Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have had an agreement to become manager of another Premier League side two years before he took the reins and began his glittering, trophy-laden stint as Manchester United boss.
Irving Scholar, who had a nine-year stint as chairman at Tottenham Hotspur, claims that the legendary Scotsman, who was Aberdeen manager at the time, shook hands with him in 1984 and agreed to replace popular manager Keith Burkinshaw.
Image: PA
However, Fergie is alleged to have gone back on the agreement as he would stay on at Aberdeen for a further two league campaigns, winning three more trophies before moving north to England and starting his reign at Old Trafford.
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As quoted in Martin Lipton's book 'White Hart Lane - The Spurs Glory Years', via the Daily Mail, Scholar said:
"The truth was that I had been talking to and negotiating with Alex Ferguson about a deal. He and I had had very long and detailed discussions.
"I told him that I was a very old-fashioned type of chap and that the most important thing was that once you agree something, once you shake someone's hand, it's in concrete.
"Once you do that, then you do not - under any circumstances whatsoever - you do not go back on it. It's over"
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Peter Shreeves, who had worked in various roles at the club, including reserve coach and assistant to Burkinshaw, stepped up to become first-team manager in 1984. He guided Spurs to a third place finish in his first season at the charge, but was swiftly axed after a disappointing tenth-placed finish the season after - with David Pleat instated as manager.
As for Ferguson, for the first three seasons, the Scotsman struggled at United and there is a well-known story that had Mark Robins not scored against Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup tie in 1989/1990, leading to the former Aberdeen boss beginning his trophy-heavy spell at United, Fergie may well have been out of a job and the landscape of English football could have been very different.
Image: PA
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Yet that first trophy set him on his way and he went on to take charge of 26 glorious seasons with the Red Devils, winning an incredible 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups and two Champions Leagues, before finally retiring in 2013 and finishing with a final league title.
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