Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest football manager of all time, but not everyone takes his suggestions as gospel.
Manchester United are still coming to terms with Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, almost 13 years later.
However, for all the greatness he achieved as the manager of the club, his role in advising wasn’t as successful.
Sir Alex picked David Moyes as his successor, which was ill-judged as it was always going to be a job too big for his fellow Scot – this being after first-choice Pep Guardiola committed to Bayern Munich.
Where would Manchester United be RIGHT NOW if Pep Guardiola succeeded Sir Alex instead of David Moyes?🤔
He was Sir Alex's number one choice…
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson shakes hands with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after the FA Cup final match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley in London in 2023.
Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
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Perhaps the memory of this came into the rejection of another Sir Alex recommendation a few years later.
John Murtough and Erik ten Hag standing.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Manchester United via Getty Images
John Murtough refused a chance to hire Paul Montgomery after Sir Alex Ferguson recommendation
United’s recruitment was so bad in the years post-Sir Alex that perhaps some senior scouting advisors would have been beneficial to Ed Woodward and later John Murtough.
Speaking on the Beyond the Back Four podcast with Sam Homewood, current Crystal Palace scouting advisor Paul Montgomery has explained that Murtough turned down the chance to hire him.
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“Sir Alex had recommended me to go to Man United when they were having their problems and spoke to the chief executive, and then it went to someone they had in charge of football, John Murtough at the time, and I heard nothing.
“I said to the chief executive, ‘your guy hasn’t gotten back to me’, and he said, ‘oh, he will, he will,’ and then obviously things transpired, and it got worse and worse at Manchester United.”
Montgomery had a wealth of experience with Newcastle, Birmingham and Aston Villa and would surely have been a good addition to the ranks at Old Trafford.
However, the footballing structure pre-Ineos was so bad that even this wouldn’t have fixed anything.
Montgomery’s theory on why Sir Alex Ferguson retired
Whether Sir Alex retired or not in 2013, a rebuild was always on the cards, given the age of the squad and relative lack of quality compared with what a title-winning team would usually be.
Man Utd icon Sir Alex Ferguson perfectly captures the ethos of believing in youngsters 🔥👏
Giving young people an opportunity is a fantastic thing and they very seldom let you down. These lads never let me down when they put that jersey on.
Sir Alex Ferguson speaking at the opening of Salford City’s Peninsula Stadium in 2017
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Montgomery told Beyond the Back Four that he thinks Ferguson saw this coming and decided to leave before things went downhill.
“I think Sir Alex, when he retired, he retired because he thought, ‘well, I’ve lost Vidic and Ferdinand, who have I got?’
“Not being disrespectful to Smalling and Evans, but he will have been thinking, ‘Well, can I win the Champions League with these players? I am going to have to start again. Is it time to do an exit?’
“And I think that helped him make his decision.”