Ex-Spurs Chairman Claims Man Utd Legend Sir Alex Ferguson 'Broke' Promise to Manage Club in 1984

Sir Alex Ferguson went back on an agreement to take charge of Tottenham two years before his legendary trophy-laden era as Manchester United manager.

That is according to former Spurs chairman Irving Scholar, who told the Sun that the Scot could have given the north Londoners a dynasty to behold if he hadn't reneged on the chance to take over at White Hart Lane.

Scholar revealed that he had lined Ferguson up to replace the departing Keith Burkinshaw back in 1984 - the ex-boss having led Spurs to trophy success by securing the UEFA Cup and two FA Cups before he left - and explained how his first interactions with Ferguson went down.

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He said: "The truth was that I had been talking to and negotiating with Alex Ferguson about a deal. He and I had had very long and detailed discussions.

"I told him that I was a very old-fashioned type of chap and that the most important thing was that once you agree something, once you shake someone's hand, it's concrete.

"Once you do that, then you do not - under any circumstances whatsoever - you do not go back on it. It's over. I told him that, when I first met him. So we had this big thing about the handshake."

The 70-year-old went on to reveal that he believed Ferguson was ready to end his tenure as Aberdeen gaffer after he had led the Pittodrie-based club to league title, Scottish Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup success between 1980 and 1984.

However, Scholar added that Ferguson evidently did not take over at Tottenham despite claiming he would, and the rest of his managerial career is, as they say, history.

He said: "We went on and on and on, discussions, negotiations, down to the minutiae of the contract.

"Everything was agreed. So I said 'Can we meet?', he agreed and I said I'd like him to meet someone else on the board, Paul Bobroff. We arranged to meet in Paris on a Sunday morning, just by the airport.

"The idea was this was the moment, the seminal moment of the handshake. We'd built up to this for weeks. So we met. I said, 'Are you ready?'. He replied, 'I'm ready'. I said, 'Are you sure you're ready?'. He said, 'I'm sure'. So we had this seminal moment of the handshake. As you know, unfortunately, he didn't keep to it.

"He never told me why. I had my own theories but it doesn't matter anymore. It was a disappointment. He stayed at Aberdeen for another two years."