One of the men closest to Sir Alex Ferguson has suggested the Manchester United manager could have been nudged towards retirement during a ‘top summit meeting’ at Old Trafford.
The 71-year-old manager gave emotional speeches to his players and staff at their Carrington training ground and tributes poured in from across the globe as he stepped down after nearly 27 years at the club.
But David Meek, who helped write Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography and also writes his Old Trafford programme notes, was shocked by the timing of Ferguson’s retirement.
Meek has covered United for more than 40 years as a journalist and is described on United’s website as ‘an authority on the club’.
He ghost-wrote the programme notes for United’s match against Chelsea on Sunday in which Ferguson insisted he wanted to continue managing United into next season and beyond.
But he has suggested on talkSPORT that the club owners may have nudged Ferguson towards the exit and suggested to him it was time to retire.
Meek said: ‘I can’t honestly say I’m aware of anything. We never hear anything from the Glazers but they’re in charge. There is the scenario that he was blissfully intending to carry on for another season, true to his programme notes, but then there was a top summit meeting and the suggestion was made (that he retired). I don’t think it had to be made forcefully. If he felt the owners no longer had 100 per cent confidence in him, I don’t think he’d hesitate [to go].
When pushed if he thought that was realistic, he replied: ‘Well yeah… I’d love to know. That’s the next chapter to the story. Did he go or was he pushed?’
Speaking on talkSPORT, he added: ‘I knew something was afoot when I rang him [on Tuesday] at his home and I said ‘shall I come in tomorrow morning?’ He said ‘no, I shall be too busy.’ That’s all he said.’
[UK Mail]
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