Sir Alex Ferguson Lost On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire After Calling 'useless' player
Sir Alex Ferguson's first appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire went well but he branded his phone a friend "useless" after failing to help him with the £64,000 question.
The legendary former Manchester United manager used to put quizzes on during his glittering stint at Old Trafford and appeared on the hit ITV quiz show on two occasions - both with presenter pal Eamonn Holmes.
His debut came in 2004 and the team were able to win £32,000 in the charity edition aired around Christmas.
Ferguson and Holmes answered 10 questions correctly and were flying, but both were stumped by the 11th question which was worth £64,000.
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The question was, 'What was the name of Tom and Barbara's cockerel in the TV sitcom 'The Good Life'?' and the pair had so much difficulty that all three lifelines were used.
To start with, they asked the audience but with a bit of a split, that didn't quite help bring a decisive answer and so phone a friend was the next option.
Ferguson decided the man for the job was his former player Brian McClair, who played 471 times for him at United and were four Premier League titles.
But while McClair was good for a goal, he too did not know the answer and so the third and final lifeline had to be called upon. 50-50 narrowed it down to Trotsky and Lenin but Ferguson and Holmes went for the latter.
"Well, I was on it with Eamonn Holmes in 2004 and we phoned Brian McClair – but he was useless!" Ferguson recalled, as per the Manchester United website.
"We had to give the name of the rooster in The Good Life. Now, I'd never seen it, so I had no idea, but the options were Stalin, Trotsky, Lenin and Rasputin.
“We were going for £64,000, so we asked the audience and there was no decisive answer. Then I phoned Brian but he had no idea either, which surprised me because, in fairness, he's a bright lad. So we used our 50-50 and it was either Trotsky or Lenin.
"We went for Trotsky and, just as we locked it in, Eamonn tells me the family in The Good Life were socialist farmers. Well, if he'd have said that earlier, I could have worked out it was Lenin! "Although both were socialists, Trotsky was a bit of a dissident and became a bit of a radical. He was eventually assassinated in Mexico under Stalin's orders."
Ferguson said he regretted his fellow Scott, adding: “Anyway, I wouldn't ask Brian again. My wife would be good, you know. You need somebody who has a good general knowledge of all areas, but particularly science, botany and biology. Classical music and art, as well. Those questions always crop up at the end."
The 13-time Premier League winner and Holmes had a second crack at the show nine years later and improved on their performance, winning £50,000 and donating it to the Manchester United Foundation.
Topics: Sir Alex Ferguson, Man Utd
Josh Lawless