Sir Alex Ferguson quickly bounces back from Man Utd axe as alternative venture secures him more than a year's earnings
SIR ALEX FERGUSON is still earning a pretty penny, despite being ruthlessly axed from his lucrative role at Manchester United.
The legendary manager was the biggest
casualty
of
3
Sir Alex Ferguson lost his Manchester United ambassadorial role last season
Credit: GETTY
3
Sir Jim Ratcliffe chopped Fergie's £2.1million-a-year job as part as sweeping club cuts
Credit: ALAMY
3
But a business venture he started 42 years ago is helping keep him financially stable
Credit: GETTY
Fergie
was axed from his multi-million-pound ambassadorial role with the club, with the sacking coming into effect at the end of the season.
That decision from INEOS bigwig Ratcliffe saw the Scot wave goodbye to a whopping £2.1million a year salary.
But the 83-year-old won't be strapped for cash thanks to a business venture he embarked upon over
FOUR DECADES
ago.
Fergie
's personal company, ACF Sports Promotions Limited, recorded profits of £2.7m last year, taking its total assets to £26.9m.
READ MORE ON SIR ALEX FERGUSON
That figure is up from £24.2m the previous year, although it's not known if the £2.1m Ferguson received from United was paid into the account.
ACF is the company that handles all of
Fergie
's commercial activities, including speaking appearances.
Fergie stepped down from his role as company director in 2014, handing over the reins to his son Mark.
The healthy bank balance of ACF, which was set up
42 YEARS AGO
, means Fergie won't have to worry about losing his ambassador's role with United.
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Fergie axe comes at the right time - and he knows it
By Phil Thomas
IT is over a decade since he left the dugout but Sir Alex Ferguson has lost none of his sense of timing.
When to sell, when to buy, when to change and ultimately when to go, Fergie has always been in a class of his own.
Over the years there were countless decisions which had everyone scratching their head — but Sir Alex always knew the time was right.
Some were more obvious than others. Like the night Manchester United won the Treble on the back of his substitutions.
Others less so, like the summer of 1995 when terrace legends Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis were sold at the peak of their powers.
The whole of football thought the manager had lost his marbles.
But Fergie knew better, as he chose that year to unleash his 'you win nothing with kids' Double heroes.
Just as he knew best when it came to right-hand men.
Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Archie Knox and Co — an endless list of world-class coaches who all came and went.
And, of course, the biggest decision of all. Calling time on 26 years in which he had gone from the brink of the bullet to English football's greatest-ever gaffer.
The majority of people are convinced Ferguson stepped down because he knew United's era of dominance was over.
Maybe not the nosedive to come but certainly that an almighty rebuild was just around the corner. Another mass overhaul, yet not one he was prepared to oversee.
Now another end has arrived. Not as dramatic or as out-of-nowhere, admittedly, but an end nonetheless.
Next summer Fergie will leave his 12-year role as global ambassador. Many see it as the most ruthless swing of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting axe — and they are wrong.
For while he is trying to save every penny in making United great again — how's that going, Sir Jim? — Ferguson has not suddenly and callously been told he is surplus to requirements.
This decision was a two-way call. An amicable parting. Football's own conscious uncoupling, in Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow lingo.
And not, incidentally, a departure which means we will no longer see Fergie at Old Trafford on a matchday.
That simply will not happen. He will still be there rain, wind or shine . . .
Only now as a high-profile non-executive director, rather than a man with the ear — and the sway — behind the owners' biggest decisions.
Like he was when urging United to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.
Admittedly not his finest hour, rather an indication of the influence he still retained.
Back then, until just before Ratcliffe and his Ineos team arrived, in fact, Ferguson had the owners' ear. Almost a hotline to the Glazer family, you could say.
And those days are done.
Not that Sir Alex is bereft at the thought. For a start, some of the staff sackings have enraged the Scot — long-serving photographer John Peters and kitman Alec Wylie, for example.
This is not a cosy-cosy relationship with Ratcliffe being severed.
If anything, it is closer to the opposite. And as Fergie the Red, in every sense The Boss — those who played under him still call him that — knows, trousering £2million or so a year in such tight times is not a good look.
Fair enough, not an amount anyone would turn down in normal circumstances.
Yet when many in the steerage class are losing their livelihoods, it is not something that would have sat well with him.
There is also the practical side of things as well.
At the end of December, Sir Alex will be 83 years old, albeit still a freakishly fit 83 years old.
Yet even though the grey matter remains oh-so-sharp and the mind clear as a bell, the bones grow creakier and even Superman had to put his feet up on occasion.
That does not mean you will not see shots of Fergie alongside Ratcliffe at various points — Sir Jim loves too much the associated glamour of being pictured with the greatest.
But any idea of Sir Alex having an emperor's thumbs-down power has gone for good — and quite frankly that is something which suits both sides.
Fergie was given the role after bringing his legendary 26-and-a-half-year reign at
Old Trafford
to an end in 2013.
He was paid just shy of £26m for his post-managerial gig, which Ratcliffe and Co. deemed to be an unnecessary expense.
Sir Alex Ferguson spotted with unlikely TV star pal at Cheltenham again as legendary Man Utd boss bags £65k winner
In an interview with the
BBC
in March, Ratcliffe said of the cost-cutting, which has resulted in hundreds losing their
jobs
: "We have got a club which was in a level of financial difficulty.
"
Manchester
United would have run out of cash by the end of this year -- by the end of 2025 -- after having me put $300m (£232.72m) in and if we buy no new players in the
summer
.
"If we hadn't have implemented the cost programmes and restructuring that we have done over the last 12 months.
"So we have to deal with all those things, and there's only so many things you can deal with at once.
"We have a new management team, we have to deal with the financial restructure, then we have to move on to the squad, data analysis, and moving forward.
"But we are in the process of change and it's an uncomfortable period and disruptive and I do feel sympathy with the fans.
"But I am not actually surprised where we are in the league because Ruben's only got a certain size of squad he can deal with, and quite a number of those players are injured or not available to him."
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