Lady Cathy Ferguson was married to Sir Alex for almost sixty years <\/p>\n
I<\/span>t was way back in 1970 that Cathy Ferguson first influenced the direction of sporting history. Her husband Alex was a bristling, sharp-elbowed, free-scoring centre forward for Falkirk and his renown was growing. Nottingham Forest, at the time comfortably ensconced in the middle of the English First Division, wanted to sign him. And Ferguson fancied the thought of playing south of the border, seeing how the English might cope with his ferocious energy.<\/p>\n His wife, however, was less enamoured by the idea. As her husband was occupied by terrifying rival defences, she was entirely responsible for sorting out domestic matters, like looking after their baby son, Mark. That was their agreement. And she didn\u2019t want to leave Glasgow, where she had an extended family to support her. There was no argument. When Cathy made her reservations known, Ferguson politely turned down Forest and stayed up north. Which meant English football never got to see perhaps the greatest manager of all time plying his trade as a player.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is,\u201d Ferguson once said, \u201conly person in the world I do not answer back to.\u201d<\/p>\n