Source: Daily_Mail
The Saturday interview: He's a fiery Scot with a burning ambition to reach the top. David Moyes is.
Sir Alex Ferguson went through the players one by one and identified their faults,concluding that David Moyes should reject his first opportunity to become a Premier League manager. Other offers would follow, Ferguson assured him. Best wait for them.
It was early 2000 and Moyes was Preston's fiercely ambitious young manager, and while he still refuses to confirm the identity of the then top-flight club, it is thought to have been Sheffield Wednesday.
He had his own reservations when the approach came but he wanted a second opinion. It was a step up in divisions, and not something he could dismiss without thinking it through. 'I called Sir Alex and he told me to pop down to Carrington to have a chat,' recalls Moyes.
Pointing the way: Moyes has been tipped to succeed Ferguson at Old Trafford
'I can't say I really knew him that well. You'd bump into him at games and reserve games. And we'd had some dealings, initially when David Beckham came on loan to Preston and I was assistant to Gary Peters. We then went on to sign the likes of Colin Murdoch, Jon Macken and Michael Appleton so there'd been quite a bit of contact.
'But it was still good of him to give up his time and let me come to see him. We sat there and went through the squad he knew every one of them and he advised me not to take it and, instead, stay at Preston. Which is obviously what I did.'
The irony was that Ferguson had already blocked one route Moyes could have taken into the Premier League. A year earlier, Ferguson had interviewed him for the role of his assistant at Old Trafford, but gave the job to Steve McClaren.
'He did tell me someone else was in the frame,' says Moyes. 'And the guy he gave it to went on to manage England, which shows that he gets those decisions right because we've both gone on to do OK.
'But I remember sitting there, jaw open just wanting to get there and start learning. He was telling me what the job would be, and what was expected, and an opportunity to work with him would have been hard for anyone to turn down.
'Even now, I'll take any opportunity to learn from him. The Scottish Premier League invite Scottish coaches to a dinner every year and Sir Alex comes up and lets the coaches fire questions at him. And I'll be among those asking him how he's done things and why. He's a source of inspiration for us.'
