Sir Alex Ferguson sensationally offered to resign as Manchester United boss on the eve of the club’s historic Treble-winning season, according to a new documentary.
The Red Devils famously became the first English club to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season, completing the set in the most dramatic fashion imaginable thanks to a pair of injury-time goals against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp.
That historic season has been chronicled in a documentary series called 99, available now on Prime Video. The behind-the-scenes look also details the turbulent build-up to the campaign, reports the Mirror.
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With Arsenal winning the double under Arsene Wenger in 1997/98, Ferguson was under intense pressure, with some club officials feeling he had taken his eye off the ball. The Scot, furious at the accusation, offered to quit as a result.
“We felt that he’d got a little bit more interested in his outside interests than he should have done and that needed readdressing,” said then-chairman Martin Edwards in the first episode of the series.
What would have happened if Sir Alex Ferguson had quit Manchester United before their Treble triumph? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below
(Image: Prime Video)
“He was obviously becoming a celebrity and was interested in his racing and all the rest of it. It’s your job to know your staff. It was just a correction, so I put it in writing. I knew he wouldn’t be happy about it, and he wasn’t. He offered his resignation.”
The bombshell about Fergie’s near-exit was news to Gary Neville, who features in the doc and was gobsmacked by the scoop. He admitted: “I would not like to have had that conversation with him. I didn’t even know that until today.”
United fan Andy Walsh got the inside story from Ferguson himself back then, sharing how a letter from Edwards really got under his skin.
(Image: Manchester United via Getty Images)
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“He said, ‘I’ve had enough of it, I can’t trust these people anymore, I’ve reached the end of my tether’,” Walsh spilled. “He was clearly hurt, as well as angry. I said, ‘are you sure [about resigning]?’
“Alex Ferguson values loyalty greatly because he had come up the hard way as a working-class lad from Govan. And people from working-class stock are constantly told by those with money and power in society that we’re replaceable. I think he would have seen that as a challenge to respond to.”
In the end, Sir Alex stuck around as Edwards later revealed: “Later that afternoon, he rang me to withdraw his resignation and it was never mentioned again after that.”
99 is available exclusively on Prime Video on 17th May when all three parts will drop globally