{"id":607730,"date":"2025-12-02T16:23:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607730\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:23:16","slug":"talent-scout-says-sir-alex-ferguson-fear-of-losing-two-man-utd-players-helped-his-decision-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607730\/","title":{"rendered":"Talent scout says Sir Alex Ferguson fear of losing two Man Utd players helped his decision to retire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sir Alex Ferguson retired as Manchester United manager in 2013 after winning the Premier League for a 13th time. The Red Devils have been unable to replicate that feat since then.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a plan in place after Manchester United<\/a> lost the 2011\/12 Premier League<\/a> title on goal difference. It involved signing Robin van Persie<\/a> and a few other youthful prodigies.<\/p>\n

Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s<\/a> team would go on to win a 20th league title with a squad that had a mixture of superstars and veterans.<\/p>\n

United finished 11 points clear of runners-up Man City, after claiming the title with four games to spare, beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Old Trafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Van Persie was the Premier League\u2019s top scorer that season, winning the Golden Boot with 26 league goals and 30 in all competitions.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s retirement came as a blow towards the end of the campaign, as did Paul Scholes\u2019<\/a> decision to hang up his boots for a second and final time.<\/p>\n

\"RioPhoto by Michael Regan\/Getty ImagesSir Alex Ferguson knew end was near for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic<\/p>\n

Although Ferguson won the league title in the final season, the squad was ageing. It was clear that many key players were coming to the end of their careers, such as Ryan Giggs<\/a>, Rio Ferdinand<\/a>, Nemanja Vidic<\/a> and Patrice Evra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three of those four players would go on to join other clubs, but they were no longer at their best. This was at the back of Ferguson\u2019s mind, according to former Premier League talent scout Paul Montgomery.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Beyond The Back Four<\/a>, Montgomery suggested that Ferguson had concerns about Vidic and Ferdinand coming to the end of their careers, which helped him decide to retire when he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Alex, he had Vidic and Ferdinand, and I think that helped him retire,\u201d said Montgomery.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought, \u2018ohh, hang on, when I\u2019ve lost them, who have I got to win? Because I\u2019m expected to win a Champions League, etc\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that kind of helped him retire at the time he did when he lost those players.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you\u2019ve got to have that spine 100 per cent if you\u2019re going to be a top, top side.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo ifs, buts or maybe that is the main ingredient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having a stable defence is crucial to any team wanting to win the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Ferdinand and Vidic had the best defensive partnership in Europe for years as shown in 2008 when United were last crowned Champions League<\/a> winners.<\/p>\n

Is Rio Ferdinand Man Utd\u2019s best defender of all time? \ud83d\udc10\ud83e\udd14 <\/p>\n

If it is NOT Rio Ferdinand, then who is it? \ud83d\udee1\ufe0f\ud83e\udd77<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

Interestingly, Ruben Amorim<\/a> has United playing in a back-three system, but he is still trying to settle on a formidable line-up that will bring the glory days back to Old Trafford. That will take a lot of hard work and patience.<\/p>\n

Rio Ferdinand among Man Utd legends at star-studded Grand Prix<\/p>\n

Ferdinand was one of the former United players at the Qatar Grand Prix at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Sir David Beckham<\/a> was also present at the illuminated Lusail International Circuit alongside Gary Neville<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The United trio weren\u2019t the only stars seen at the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was in attendance with popular TV presenter Maya Jama and tennis sensation Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Alex Ferguson retired as Manchester United manager in 2013 after winning the Premier League for a 13th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,1883,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-607730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sir-alex-ferguson","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115650902035679387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}