click here