“A genius and an apprentice”: Sir Alex favourite lifts lid on infamous lunch between the two men

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has opened up about his famous meal with Sir Alex Ferguson. Success in England The former Espanyol player and manager arrived in England in 2013. He spent one year at Southampton before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 2014, where he would remain until 2019 after leading them to the Champions League final. After some time out of football, he spent a year at Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Chelsea for the 2023-2024 season. Pochettino has been manager of the United States national team since 2024 and is preparing for the World Cup on home soil later this summer. Links with United For over a decade, the Argentine has regularly been linked with a move to Old Trafford and was very close to being offered the job in 2022 before losing out to Erik ten Hag. Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine, Pochettino revealed what happened during his famous meal with the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, who is a known admirer of his coaching career. Commenting on the meal, he said, “through the secretary of the League Managers Association, Sir Alex asked for my phone number so that we could have lunch.” He described the encounter as “a meeting in London between colleagues, between a genius and an apprentice.” The Argentine also revealed the amusing story: “when we asked for the bill, I wanted to take it, and so did he. We started arguing over who’d pay.” Sir Alex’s solution was to ask him to name an Argentine who scored in the 1930 World Cup final, and if he answered correctly, Pochettino would need to pay. Much to Ferguson’s surprise, Pochettino responded “Stabile”, so the former Tottenham Hotspur manager ended up paying the bill. The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.