Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken about his recovery from a brain haemorrhage, recalling the fear and uncertainty he faced after undergoing emergency surgery in 2018.
Ferguson suffered the haemorrhage in May 2018 and returned to Old Trafford four months later to watch Manchester United take on Wolves in the Premier League.
Although he had spent 26 years managing the club and established himself as one of football’s most successful managers, Ferguson admitted that returning to the stadium made him nervous.
Speaking to BBC Sport on Friday, Ferguson said, “I wish I could say I was comfortable. I wasn’t.”
Ferguson attended the match alongside his wife, Cathy, and received a standing ovation from supporters when they took their seats in the directors’ box.
“My wife was with me, and she was nearly crying. When we sat down, she said ‘that’s fantastic’,” he recalled.
Ferguson was 76 when he suffered the haemorrhage, having retired from management five years earlier. His recovery was gradual, with the early stages proving particularly challenging.
“I had lost my voice; I couldn’t speak,” he said. “That was a frightening moment.”
He also remembered visits from his grandsons during the recovery period, when they saw first-hand how much he was struggling to speak.
“I remember my grandsons coming to see me and I had lost my voice,” Ferguson said.
A therapist later helped him begin rebuilding his speech by putting him through a series of exercises.
“Then they brought in a therapist and she started doing things like asking me to write down the names of birds, names of animals, names of rivers,” he said.
“That way my voice came back.”
As he approaches his 85th birthday, Ferguson says he is doing well despite dealing with a few minor injuries.
The former United boss has also looked back on his remarkable football career in his new book, Games of My Life, which examines 21 important matches from his playing and managerial years.
Ferguson spent 26 years at the helm of Manchester United and won 38 trophies during his tenure, establishing himself as one of the most decorated managers in football history.
His latest reflections provide a personal account of both his extraordinary football career and the difficult period that followed one of the most serious health challenges he has faced.
