Sir Alex Ferguson was unable to attend his annual charity gala dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester on Friday night, and understandably so as he prepared for the funeral of his late wife Cathy in Glasgow on Monday.
But the 81-year-old still wrote a speech which was read out on his behalf to the hundreds of guests who described it as ‘very emotional’.
Lady Cathy, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 84, always preferred to remain out of the spotlight. Sir Alex wrote in his 2013 autobiography that United chief executive David Gill was a ‘genius’ for persuading her to unveil his statue at Old Trafford the previous year, adding: ‘There is now way I could have coaxed her into the light like that.