Sir Alex Ferguson has attempted to justify his backing of the appointment of David Moyes as Manchester United manager, following his own retirement.

Our former manager claims that all the best managers were spoken for when United came to appoint, meaning Moyes was the best option. But we went on to finish seventh in the table, behind the likes of Everton and Spurs, leading Moyes to be sacked.

I was ready to tell them in March and then David Gill tells me he’s going to retire. That was a serious blow. What did I do now? But I’d made my mind up. It was the right decision. Once I’d conveyed it to the Glazers, then the process started of looking for successors. We chose David Moyes. He had been consistent in his job at Everton, had a good spell there — 11 years and showed appetite. No one knew apart from the Glazers, David Gill and myself. When we appointed him, the press were enthusiastic for a British manager. Unfortunately, somehow it didn’t work out for David. The process was perfect. It was a good process.

It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid. We also knew Jurgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup.