David O’Leary reveals how close he came to replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Man United

Former Leeds manager David O’Leary has revealed he was among a select group considered to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United boss 25 years ago.

O’Leary, 68, enjoyed a memorable four-year tenure at Elland Road, notably guiding the West Yorkshire club to the Champions League semi-finals.

His impressive work did not go unnoticed by Ferguson, who put O’Leary forward as a potential successor when he initially announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2001/02 season.

Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football, O’Leary confirmed the approach: "Michael Kennedy (my solicitor) did, yeah, about it. Alex had recommended about three people or something like that. It never went any further than that. One of the chosen ones, yeah."

Ferguson ultimately performed a U-turn, and remained at Old Trafford until 2013, while O’Leary was sacked by Leeds in 2002.

David O'Leary has confirmed he was in the frame to replace Ferguson (Getty)

The former Republic of Ireland international had initially stepped up as caretaker boss after serving as assistant to George Graham, a path not dissimilar to Michael Carrick’s current role at United, albeit Carrick’s interim spell has been longer and arguably more impressive.

With the Red Devils set to discuss Carrick’s potential to stay in charge beyond the current season, O’Leary offered a stark warning about the significant step up involved.

"On the Michael Carrick thing, one thing after taking the team (is) when then they said, ‘This is your office and you’re the manager of this football club’," he explained. "On Michael, I don’t think they were ever going to give him the job because I think they had he’s going to come in, do the job for us and we’re going to go and get somebody, but now that situation’s changed big time."