Ferguson: ‘I turned down both of these European giants before joining Manchester United’

Sir Alex Ferguson joined Manchester United from Aberdeen in 1986 and became a club and Premier League legend . He spent 27 years as manager of the Red Devils, winning 13 Premier League titles, two Champions League titles and five FA Cups .

In an interview with Ally McCoist, a former Scottish player who now works as a presenter for “TNT Sports”, the legendary coach revealed that he had the opportunity to move to England before 1986, as he had received offers from Arsenal , Tottenham and Wolverhampton . However, the then chairman of Aberdeen, Dick Donald, told him to leave only if Manchester United called him.

— I turned down Arsenal, I turned down Wolverhampton Wanderers and I turned down Tottenham. The reason was Dick Donald… I said to him one day, “Maybe it’s time (to leave).” He said, “Don’t talk like that, you’ve got a great structure here, you should only go to one club — Manchester United.” So I never moved until that happened.

When asked if moving to Old Trafford was an easy decision, Ferguson replied: “Absolutely. I couldn’t get there quick enough.”

Ferguson “kicked” out of Manchester United

Recently, the Ineos group, which took majority control of Manchester United’s shares, decided to terminate Sir Alex Ferguson’s contract as the club’s global ambassador.

The decision was made in order to reduce costs. The official description of Ferguson’s services was published in 2014 and stated that Sir Sir received £2.16 million (R$15.8 million) for his services.

The Scot, however, will remain as a non-executive director of the club and will be able to attend games at Old Trafford.

However, according to the “Daily Mail”, Ferguson is banned from entering the dressing room of the team led by coach Erik ten Hag .