Sir Alex Ferguson thanked tens of thousands of Manchester United fans as they gathered to salute him and his final English champion football side following an open-top bus parade from Old Trafford to Manchester Town Hall.
United manager Ferguson, one of football's most successful bosses, is retiring after guiding the Red Devils to the English Premier League title for a 13th time.
In what was likely his final public address to his adoring faithful, the 71-year-old Scot said the jubilant scenes surpassed even those of 1999 when the north-west side completed an unprecedented trophy treble of Premier League, FA Cup and European Champions League all in the one season.
Today's celebrations were all about Ferguson, now just one game away -- at West Brom this weekend -- from completing an astonishing career that has yielded 38 trophies for United in the more than 26 years since he joined from Aberdeen.