Back in 2002 Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was all set to retire, but after a change of heart it was agreed that he would stay on for another three years. Eight years later Sir Alex is still in charge of Man United, with rumours surfacing yet again suggesting that he will retire after next season.

I think most Man United fans are dreading the day that Sir Alex retires, it will come because it has to but I believe these are just newspaper rumours. I believe that Sir Alex will announce his retirement completely out of the blue, without any warning at all and that will be it.

I also believe that Man United and Sir Alex Ferguson together will have chosen his successor. Fergie isn’t going to leave United in a mess, he will help chose the next manager, who will be right for the job.

I also don’t believe that right now Sir Alex has any dates in his mind. I can see him wanting to knock Liverpool off their perch and help United win 19 league titles, which could happen this season. Also maybe win the UEFA Champions League once more, that can’t happen this season.

So whom are the papers lining up as his successor?

Hot favourite is Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho. Everyone knows he wants the job, he’s said it. There would be some positive and negative points with having Mourinho as United manager. He will need to have a big personality and Mourinho certainly has that.

Everton boss David Moyes is another name in frame. The Toffees manager is the second favourite to replace Sir Alex, he’s done well at Everton but could he manage a massive club? No offence to Everton.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill down as third favourite, I would love to see a British manager given the job but with O’Neill I would also worry about the pressure of managing such a big club.

Back in December 2009 a Barcelona based newspaper believed that Pepe Guardiola had been lined up to be the next United manager. They went as far as saying that had already been offered a lucrative contract. Guardiola’s done a fantastic job with Barca and may not be a bad choice.

United’s former number two Carlos Queiroz is also being mentioned. I like Queiroz but I believe that he is at his best when he’s assistant manager. The Portuguese has managed many teams, the biggest probably being Real Madrid and now International side Portugal. I don’t think he’d be the right man for the job.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done an amazing job managing the Man United reserves. I would love to see Solskjaer manage United’s first team but it is a massive step between reserves and the first team.

Past and present United players are being linked with the job. Ryan Giggs is one of those, he is another person who I’d like to see manage United but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Past players being linked with the job other than Solskjaer are Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and even David Beckham has been mentioned.

When the manager is decided on, surely they will have experience in managing a football club already. They need to be able to manage very well paid superstars, could Giggs really do that with his former teammates? There’s a lot of banter in a dressing room, would they listen and take him seriously?

Nobody could replace Sir Alex Ferguson he has been an amazing manager. He wasn’t well known when he first came to United, so you could argue the case for maybe a less experienced manager but United are a lot bigger club than they were when Fergie joined.

Personally, one of my favourites would be Guardiola.