Well it's been an interesting couple of days at Manchester United to say the least. Sir Alex Fergusson's retirement has been cropping up for the past few years now. He always said he would only retire on health grounds and with with a hip operation coming up, his retirement should not really come as a great surprise, but it did.

Let's be clear, I dislike Manchester United. Nothing to do with being jelous of their history as their fans seem to think it is, if anything you can't help but respect that clubs history; it is those fans themselves that irritate me. Every club has it's glory hunters but United fans are the worst.

Over the years I've been far from Alex Fergusson's biggest fan. I don't like the way he blames a refereeing decision almost every time they lose, and I think he can be a bit of a bully sometimes. He is quite intimidating, and he makes sure commentators, the press and the games governing bodies are scared of doing or saying anything that might upset him.

But despite this, no sane person can deny the man's achievements in the game.

I very much doubt we will ever see another manager hang around at one club for as long as he has and achieve as much as he has ever again. He's transformed Manchester United into the most marketable football club in the world. Time and time again people have doubted him and his teams but time and again he's proved everyone wrong. He challenged Liverpool and won; he saw off Newcastle United, Arsenal, Chelsea and now Manchester City on the way to what seems like league title after league title. He raised the bar in the English game - bringing some of the world's top players to our shores and making some of the world's top players himself. Love him or hate him, you cannot help but admire him and what he has achieved both domestically and on the European stage.You can't really praise him enough.

Sir Alex has certainly earned his retirement! Is he the greatest manager of all time? Well its up for debate and everyone has their opinions. He's certainly the best manager theres been in my lifetime.

And what of his successor David Moyes? I have to say I'm not too convinced by this appointment. Here is a man who has spent the last 11 years at Everton and some (including a few Everton fans I know) would say that he has got too comfortable with simply finishing in the top half, and he is unable to step up to the next level.

In those 11 years he has failed to win a single trophy; in fact his only managerial honour is the second division title with Preston North End back at the end of the 90s. He's never managed a team to victory at Old Trafford, Arsenal or Anfield and furthermore, he's never had to manage some of the world's top players. Alright, he worked with Wayne Rooney for a few months until he was sold but thats hardly preperation for the job he is about to undertake.

I question the motives behind his appointment. I think a large part of the reasoning behind his appointment is stability. Alex Fergusson has been manager of United for 26 years, while David Moyes has been at Everton for 11 years. However the game has changed since Fergie first pulled up in the Old Trafford car park, even since David Moyes first arrived at Goodison Park. As us Notts County fans well know, we live in an "I want success now and I can't wait" sociaty. The bulk of Man United 'fans' wont care in the slightest about having a manager in place for the next decade. All they will be interested in is winning a couple of trophies every season.

Will Moyes be able to cope with the level of expectation? Will he be able to handle the pressure and increased media attention? Will he be able to spend more money than he's ever had available to him wisely? Will he be able to do all of this under the watchfull gaze of Sir Alex? With Sir Alex taking up roles as a director and club ambassador I fear there could be a fair bit of interference from him, and I doubt any manager likes that.

As a neutral I have my doubts but don't get me wrong I don't have anything against David Moyes and to some extent I hope he does well.

But the thing is David Moyes, and indeed anybody who manages Manchester United in the future will always be compared to Fergie on everything and that's unfair. Moyes is his own man.

And you just know that the moment Moyes' side hits a bad patch of form in his first season, the media will be straight on his back claiming he can't handle the pressure etc.

Still this is all just food for thought really. As a neutral I think its going to be interesting to see how United do next season. Will this weeks events be a bit of a shockwave that takes a while for the players there to come to terms with? Ofcourse they're professionals but when you think there are players and people at that football club who have only ever worked under Sir Alex, you do wonder.

It's also going to be interesting to see how the Everton side respond to everything thats gone on this week, and who will they get to replace Moyes? I can't see it being a particularly big name.

One last thing though, I wish the media would stop talking like Sir Alex has died. I know he's a legend but come on, he's just retiring. There's no need for black and white montages with depressing music in the background!