Sir Alex Ferguson turned down Arsenal job, says Jim
Leighton
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Jim Leighton, the former Manchester United goalkeeper, has
disclosed that Arsenal wanted Sir Alex Ferguson to take over as
manager of the club in the summer of 1986.
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Leighton, the former Scotland goalkeeper, was talking to
Mark Chapman on his BBC Radio Five programme
The World Cup Years: 1986 when he said the Highbury board
approached Ferguson as a replacement for Don Howe as the Scot
prepared his side for their World Cup finals campaign in
Mexico.
After taking Scotland to Mexico following the death of Jock
Stein, Ferguson, according to Leighton refused to commit to any
domestic issues while on international duty.
“Ferguson was offered the Arsenal job,” said Leighton. “George
Graham would have been his assistant, but he wanted to wait until
the World Cup was finished before it was getting announced.
“Arsenal said they wanted it [a decision] straight away and so
he refused it and George Graham got the job.”
“He wanted to announce it when he got back to Aberdeen, to do it
the right way.”
Studio guest Kenny Sansom, the former England and Arsenal
full-back, said he “didn’t have a clue” about the approach.
“I didn’t know about that, and I played under George [Graham]
too. But I ‘m sure George wouldn’t have said they offered the job
to Alex first”.
Gerry Armstrong, the former Northern Ireland and Tottenham
Hotspur forward, added: “I knew he was lined up at Tottenham, maybe
a year before that”.
Leighton, who also worked with Ferguson at Aberdeen and
Manchester United, added that his manager’s controversial decision
to omit Alan Hansen from the finals was because the Liverpool
defender went ‘missing’ against lesser teams.
“As far as Alan Hansen was concerned, Fergie believed that he
wasn’t always ‘turning up’ for games against maybe Luxembourg, the
Faroes or San Marino,” said Leighton.
“He only wanted to ‘turn up’ for the really important
games.”