Manchester United hero and global football icon Sir Alex Ferguson underwent emergency surgery in 2018 after suffering a brain haemorrhage - but was back at Old Trafford in a matter of months
Manchester United hero Sir Alex Ferguson was given a 20 per cent chance of survival by a consultant neurosurgeon after suffering a brain haemorrhage back in 2018.
The 79-year-old, who left United following his 13th Premier League title with the club back in 2013, needed emergency surgery five years later leaving supporters overcome with worry.
Although Ferguson thankfully went on to recover after the successful operation, he has now spoken about his fears during what was a scary period for his family and friends.
The revelation comes in a new film, Never Give In, which details the life of the Scottish boss and touches on how close he came to losing his life.
"I remember falling, after that I don't remember a thing,” said Ferguson.
"I just suddenly stopped. I was in no man's land.
"That day there were five brain haemorrhages and three died. Only two survived, I was one of them. So you know you're lucky. It was beautiful weather, I always remember that.
"You're looking out of the hospital window and you're saying 'I wonder how many more sunny days I'm ever going to see again?' I found that difficult.
"Then I lost my voice, I just couldn't get a word out. That was terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
"Everything was going through my mind – 'is my memory going to be back and am I ever going to speak again?'
"I would have hated to have lost my memory. It would have been a terrible burden on the family, if I'm sitting in the house and I don't know who I am.
"Then this speech therapist came and started working on me, writing down all the members of your family, all the members of your football team, then asked me questions about animals, fish, birds.
"Eventually, after 10 days, my voice came back. I realised then, having gone through all that, my memory was fine.”
Consultant neurosurgeon Joshi George said: “I remember estimating his mortality at that point in time at 80 per cent.
"As in, there was an 80 per cent chance he would not survive.”