Man United’s role in blocking Sir Alex Ferguson from managing Team GB at Olympics

Sir Alex Ferguson was incredibly close to taking control of Team GB's football squad at the London 2012 Olympics, according to Sebastian Coe.

Lord Coe, who clinched two Olympic gold medals and chaired the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from 2005 to 2013, also served as vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) before ascending to its presidency in August 2015.

In a conversation with The Sun, Coe unveiled his ambition to have the at the time Red Devils boss lead the British men's team, engaging in extensive discussions throughout the 2007/08 season. He shared with the newspaper that they "got very close" to securing Ferguson for the role, after a series of persistent negotiations.

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Coe explained: "It was ostensibly an English team, there were a smattering of Welsh players but effectively, it was an English side. I thought I can't imagine any club that's going to release professional players to an Olympic team having a problem with their Under-23 players getting a six-week tutelage or masterclass from Alex Ferguson on the training ground."

He added: "I didn't speak to a soul about it but I rang up Bob Charlton. He said: 'I'll tell Alex to give you a call'," reports the Mirror. Ferguson eventually made the call a few weeks later, while Coe was in Cobham Tesco - happily explaining his proposition: "I did explain what my theory was because Bob hadn't actually told him. He'd just asked him to give me a call.

"So Alex rang and said: 'Oh, I thought you were looking for tickets'. I put him through the idea and he