“One of the chosen ones”: Leeds legend stunningly reveals how close he was to replacing Sir Alex

Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson made a shock recommendation to the club’s board to replace him in 2002. Sir Alex’s U-turn After joining the club in 1986 and initially struggling, Sir Alex Ferguson went on to enjoy incredible success. Between 1986 and 2002, he won seven league titles and ended the club’s Champions League drought. The Scotsman stunned football when he announced in 2001 that he would be stepping down at the end of the season at the age of 60. Thankfully for United, Ferguson had a change of heart and in February 2002 announced he was remaining at the club, stating that he was not ready to walk away. Ferguson would go on to build arguably his greatest team in the period that followed, and United would win another Champions League and a further six Premier League titles before he finally retired in 2013. One manager who was frequently linked with taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson in 2002 was Sven-Göran Eriksson. He was reportedly so close to being named as Ferguson’s replacement that he had signed a contract with the club, but it never came to pass once Ferguson announced his U-turn and the Swede remained England boss. David O’Leary Former Aston Villa manager David O’Leary has revealed that he was backed by Ferguson to take over the hot seat at the turn of the Millennium. Speaking on The Overlap’s ‘Stick to Football’, the Irishman revealed how close he was to being in the running. O’Leary confirmed that he was approached by United in that era. He claimed, “Michael Kennedy [my solicitor] did, yeah, about it. Alex had recommended about three people or something like that. It never went any further than that. One of the chosen ones, yeah.” The former Arsenal centre-back managed Leeds between 1998 and 2002 and guided them to a Champions League semi-final. He would then manage Aston Villa between 2003 and 2006 before a final managerial position in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli for the 2010-2011 season. 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.