'I've changed my mind' - The extraordinary phone call that altered Manchester United's history

It was two days before the end of 2001 when Peter Kenyon and Maurice Watkins walked into a flat belonging to super-agent Pini Zahavi in Marleybone, the exclusive district of London, and sat in a living room with Sven-Goran Eriksson. The reason for the meeting was clear to all parties. Manchester United wanted Eriksson to replace the retiring Sir Alex Ferguson and Eriksson wanted the job.

Ferguson had already announced his decision to call it a day at the end of the 2001/02 season and this was when Eriksson-mania was at its height. It was only a few months after England's 5-1 win in Germany in World Cup qualifying, but the Swede suspected the honeymoon wouldn't last forever and replacing Ferguson was the club job every manager wanted.

By this stage, Ferguson had won seven of his 13 Premier League titles. There would be another Champions League to come as well as two more finals. But as 2001 turned into 2002 he looked like he was off.

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Ferguson famously credits his late wife Cathy for convincing him he was retiring too early, but the further 11 years he spent in charge at Old Trafford weren't guaranteed when he reversed his decision to call it a day. For a start, he initially told the board he would do just two more years. Then there was the fact that consideration was given to telling Ferguson he had left it too late to perform his U-turn.

This remarkable turn of events is detailed in Legally Red, the autobiography of former United director of 28 years Maurice Watkins, which was published posthumously on Thursday, nearly three years after his