Scot says death of his wife’s sister convinced him it was time to quit.
Departing Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he decided to retire last Christmas, reports the Daily Star.
Ferguson, 71, shocked the world of football by announcing last week that this would be his final season in charge of the Red Devils after 27 years at Old Trafford.
And the Scot said his farewells to United’s supporters after their final home league match of the campaign against Swansea City on Sunday afternoon.
United won the game 2-1 thanks to a late Rio Ferdinand strike to give Ferguson the perfect send-off and it was after watching his side at home for the last time that Ferguson disclosed just when, and why, he had decided to call it quits at the club.
“Things changed when Cathy’s sister died,” he said.
“She is isolated a lot now and I think a lot of the time, for 47 years, she has been the leader of the family, and sacrificed herself for me.
“Now she has the grandchildren, and they all dote on her, but now she has lost her best friend – her sister – so that was important.
“I think it is also important to go out as a winner. That is really important at this club, it is all I ever wanted to do here – be a winner.”
Ferguson has overseen 1,499 United games since arriving in the north west from Aberdeen in Nov 1986, winning an incredible 895 of those contests and losing just 267 times, giving him an overall win percentage of 60.
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