ALEX FERGUSON SAYS he has no plans whatsoever to retire.

The Manchester United manager this weekend surpassed Old Trafford legend Matt Busby as the club’s longest-serving manager and will celebrate his 69th birthday on New Year’s Day.

But the Scot insists that he will continue to work as hard as ever for as long as possible. He told MUTV earlier:

The older you get the more worried you are about retiring.

You start to realise that whilst you have got your health and good fitness, you should carry on in your job. All thoughts of retirement are in the back of my mind.

It (saying he was going to retire almost nine years ago) was a mistake. At the time there were some reasons for it. It was one of those things.

Fergie insists that he still agonizes over team selection decisions – and says that dropping in-form striker Dimitar Berbatov for the clash with Arsenal last week was particularly tough.

Management is about making decisions. Sometimes they are positive and good. Sometimes you feel you have made the wrong decision and should have attacked it a different way.

Picking teams for instance. We made the decision the other night to leave Berbatov out of the team. It was not an easy one and was very difficult to explain.

The only way I could do that was by saying I felt it was going to win us the match. Although it was proved right you are never sure.

United’s much-anticipated clash with Chelsea yesterday fell victim to the weather.