Sir Alex Ferguson leaves Man Utd fans baffled as he becomes life member at European giants
SIR ALEX FERGUSON has surprisingly become a life member of Eintracht Frankfurt.
The legendary manager was in charge at Old Trafford from 1986 to 2013, winning an incredible 38 trophies with the club.
But to the shock of fans, he has confessed his love for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Representatives from the German side met with Ferguson while they were in the UK for their group stage Conference League tie with Aberdeen in December.
They presented him with a club scarf and a shirt with his name on the back as he became an honorary life member.
Ferguson’s connection with Frankfurt stretches back 64 years to 1960 when his beloved Rangers faced them in the European Cup semi-final.
He explained: “In the first leg, Frankfurt beat Rangers 6-1. I was at the second leg when they came to Ibrox with 70,000 spectators.
“Of course, we felt hopeful and told ourselves that the Rangers could come back. In the end they lost again by six goals. I was a Rangers fan and only lived about 200 meters from Ibrox.
“I also attended the final and hoped Frankfurt would win as they had beaten Rangers.
“At the time I was 17 years old and played for Queens Park from Glasgow. It was a great game. We said to ourselves: ‘Wow. A great German team.'”
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Ferguson‘s admiration for Frankfurt begun from that point on and he always kept an eye on how the Bundesliga side were doing.
He eventually went on to play for his boyhood club Rangers and made his debut fittingly against Frankfurt in 1967.
The 82-year-old said: “We won 5-3, but I wouldn’t call it revenge for 1960. I scored a hat-trick against Hans Tilkowski in the Frankfurt goal. Jurgen Grabowski also played.”
While in charge of Man Utd, Ferguson never got the chance to come up against them, but he did while boss at Aberdeen in 1980.
Fans were left surprised by his previously untold passion for Frankfurt, with one saying: “Things I did not expect to see today.”
Another added: “Now I have to start supporting Frankfurt.”