Sir Alex FergusonSir Alex Ferguson reaches another landmark when he celebrates his birthday on New Year's Eve.
The Manchester United manager reaches the age of 70, and when he takes to the touchline for the club's match against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford he will immediately join a relatively exclusive group of managers and trainers who have continued to work into their eighth decade.
But things do not always get easier with age.
In honour of Fergie's birthday, we take a look at seven other veterans who stayed involved in sport after 70, and how they fared.
Bobby RobsonBobby Robson
Robson took the Newcastle job at the age of 66, and managed a team who played attractive football and competed in the Champions League. But after the age of 70 Robson could not maintain those heights. Having finished fifth and outside the Champions League places in the 2003/4 season, a slow start to the following campaign meant chairman Freddy Shepherd unceremoniously wielded the axe and sacked Robson at the age of 71, replacing him with Graeme Souness.
Ivor Powell
The name might not be familiar, but Powell occupies his place in history as the oldest known football coach, finally retiring from the job in 2010 at the age of 93. Powell, who played for QPR, Aston Villa and Wales in his playing career, had been part of Don Revie's coaching team at Leeds United, and he continued on the coaching staff at Team Bath for more than 30 years, helping them reach the first round proper of the 2002 FA Cup when aged 85.
Jack McKeonJack McKeon
In 2003 at the tender age of 72 McKeon became the oldest manager in the history of baseball to lead a team to the World Series. He stayed with the Florida Marlins for another two years before retiring — only to come to the aid of the Marlins in their hour of need earlier this year and step in as interim manager. "I don't need this job but I love it," the 80-year-old said.
Bela Guttman
Guttman was one of football's most venerable figures, an Austro-Hungarian born in Budapest whose playing days began in 1919 and whose managerial career ended a full 54 years later when Guttman was 74. Guttman's remarkable career saw him travel the world, playing in the USA in the 1920s, managing clubs in, amongst others, Hungary, Italy, South America, Greece and Portugal, and finishing with a stint at Porto, where he had been in charge 14 years before. Fittingly for a man who never managed to stay for more than four years at a club - and he had 25 - he did not see out the year.
Giovanni TrapattoniGiovanni Trapattoni
Now 72, Trapattoni's lengthy career in football began in 1959 as a defender for AC Milan. He took the manager's job at Milan in 1975, and had successful spells with clubs in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria before taking responsibility for the Ireland national team in 2008. His first attempt at qualifying them for a major tournament ended in infamy when Thierry Henry's handball put paid to Ireland's chances — but at the second attempt Trapattoni has the opportunity to lead the men in green into a major finals at Euro 2012.
Craig Brown
A 69-year-old Brown had not worked as a manager for five years when he was appointed as boss of Motherwell. It looked sure to be his last job in football, but after a year in which he steadied the team with a top six finish in the SPL, he was poached by Aberdeen in December 2010 and continues in the job to this day at the age of 71.
Ginger McCainGinger McCain
McCain had been training horses since 1962, and shot to fame when his horse Red Rum won three Grand Nationals during the 1970s. That pinnacle of success eluded him for another 27 years, until Amberleigh House won the Grand National in 2004, with McCain 73 at the time. Two years later Ginger handed the stable over to his son Donald, whose horse Ballabriggs won this year's running of the race.