ALEX FERGUSON has once again restated his backing for the Glazer family ownership of Manchester United.
The Scot has been heavily criticised in recent years for not speaking out against the controversial American family, whose leveraged takeover of the club has cost an estimated £680million in associated costs.
Yet even now he has retired – with no intention of returning – Ferguson is still speaking positively on the family’s behalf. “There is a misconception about the Glazers buying the club,” he said. “It created hostility and different factions but you forget, the minute it became a PLC someone was going to buy it.
“The Glazers did buy it. And in my time with them – they were nothing but supportive.”
Meanwhile, former Chelsea defender Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris has questioned the timing of Ferguson’s public revelation that he was approached to manage the Blues.
In a wide-ranging hour-long interview with US TV network PBS, Ferguson revealed he was asked to manage Chelsea shortly after Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
“They used an agent to approach me when Abramovich first took over the club,” Ferguson said. “And I said, ‘No chance’. “I always come back to this point – why would you leave?”
Harris wondered why Ferguson chose now, after successor David Moyes’ challenging start at Old Trafford, to reveal the approach.
“Why bring it out now?” Harris said. “They haven’t started the season off particularly well. Maybe he’s trying to upset the apple cart.
“If it was true, I’d have thought it would’ve leaked out before. It just seems strange now all of a sudden since he’s retired it’s come to light.”
It is the first time Ferguson has commented publicly on the matter, although it was previously reported by the Manchester Evening News.
However, it was not a shock to Chelsea Supporters’ Group chair Trizia Fiorellino. “I’m not surprised at all; I’d have been surprised if he wasn’t offered the job,” she said. “Abramovich was very new to football and was going around trying to pick up the best of people to fill the football club with.”
