Clue that revealed Sir Alex Ferguson was going to retire is unearthed, ten years after legendary Man Utd boss quit
SIR Alex Ferguson’s reign as Manchester United manager came to an end in 2013 following a trophy-laden career with the club.
In his final season, he would lift the Premier League title for the final time.
A fitting end for the man who can lay claim to being the greatest boss our shores have ever seen – winning 38 trophies in almost 27 years.
But for those who weren’t on the inside at Old Trafford, Fergie dropped a massive clue of his intentions to finally walk away from football months prior to his May 8 announcement.
Two months prior, the Red Devils were disappointingly knocked out of the Champions League in controversial fashion to Real Madrid, as Portugal winger Nani was given a red card.
Ferguson, now 81, was due to give his post-match briefing in a TV interview – something he did regularly for European games.
Instead, former chief executive David Gill entered the dressing room and went to Mike Phelan to deliver a reaction to defeat.
Tellingly, Phelan would stand in for Fergie for his interviews with the BBC, after the Scot boycotted the broadcaster over a documentary about his son Jason. But never after a Champions League tie.
There was a consensus that Sir Alex might say something he would regret, given how upset he was about Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir and because he had just seen his last chance of winning the Champions League again taken away from him.
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Phelan briefed the media and told them Ferguson was “distraught” and “in not fit state” to talk to them, according to BBC Sport.
What Gill already knew, but what the watching world didn’t, was that Fergie was retiring at the end of the 2012-13 campaign, something he had confided in them earlier in the season.