Sir Alex quashes retirement talk

Sir Alex Ferguson has reiterated that he still has no plans to retire – and is instead looking forward to shaping his latest Manchester United side.

At 69, the Scot is entering his 26th season in charge at Old Trafford, nine years after going back on his original decision to call it a day.

“I did that silly thing where I said I was going to retire some years ago – my wife Cathy put a stop to that,” he said.

“Now the situation has changed. You come to realise as you get older that you have been on the treadmill for such a long time, you don’t want to get off it.”

“So I will keep going, working.”

With his spirit undiminished, Ferguson is planning to win the club’s 20th league title with one of his youngest ever sides.

The Red Devils finished last weekend’s Community Shield fielding a team with an average age of 22 years, but the Scot says he trusts in the abilities of his youngsters.

“I am confident because I trust the players and I feel we have had a nucleus of young players developing for a while,” he said.

“We had a few out on loan last year and they have come back as better players.”

“We had 13 players under the age of 22 in the United States in pre-season. So it is looking like a very young squad.”

“Darren Fletcher is one of the older ones, at 27.”

The Scot confirmed that Fletcher is nearly ready for first-team action again.

“Darren is back training now,” revealed the manager.

“He will play for the reserves on Monday. He has put weight back on and is doing great.”

“When Darren joined us at 15, he had a lot of problems with his ankles and missed a lot of foundation work at the club.”

“He had the resolve and perseverance after that to get to where he is, he has worked his socks off. ”

“He is a big-game player; he excels in temperament and discipline, obeying instructions to the letter of the law. In big games you need that.”

And the legendary coach revealed his secret for keeping a lid on the egos of his multi-millionaire players.

“All they want to do is play football,” he said.

“That’s the hold I have over them, that’s my strength.”

“No matter about their private lives, their egos, they all want to play football and all want to win.”

“Most of these boys say they are working class but they are not. Their fathers or grandfathers might have been but they’re not.”

“I try very hard to make them think as if they are working class. It’s an important issue that, a quality.”

“You have to know what it means to be working class and what a working-class ethic is.”