Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson tops the rich list. REUTERS

Sir Alex Ferguson has topped the Sunday Times managerial rich list, with the Manchester United legend worth £32m in 2012.

Roy Keane came second on the list, suggesting he received a healthy pay off for his time at Ipswich Town, a club he left at the beginning of 2011.

Other former United players made the list, with Mark Hughes coming in at ninth with a worth of £11m, and Steve Bruce taking seventh spot with £14m.

The list is based on identifiable wealth, such as earnings, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. Bank account balances are not included in the research.

The news comes as Manchester United were reported by Forbes to be the richest club in the world, with the magazine claiming that there are over 330 million fans of the club worldwide.

United are said to have more money than the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, and will no doubt be willing to pay Sir Alex Ferguson big wages to keep the wildly successful manager at Old Trafford.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also ranked highly in the poll, while Tottenham's Harry Redknapp came in at eighth.

And new England manager Roy Hodgson is already counting his notes, despite only making a big move up into managing the Three Lions this week; the Englishman is currently worth £11m.

THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORT RICH LIST 2012

THE RICHEST FOOTBALL MANAGERS

RankName2012 wealth2011 wealth
1Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United£32m£27m
2Roy Keane£29m£30m
3Arsene Wenger, Arsenal£26m£19m
4Giovanni Trapattoni, Republic of Ireland£20m£20m
5Roberto Mancini, Manchester City£18m£16m
6Sven-Göran Eriksson£16m£16m
7Steve Bruce£14m£11m
8Harry Redknapp, Tottenham£12mNew
9=Roy Hodgson, WBA/ England£11mNew
9=Mark Hughes, Queen's Park Rangers£11m£11m
11=Martin O'Neill, Sunderland£10m£10m