Sir Alex Ferguson agreed to join Spurs and 'shook hands with chairman' before changing his mind

Sir Alex Ferguson agreed to join Tottenham Hotspur and even engaged in a handshake with then-Spurs chairman Irving Scholar before changing his mind at the last minute.

Back in 1984, the highly-rated Ferguson was being tracked by a number of clubs following an unprecedented amount of success with Scottish side Aberdeen, including a host of top flight teams from England.

Arsenal are said to have approached Ferguson in the summer of 1986 but it "fell by the wayside" after the Gunners wanted an answer right away ahead of Scotland's World Cup campaign in Mexico.

And two years before Arsenal's interest, North London rivals Spurs identified Sir Alex as the manager to take over Peter Shreeves at White Hart Lane.

In fact, Ferguson had shaken hands with the club's chairman Irving Scholar and co-owner Paul Bobroff at a meeting in Paris before changing his mind to change the landscape of football forever.

The Scot went on to join Manchester United in 1986 and the rest, as they say, is history. So why did he turn down a move to Spurs?

Well, author Alex Fynn, a former director of Satchi & Satchi, has revealed all in the book Still Dreaming.

Flynn, who has been in conversation with all the leading members of the Spurs hierarchy at that time, writes: "The directors, to a man, were enthusiastic endorsers of the choice (Ferguson). All aspects of the contract agreed. Unfortunately, Mrs Ferguson was not keen on a move to London and that was that."

That's right. Cathy Ferguson, the wife of Sir Alex, played a major part in football history because she didn't want to move to the capital.

Image credit: Getty

The book Still Dreaming also details a conversation between former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards and Scholar about Sir Alex Ferguson's life-changing decision.

It reads: ‘Martin refused to believe him (Scholar). When, out of curiosity, he tackled Ferguson about the story, Ferguson averted his gaze and didn't reply. Edwards subsequently told Scholar: “Now I believe you and know you were telling the truth”.’

Ferguson, of course, went on to enjoy a trophy-laden 27 year spell at Old Trafford and lifted 13 Premier League titles amongst many other trophies.

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