Sir Alex Ferguson on why he had to sell "tremendous footballer" Paul Ince despite Man Utd fan protests

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he felt it was the right time to sell Paul Ince all those years ago.

The legendary ex-Red Devils boss won 13 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, and a host of other major trophies during his spell at Old Trafford, so it’s not often he got the big decisions wrong.

Still, there was a time when Ferguson received a lot of hate mail from the club’s fans for letting Ince go to Inter Milan.

Speaking to BBC Sport about some of the key moments in his career as he prepares to launch a new book, the 84-year-old looked back at the decision to sell Ince.

Despite getting a lot of criticism for allowing such an important player to leave, Ferguson still feels that the money on offer was too good to turn down, while the player was also perhaps not in the best mindset at that time.

Sir Alex Ferguson on selling Paul Ince

Paul Ince in action for Manchester United in 1995 (Credit: Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT)

“Paul was a tremendous footballer, there’s no doubt about that,” Ferguson said.

He had incredible ability, but I just had that feeling that he just got carried away a bit at the time.

“He then got this offer from Inter Milan. I’m trying to weigh up one thing against the other. I’m looking at Paul Scholes and I said ‘should we?’

“Milan’s offer went from £7m to £7.5m and I said ‘do it’.

“That’s what your job is as a manager. You have to make hard decisions, and some decisions don’t suit everyone.”

Sir Alex Ferguson on David Beckham and the Class of ’92

Ferguson also discussed the famous group of academy players that came through at United at the same time, including club legends such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Paul Scholes.

The Scot was full of praise for that crop of youngsters, even though he also admitted that Beckham thought they were trying to offload him when they sent him on loan to Preston early on in his career.

“We’d worked really hard getting youth into the club again and this bunch of young lads became the spirit of Manchester United,” Ferguson said.

“They added something. Apart from the great abilities they had, they had desire. I put Beckham out on loan at Preston [in March 1995] and he thought I was trying to get rid of him, which was not true.”

He added: “I had belief in young people because if you give them an opportunity there are two things that happen – they become real stars and they can remain loyal to you as a manager.”