Fergie: I feared that I’d never speak again
HE WAS renowned for giving his players the ‘hairdryer treatment’ but Alex Ferguson has revealed a lifethreatening brain haemorrhage robbed him of the power to speak – and left him terrified he would not regain his voice.
Recalling the moment in a new documentary about his life, the 79-year-old Manchester United legend says: ‘I lost my voice. I couldn’t get a word out and that was absolutely terrifying. I was also afraid of losing my memories. I’ve survived with having a great memory all my life, so everything was going through my mind, “Is my memory going to be bad? Am I ever going to speak again?” The speech therapist came and started working on me and she asked me to write down all the memories of my family, all the memories of my football teams.
‘Eventually, after about 10 days, my voice came back and I realised then, having gone through all that, my memory was fine because I was able to remember everything.’
The feature-length film, directed by Fergie’s son Jason, 49, premiered last night at the Glasgow Film Festival. It follows the manager from the moment he collapsed at home three years ago. Containing previously unseen archive footage and testimonies from his wife Cathy, his three sons, and former players, Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In also charts his life growing up in
Glasgow, and his career in football, including winning 38 trophies at Manchester United.
The documentary is due to be released in cinemas on May 27 and on Amazon Prime Video two days later.