Sir Alex Ferguson has opened up in detail about his 'terrifying' near-fatal health scare back in 2018.

The legendary Manchester United manager, now 84, suffered a brain haemorrhage and required emergency surgery before undergoing a painstaking recovery.

Ferguson was given a 20 per cent chance to live by doctors but showed every ounce of his fighting spirit to defy the odds and return to health.

'I was terrified,' admitted the Scot while promoting his new book Games of My Life on BBC Breakfast.

Ferguson says he feels fortunate to still be around, previously revealing there were five brain haemorrhage patients the day he was rushed to hospital, with only two surviving.

The surgery was not the end of his ordeal. Ferguson revealed how he'd lost the ability to speak in the aftermath of surgery.

He said: 'I had lost my voice, I couldn't speak. That was a frightening moment. I remember my grandsons coming to see me and I had lost my voice.

'Then they brought in a therapist and she started doing things like asking me to write down the names of birds, names of animals, names of rivers. That way my voice came back.'

After four months, Ferguson was able to return to Old Trafford to watch United and was given an emotional reception by supporters.

'My wife was with me, and she was nearly crying,' he said. 'When we sat down, she said: "That's fantastic".' Lady Cathy, Ferguson's wife of 57 years, died aged 84 in 2023.

Ferguson is still regularly seen at United games and is regarded as arguably the greatest manager in football history.

He won every major trophy between 1986 and 2013, including a staggering 13 Premier League titles.

But his, and Man United's history, could have been so different. Ferguson says after making his debut aged 16 for Queen's Park and ending up at St Johnstone he almost quit the game to move to Canada.

'I wasn't enjoying it. I wasn't playing first-team football; I was in the reserves all the time,' he said.

'I filled out all the forms and phoned my aunt in Canada, because you needed a sponsor then, and never told my mother and father.'

Fortunately for the club, he stayed the course and guided United through decades of unprecedented achievement, most notably with the Class of '92.

David Beckham, one of that elite cohort, went on to become a megastar but Ferguson revealed as a youngster he thought his manager was trying to get rid of him.

'We'd worked really hard getting youth into the club again and this bunch of young lads became the spirit of Manchester United,' he said.

'They added something. Apart from the great abilities they had, they had desire. I put Beckham out on loan at Preston [in March 1995] and he thought I was trying to get rid of him, which was not true.

'David was the last to really develop because of his physique. Although he grew to 6ft, he was small and thin as a young kid.'