'I was terrified': Sir Alex Ferguson opens up on brain haemorrhage recovery and the matches that made him

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he felt genuinely frightened when he returned to Old Trafford for the first time after suffering a brain haemorrhage, admitting he had no idea how supporters would respond to seeing him back in the stands.

The legendary former Manchester United manager was speaking to BBC Breakfast ahead of the release of his new book, "Games of My Life", which examines 21 fixtures that defined his playing and managerial career. In the interview, the 84-year-old reflected on his recovery from the emergency surgery he underwent in May 2018, his fear of an uncertain reception, and the remarkable journey from a working-class upbringing in Glasgow to becoming one of the most decorated figures in the history of the sport.

Ferguson had already been retired for five years when he was taken ill, having stepped away from management in 2013 after 26 years in charge at Old Trafford. During that period he collected 38 major trophies, a haul that cemented his reputation as the most successful British manager of the modern era. Yet the health scare four months before his return to the stadium left him uncertain about far more than football.

Speaking about the afternoon he watched United face Wolves in the Premier League, Ferguson described a small injury he acknowledges has slowed him slightly but insists he otherwise feels "quite good" as he approaches his 85th birthday. His voice, he explained, was one of the functions he lost in the immediate aftermath of surgery. The silence that followed the operation was, in his words, a frightening experience, particularly when his grandsons visited and he found himself unable to speak to them.

Recovery, he said, came through the help of a therapist who devised exercises designed to rebuild his speech. She asked him to write down the names of birds, animals and rivers, a method he credits with gradually restoring his voice. It is a detail that underlines how far the former manager had to travel simply to communicate again, let alone to sit in a directors' box and absorb the applause of tens of thousands of supporters.

That applause, when it came, moved both Ferguson and his wife Cathy. The couple received a standing ovation as they took their seats, a moment he admits he had not dared to anticipate. Cathy, he recalled, was close to tears and described the reception as fantastic. For a man who spent decades demanding perfection from his players, the experience of being on the receiving end of such warmth clearly left a lasting impression.

The book itself traces a career that began long before Manchester United. Ferguson identifies his first cup final, won with Govan High School in Glasgow in 1955 when he was just 13, as the starting point of everything that followed. He still keeps the medal from that victory, and he speaks with obvious satisfaction about a path that took him through Glasgow Schools, Scotland Schools and the Scotland youth team.

Govan, he says, was "the making of me". He credits his mother Elizabeth with instilling in him an inner confidence, and his father Alexander, who worked in the shipyards on the River Clyde, with giving him the drive to succeed. Alexander was, in his son's description, a hard taskmaster. Where his mother offered unconditional praise after a hat-trick, his father delivered blunt, constructive criticism regardless of how many goals had been scored. That combination of warmth and relentless standards would later become a hallmark of Ferguson's own managerial style.

As a player, Ferguson made his debut as a 16-year-old striker for Queen's Park before moving to St Johnstone, where his career stalled badly. He was stuck in the reserves, unhappy and seriously considering a fresh start in Canada. He filled in the necessary forms and telephoned an aunt in Canada, since a sponsor was required at the time, without telling his parents anything about the plan.

Then came the twist that changed everything. St Johnstone were hit by a flu outbreak in the squad and travelled to Ibrox to face Rangers with a depleted team. Ferguson, then 21, was handed a place in the starting line-up and responded with a hat-trick. The performance revived his playing career and set him on the trajectory that would eventually lead to Old Trafford.

That story forms one of the most striking lessons Ferguson draws from his life. His advice to young people is blunt: do not miss the biggest opportunity in your life, because the crucial skill is recognising it when it appears. The message carries particular weight from a man who might otherwise have spent his adult life in another country entirely, far from the game that made him famous.

His managerial record at United speaks for itself. Alongside 13 Premier League titles, he won two Champions League crowns, five FA Cups and four League Cups, while also adding the Club World Cup, the European Super Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Intercontinental Cup to the club's collection. The "hairdryer treatment", his famously ferocious method of dressing down underperforming players, became part of football folklore during the years when United dominated the English game.

Now, three months short of his 85th birthday, Ferguson remains grateful simply to be able to discuss the matches that shaped him. His new book offers supporters a fresh window into those defining moments, from a schoolboy final in Glasgow to the greatest nights of his managerial reign, and serves as a reminder that even the most fearsome figures in sport are shaped by family, setbacks and the occasional piece of unexpected luck.