Fergie: Clearing my desk at Carrington was a nightmare

Having spent close to 27 years as Manchester United manager, Sir Alrx Ferguson has reflected on the practicalities of leaving the job.

“I had to go in and clear my desk, of course, which was a nightmare,” he said. “I had lots of stuff in storage and all over the place. A lot of it was sent up to the house. It’s a funny thing, clearing a desk after 27 years, because you pick something up and think, I didn’t know I had that book. Books and files. I looked at some and thought, had I better leave that for David Moyes? Would he be interested in that? I put some stuff aside for David. A lot of the medical stuff, for instance, that had piled up over the years. Some scouting reports on young players. That kept me busy for two or three days. I kept all my notepads. I have all my notepads from when I started at United. They’re all in boxes all over the place. A friend, Paul Doherty, wanted to do a book on my letters and so on. I don’t think looking back on that time would interest me, though it might interest other people. I wish I had kept a diary. I have a good memory for a lot of things but to keep a diary on a daily basis would be absolutely fantastic. You would have to have the discipline to spend half an hour in the afternoon putting down what had happened. Every day. It might become tedious, that.”