Sir Alex Ferguson reveals he turned down three English clubs before joining Man Utd including one of their biggest rivals

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he turned down three English clubs prior to taking charge of Manchester United.

Ferguson first made his name at Aberdeen, winning three Scottish league titles and the European Cup winners' cup.

He took the United job in 1986 and went on to win 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues before his retirement in 2013.

But things could have been very different. According to Ferguson, he had offers from rivals Arsenal and Tottenham and also had a proposal from Wolves earlier in his career.

However he waited for the approach from United and did not hesitate when he got the call.

"I turned down Arsenal and I turned down Wolverhampton Wanderers and I turned down Tottenham," Ferguson told Ally McCoist on the debut episode of Ally's Social club on TNT Sports.

"I said [to Aberdeen chairman Dick Donald] that maybe it was time for me to leave, blah, blah, blah, and he said to me 'don’t talk like that'. You should go only to one club – Manchester United. I never budged until that came long. When it came along, I couldn’t get there quick enough.

"I have to say there was a lot of trepidation about it. Travelling down that morning, in the plane with Martin Edwards and the lawyer Maurice Watkins, I was asking a lot of questions and I wasn’t getting all the answers.

"Wee Gordon Strachan used to phone me quite a lot and I didn’t get a great picture through that. I knew all the players, world-class names in many ways. I was determined to install something I did at Aberdeen and St Mirren, and that was to produce young players."

Image: Getty

Following his retirement, Ferguson has served as a director and global ambassador for the club - though his £2 million-a-year contract has now been cancelled after a face-to-face meeting with Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The decision has been taken as a cost-cutting measure and though Ferguson received the news amicably, the move has brought plenty of criticism.

The full episode of Ally’s Social Club with Sir Alex Ferguson will be available to watch on TNT Sports’ YouTube channel from midday today and broadcast on TNT Sports 1 at 10.30am on Saturday.