Editing Alex Ferguson (section)

===Club===
Ferguson's playing career began as an amateur with [[Queen's Park F.C.|Queen's Park]], where he made his debut as a [[Forward (association football)#Striker|striker]], aged 16.<ref name=QPFC>{{cite web|url=http://www.qpfc.com/appearances/f/fergusonac.htm|title=Ferguson, Alexander Chapman|website=QPFC.com – A Historical Queen's Park FC Website|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-date=13 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213080020/http://www.qpfc.com/appearances/f/fergusonac.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> He described his first match as a "nightmare",<ref name="nightmare">Crick, p. 33</ref> but scored Queen's Park's goal in a 2–1 defeat against [[Stranraer F.C.|Stranraer]]. Perhaps his most notable game for Queen's Park was the 7–1 defeat away to [[Queen of the South F.C.|Queen of the South]] on Boxing Day 1959 when ex-England international [[Ivor Broadis]] scored four of the Queen of the South goals. Ferguson was the solitary Queen's Park goalscorer.<ref name=":11">{{cite web |url=http://qosfc.com/new_legendsview.aspx?playerid=1035 |title=Details of Queen of the South 7 v 1 Queens Park including Ferguson's recollection in the Ivor Broadis career profile |publisher=Qosfc.com |access-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713020053/http://qosfc.com/new_legendsview.aspx?playerid=1035 |archive-date=13 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Despite scoring 20 [[goal (sport)|goals]] in his 31 games for Queen's Park, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to [[St Johnstone F.C.|St Johnstone]] in 1960. Ferguson was on a part-time contract with St Johnstone, and he combined working in a Govan shipyard with training at night in [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]].<ref name=herald>{{cite news |last=Rowat |first=Alison |title=Sir Alex Ferguson: The truth about Rangers and me - Aberdeen legend speaks out in new film |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19330685.sir-alex-ferguson-truth-rangers/ |newspaper=The Herald |date=27 May 2021 |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref> Although he regularly scored goals for St Johnstone, he was unable to command a consistent place in their team. He regularly requested transfers, and even considered emigrating to Canada.<ref name=espn-sj>{{cite news|url=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=736532&sec=england&cc=5901|title=Ferguson reveals earlier Canada emigration plans|publisher=ESPN Soccernet|date=4 February 2010|access-date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206194338/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=736532&sec=england&cc=5901 |archive-date=6 February 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> St Johnstone's failure to sign another forward led the manager to select Ferguson for a match against [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]], in which he scored a [[hat-trick]] in a surprise 3–2 victory at [[Ibrox Stadium|Ibrox]].<ref name=espn-sj /><ref name=":12">{{cite news |title=Unexpected defeat of Rangers |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gVxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pKMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2306%2C2983644 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=23 December 1963 |page=8}}</ref>

[[Dunfermline Athletic F.C.|Dunfermline]] signed him the following summer (1964), and Ferguson became a full-time professional footballer. In the following season ([[1964–65 in Scottish football|1964–65]]) Dunfermline were strong challengers for the [[List of Scottish football champions|Scottish league title]] and reached the [[1965 Scottish Cup Final|Scottish Cup Final]], but Ferguson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against St Johnstone. Dunfermline lost the final 3–2 to [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]], then failed to win the League by one point. The [[1965–66 in Scottish football|1965–66]] season saw Ferguson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Dunfermline. Along with [[Joe McBride (footballer, born 1938)|Joe McBride]] of Celtic, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish league with 31 goals.<ref name="top goalscorer">{{cite web |title=Scotland&nbsp;– List of Topscorers |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/scottops.html |publisher=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation |date=12 June 2009 |access-date=30 October 2009}}</ref>

Ferguson then joined Rangers for £65,000, which was a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs.<ref name=topplayers/> He performed well in Europe during his two seasons with the club, scoring six goals in nine appearances in the [[Inter-Cities Fairs Cup]] including two against [[1.FC Köln]] in the [[1967–68 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup|1967–68]] competition, and an important strike against [[Athletic Bilbao]] in the [[1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup|1968–69 edition]] which helped Rangers into the semi-finals,<ref name=":13">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/mar/14/manchester-united-athletic-bilbao|title=Sir Alex Ferguson looks for feat of escapology to beat Athletic Bilbao|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 March 2012|access-date=23 February 2018}}</ref> but on both occasions they were knocked out by English opposition. He was blamed for a goal conceded in the [[1968–69 Scottish Cup#Final|1969 Scottish Cup Final]],<ref name="blame">Crick, p. 82</ref> in a match in which he was designated to mark Celtic [[Captain (association football)|captain]], [[Billy McNeill]], and was subsequently forced to play for the club's junior side instead of for the first team.<ref name="junior">Crick, p. 83</ref> According to his brother, Ferguson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away.<ref name="losersmedal">Crick, p. 86</ref>

There have been claims that he suffered [[Rangers F.C. signing policy|discrimination at Rangers]] due to his marriage to a Catholic, Cathy Holding.<ref name=":14">{{cite book|first=Harry|last=Reid|year=2005|title=The Final Whistle?|publisher=Birlinn|page=223|isbn=1-84158-362-6}}</ref> Ferguson said in a 2021 documentary film  about his life and career (''[[Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In]]'') that he "assumed" that his exclusion from the first team after the 1969 cup final was due to her religion.<ref name=herald/> His autobiography noted that Rangers had known of his wife's religion when he joined the club.<ref name=":15">Ferguson, pp. 106–107</ref> In March 2021, he added that when he was signed, a Rangers director had questioned whether the Fergusons had been married in a (Catholic) [[chapel]], and that the director had replied "oh, that's okay" when told they had married in a [[registry office]].<ref name=":16">{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=Sir Alex Ferguson |url=https://nationalfootballmuseum.com/halloffame/sir-alex-ferguson/ |access-date=27 May 2021 |newspaper=Glasgow Times}}</ref> Ferguson left Rangers reluctantly, as he had grown up locally and had dreamed of succeeding there.<ref name=it2003/> He was upset by how newspapers would refer to him as an "ex-Rangers player" after he had left, and rarely attended gatherings of their former players.<ref name = it2003>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ferguson-denies-sentiment-until-blue-in-the-face-1.385734 |title=Ferguson denies sentiment until blue in the face |first=Daniel |last=Taylor |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=22 October 2003 |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref>

The following October, [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] wanted to sign Ferguson,<ref name=signforest>Crick, p. 85</ref> but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time, so he went to [[Falkirk F.C.|Falkirk]] instead. He remained at Brockville for four years, gaining more league appearances than he had elsewhere; in recognition of his experience he was promoted to player-coach, but when [[John Prentice (footballer born 1926)|John Prentice]] became manager he removed Ferguson's coaching responsibilities. Ferguson's time at Falkirk was soured by this, and he responded by requesting a transfer and moved to [[Ayr United F.C.|Ayr United]], where he finished his playing career in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|title=The wit and wisdom of Sir Alex Ferguson|year=2013|publisher=Biteback Publishing|last=Riley|first=Chris|isbn=978-1-84954-627-0|location=London |oclc=852756978 }}</ref>