Neville: Ferguson is going nowhere

14 March 2011 08:30
Gary Neville acknowledges Jose Mourinho has the right credentials to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager - but does not expect that day to come for quite some time.

Real Madrid manager Mourinho has never hidden his desire to return to the Premier League, where he enjoyed success with Chelsea before leaving in 2007. The Portuguese led Porto to the Champions League prior to taking over at Stamford Bridge, and also won the competition with Inter Milan last season. But Neville cannot see Ferguson, now 69, standing down from his position at Old Trafford in the near future.

The 36-year-old former England defender played under the Scot for 20 years before hanging up his boots last month.

He told The Sun: "There are many great managers and there's always speculation about who's going to take over from Sir Alex.

"I'm sure when the time does come, Mourinho is one of the candidates who will be mentioned because of the success he's had elsewhere.

"He's a character. You have to respect people for what they do and he's very good at what he does. He's been successful wherever he's been. But it doesn't come into my head at this moment in time as Sir Alex is still going stronger than ever. It's a waste of time to start speculating who will take over from him."

Source: PA