Sir Alex: 'Not England, I'm Scottish'

Published on Saturday 17 July 2010 17:15

SIR Alex Ferguson has revealed he turned down the England manager's job because his Scottish origins made it impossible to accept the post.

Govan-born Ferguson, the most successful manager in the history of English football, has commented for the first time on being offered the post by the Football Association.

The 68-year-old made the comments in Canada where Manchester United are on a North American tour of pre-season friendlies. They beat Celtic in Seattle on Friday. He did not clarify when the approaches were made, although it is believed he was the FA's first choice to replace Terry Venables in 1996 and Glenn Hoddle before Kevin Keegan's appointment in 1999.

"I was offered the chance to manage the England team on a couple of occasions but, of course, it was just out of the question," he said. "It's a poisoned chalice anyway - I think it's a terrible job - plus the fact that I would have had a tremendous handicap being Scottish. No matter which way you look at it, that's important."

Ferguson does not mention either offer in his autobiography, released in 2000, and he made it clear the conversations were brief. On the second occasion, United's directors are believed to have given the FA permission to speak to Ferguson, but he was in the process of building the team that won the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup and did not want to subject himself to the same media intensity that cost Hoddle his job and previously caused so much distress for Sir Bobby Robson and Graham Taylor.