COE ADMITS SIR ALEX AGREED TO BE TEAM GB BOSS

LORD COE has only two notable regrets about the Olympics he delivered to London ten years ago today — one is that school sport became neglected and the other is how close he came to recruiting Sir Alex Ferguson to lead the British football team. It is loosely known that Coe attempted to lure the former Manchester United manager to Team GB, but he reveals on this milestone anniversary of the Games that Ferguson had gone as far as accepting the post. Those efforts were eventually muffled by the United hierarchy, with Stuart

Pearce coaching a side comprised of English and Welsh players to the quarter-finals. No Scottish or Northern Irish players were called up to the men’s team, with the SFA stating their opposition as they feared it would endanger independence within FIFA. Coe, who was the head of the 2012 organising committee, said: ‘What am I disappointed about? That school sport became a political football,’ he stated. Expanding on the near miss with Sir Alex, he added: ‘I came up with the idea because we were having a bit of fragility around our Celtic cousins. It suddenly occurred to me the one unifying influence in all that would be having a not necessarily English coach. ‘I didn’t speak to a soul about it, but I rang up Bob Charlton and said: “Am I out to lunch here?”. He said: “No, I’ll tell Alex to give you a call”. ‘Weeks went by. I was in a Tesco in Cobham on a Friday night and I got a call. It was a no ID and I was at the butter and fats counter and he said: “Seb, it’s Alex here”. I threw a load of cash at one of my daughters to keep filling the trolley and I said: “This is the stuff for a long conversation. I’m in the supermarket”. ‘I took him through the idea and he said: “Well, I don’t know”. Then there was a gap and he went: “Oh, Jesus, I’m already picking the team in my head”. ‘I later went to the BBC review of the year and Alex was there. Alex looked at me and said the answer’s yes. I said fine.’ The plans ultimately came up short, with Ferguson saying in 2011 he would have been too busy with United. Coe added: ‘He often wonders whether he missed out on a really good experience.’