Pulling a sickie: Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson admits sleeping in and skipping work for first time ever
Pulling a sickie: Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson admits sleeping in and skipping work for first time ever
'On the Monday night, after the parade, I slept for 10 hours, I think for the first time in my life!' says retiring boss
On a high: Fergie wanted to leave United as a winner
Getty
Sir Alex Ferguson slept in and skipped work for the first time as
Manchester United boss - after the emotion of his retirement left him
shattered.
Ferguson, famed for his work ethic and for being in work at the Red Devils' training ground by 7am every day, admitted he couldn't get out of bed on Tuesday morning - the day after the club's Premier League victory parade through Manchester in front of 100,000 fans.
Old
Trafford boss Ferguson, 71, who takes charge of his final game as
United boss on Sunday at West Brom, after 26-and-a-half years in charge,
said: "The whole last few days have been hard.
"On the Monday night, after the parade, I slept for 10 hours, I think for the first time in my life!
"I was absolutely gone, knackered. I didn't go in [to work the next morning].
"As it got to - I don't know what time it was - I kept feeling the presence of Cathy coming into the bedroom.
"I think she was just checking to see if I was still alive!"
Ferguson,
who took charge of his final game at Old Trafford last Sunday, with
United beating Swansea 2-1, admitted it had been an emotional time since
he announced his retirement a week ago. He said: "It definitely has been, and Sunday will be hard too.
"What
I had to do, and I think I did it well, I didn't show my emotion too
much. When I announced it to the staff I got a bit blubby, you know, but
it wasn't easy."
Ferguson said he first thought about retirement at Christmas and talked about it with his wife Cathy, but said he had to go out on a high - as a winner. Coach trip: Fergie and United players parade the Premier League trophy
Reuters
"That was an issue when Cathy and I chatted about this at Christmas," said Ferguson.
"In March I let the club know [about his retirement].
"Sometimes,
when we were with the family, you'd forget you were talking about next
year and were afraid you might blurt something out.
"We didn't tell the family, my sons, until the end of March. My son Jason knew earlier, because he works a lot with me.
"I only told my brother the night before it was announced. He wasn't too pleased, I got a bit of invective off him.
"It's difficult. The club knew in March. David Gill and I sat down and discussed it through.
"And
of course, with David leaving too, it gave me a problem in the sense
that I didn't want people to think we were leaving the club in the
lurch.
"There was a rumour that started to get out on the Tuesday night [before the official announcement].
"It's
hard to keep things intact at Old Trafford. It's a bit of a sieve at
times, news seems to creep out from all sorts of different angles and
sources.
"We've tried over the years to eliminate these leakages of news getting out.
"I've
always thought, particularly over the last 10 years or so, part of my
job is to keep us out of the news, which is nigh on impossible as you
know.
"And, of course, you have to accept that we are news. but there's a difference between good news and bad news."
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