Former Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he was worried about losing his voice and memory when he suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2018.
Ferguson, who won two UEFA Champions League and 13 Premier League titles with United, needed immediate surgery in 2018 and spent several days in intensive care at Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester. Speaking during a Q&A at Glasgow Film Festival where a documentary around his life - Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In - was premiered, the 79-year-old said that the recovery from the surgery was terrifying.
"One of the first things I said the day after the operation when my family came to see me was [about] my memory," Ferguson told questioners at Glasgow film festival on Saturday after the premiere of a documentary about the Scotsman.
"I've survived with having a great memory all my life. The next week ... I lost my voice. I couldn't get a word out, and it was absolutely terrifying.
"Everything was going through my mind -- is my memory going to be back? Am I ever going to speak again?
He also said that he needed a speech therapist, and it took a whopping 10 days until he was able to speak again.
"The speech therapist came and told me to write down all the members of my family, of my football team ... She asked me questions about animals, fish, birds. Eventually, after 10 days my voice came back," he said.
"I realised, having gone through all that, my memory was fine."
Ferguson retired in 2013 after guiding Manchester United to their 13th Premier League title, but he said that his favourite memory of being a Man Utd manager was the day he won the league title for the first time.
"God almighty - I couldn't get out of the car park," he said. "There were thousands of them... they could have made me a president that day."
Speaking further, he said that his biggest during his footballing days was to let the players go, especially the youngsters. "That is the worst thing, having to let a young player go," he said. "Because all his ambitions and hopes and desires are about playing for Manchester United in front of 75,000 people and going to Wembley in a final - when you take that away from them, it's a sore, sore thing. So I hated that."
Alex Ferguson was in charge of Manchester United between 1986-2013, during which he won 38 trophies. He was knighted in 1999 when he guided a young Manchester United team to the treble of Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Clive Brunskill
