Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the most successful managers in football but despite the success he has enjoyed in Europe and in England he fondly remembers his first historic title win. Episode three of The Football Years - broadcast on Thursday January 21 at 9pm on STV - recalls the 1979/80 season, in which Aberdeen landed the Scottish Premier Division title in when Ferguson had only been a manager for four years and in doing so ended a 15-year stretch when only Celtic or Rangers had won the league.

Having learned his trade at East Stirlingshire and St Mirren, the young boss had taken on the challenge of taking an already impressive Aberdeen side to the next level. With the 1979/80 season drawing to a close, the Dons were in pole position and had the chance to seal the title when playing away at Hibernian.

Ferguson would take his first steps to greatness that day and although he remembered the details of the crucial match, he also revealed his famous temper was already fully developed.

“I got sent to the stand,” he laughed. “Brian McGinley was the referee and I slaughtered him at half-time and he sent me into the stand.

“It was a really windy day, a sunny, windy day at Easter Road. The pitch was very firm on top.”

Aberdeen ran out 5-0 winners that day and their manager was happy to be taking on opposition from the other end of the league table.

“I think Hibs were relegated that day actually,” he said. “I think either they were already relegated or we relegated them. So we went there at the right time, and we really ran over the top of them.”

The Aberdeen legend, who went on to develop David Beckham and Paul Scholes amongst others at Old Trafford had already shown he had the confidence to give young players a chance and reaped the rewards at Easter Road.

“We had a young midfield player, a local boy called Andy Watson,” he recalled. “His first 25 minutes of the game was marvellous, he kept running through, his energy was incredible [for] the second last game of the season.

"He got the first goal for us and that just settled us. I think it was after about 15-20 minutes and that just settled the team. Second half it was just a rout. It was just a great performance.”

Despite winning, the manager and his players could not celebrate yet. Success depended on a result from elsewhere and Ferguson explained he had to rely on journalists to learn if he had picked up that all-important first trophy.

“Celtic were playing at Love Street that day,” he said. “They needed to win to keep in the race, because we were ahead, and threw drew 0-0. But their game finished after our game had finished, I think by two or three minutes.

“So we were standing on the pitch and we didn’t know if we had won the league or not. Eventually we got the message down from the press box that we had won the league and it was fantastic.”