DID YOU KNOW?

          

The longest-serving manager in British football is stepping down at the end of the season?

 - but, no, it's not Sir Alex Ferguson.

Instead, it's a man who passed Fergie's record of 26 and a half years at the helm of his club before Fergie had even lifted his first trophy as Manchester United manager.

Meet Jimmy Davis, who since 1963 has been the boss of Waterloo Dock AFC, who play in the Liverpool County Premier League side.

            

The FA have confirmed that Jimmy - who is 71, coincidentally the same age as Ferguson - has been in charge of Waterloo Dock longer than any other manager at any other club in the country.

Now, however, he is stepping down after a lifetime at the club he loves.

"Time moves on, the modern age is catching up on me," he told the BBC, adding that he had enjoyed his time "tremendously" and describing it as "proper football".

Jimmy was originally a player for the club, joining as a founder member at the age of 21 when it was started up by a group of dock workers in 1963.

But his time on the field didn't last long, as he admits he simply wasn't good enough at playing.

"After six weeks the lads found me out and, trying to be nice, said 'you can go and be our manager'," he said. "It was purely by accident."

Jimmy has remained the manager ever since, winning dozens of local league and cup titles and at one point even selling John Durnin to Liverpool for the princely sum of £500 back in 1986.

But come 28 May it will all be over, and there won't be a dry eye at the club's ground in Edinburgh Park at Jimmy's final match.

Well, perhaps just two, those of his wife, who has put up with Jimmy's obsession throughout and from the sounds of things will be mightily relieved to give up the duties thrust upon her.

"I don't think Fergie gets involved in washing football kits like my wife does!" chuckles Jimmy.