Jose Mourinho has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson couldn’t persuade him to replace him as Manchester United manager.
Ferguson stepped down as Red Devils boss in 2013 after more than two decades in charge and confided in the Special One before his decision became public knowledge.
Mourinho was leaving a job too, calling time on his spell at the Real Madrid helm, but had his heart set on a return to his beloved Chelsea as David Moyes was handed the reins at United.
The Portuguese says he was never close to getting the job after making his intentions clear to the Scot that his sights were firmly fixed on regaining the Stamford Bridge hotseat.
Mourinho told the BBC for a new Ferguson documentary: "Every manager in the world looks at Man Utd as a huge club but I wanted to come to Chelsea.
"And we didn't bring that to the table because we were so open and he knows so much about myself that he knew that for almost a season, I want to leave Real Madrid and I want to come to Chelsea.
"He told me a huge secret, not many people knew, like, one month or two months before the decision. I know that he trusts me, because if he doesn't, he doesn't tell me but I was scared.
"I was scared so when finally he informed the media about this decision it was a sense of relief."
Man Utd greats including Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo contributed to the one-off special programme about the secrets of Ferguson’s success at Old Trafford.
Here’s a look at some of the other highlights of the forthcoming documentary...
Hairdryer
Ferguson: "I didn't like it at the time. I was a bit annoyed but now you have to... Yeah. I thought I might as well add to the humour.
"Sometimes I would lose my temper when we won. Now the real reason for losing your temper is because of expectation. I could never have visualised us losing a game, by the time I'd picked my team, done the tactics, had my team talk, I was confident we'd always win a game.
"But when they dropped below their expectation, that annoyed me the most."
Rio Ferdinand: "We played Benfica away and I think we got beat. We didn’t play well and he was shouting at me and I thought I was one of the best players on the day. So I was going back at him. And the problem is, which I failed to learn quickly, is that the more you shout at him, the louder he gets, and the more aggressive he gets, and the closer he gets to you."
"Giggsy sometimes would have to do one thing wrong in a half. Half time comes, (he hammered Giggs) he will hammer Giggsy. But that was to show the other players no one's exempt from getting hammered you all better fix up cos I’m coming for you at full time if you don’t sort this."
Ryan Giggs: "I remember him having a go at me at half-time and I had the sort of attitude that 'right, I'll show him'. And I played well in the second-half, so then he quickly knew how I would respond to him losing his temper.
"That followed me for the next 20 years, so it was a big mistake early on."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "I remember sometimes when we do something bad or we lost some games he kick the chairs and he kick the boots, he kick everything, the waters, the drinks, and he’s so red and ‘f*** you, you should pass the ball, you… it was unbelievable but it was good - because we learn."
Cantona's kung fu kick
Ferguson: "Jesus, you know, he was done and it was a problem for the club because it got such headlines, it was front page and we decided to have a meeting at Alderley Edge the next night. On the way I get a phone call from Richard Greenbury, who was chairman of Marks and Spencer at the time, Richard, a big United fan.
"He says ‘well, don’t let Cantona go. He’ll give you great moments of joy.' I said ‘I know that.' But you know it was the mood of the board, so I had to fight the case, look we must keep him, we can't let him go, we can't give in to the mob and we decided to suspend him for four months and the FA at the time were happy with it, but somehow they added to it."
"He’d never given us any indication that explosion was there. But I decided to approach it this way: I would speak to him every day, I would talk to him about football all the time and he loved it. That's why the other players said he was my prodigal son. But I think he needed different attention, you needed different ways of dealing with him, he was a different guy from everyone else. He's an amazing human being.
"No. There was something in me that said I need to stand by him because the world is after him. And it was a bit like, no one's there to help him and I says well it'll have to be me because I'm his manager.
"The thing that amazed me and frustrated me at times was his man-management. I’d never seen him have a go at Eric Cantona for example. Some of the players would resent that: 'why is he not having a go at Cantona? He's missed a penalty. Or why is he not having a go at Cantona? He's had an awful game.' The manager knew in the long-run that he would come good. That he would produce the goods at the right time. His man-management was second to none."
‘Sir Alex Ferguson: Secrets of Success will be on BBC1 at 10.30pm on Sunday 11 October
