Midway through September 2018, Sir Alex Ferguson made his first visit to a deserted Old Trafford for four months – the longest period he had been absent from the stadium since he'd arrived as manager in 1986.

Ferguson had suffered a severe brain haemorrhage in May 2018 – following life-saving surgery, he temporarily lost the ability to speak. After his recovery, his return to an empty Old Trafford was to walk from the directors' lounge to his seat, to ensure he could manage it ahead of a planned visit to watch a game against Wolves. A week later, he took his seat in the stands alongside the doctors and nurses who had saved his life, while being clapped and cheered by the 74,489 inside the stadium.

During his 56 years in the professional game, Ferguson's name was rarely out of the public consciousness. In his new book Games of My Life, Ferguson selects 21 matches that mean the most to him, revealing some of the deeply personal experiences and stories behind the headlines, lifting the lid on tales from childhood, his time as a player and his decades in management.

Here, FourFourTwo pick out two extracts from the book – in his own words, Ferguson talks about his final game as a manager in 2013, and the match that paved the way for his first Premier League title triumph 20 years earlier. Like some of his other choices in the book, it's perhaps not the match you would have expected…

Manchester United 1 Crystal Palace 0 - September 2, 1992

“My hopes for the 1992-93 season went up in smoke after an innocuous pass from Brian McClair from just inside our penalty box towards the centre circle. It was the sort of pass normally picked up by a player who shields himself by turning his back to an opponent.

“On this occasion, one month into the season, Dion Dublin did just that, but was felled by Palace's Eric Young. It was a commonplace tackle, but it resulted in Dion breaking his fibula and dislocating his ankle. He was out for six months.

“I'd signed Dion less than a month earlier to solve the goalscoring woes that had hampered us the previous season, when we had lost the league to Leeds. My number one target had been Alan Shearer, but money was no object for Jack Walker at Blackburn, and he shelled out £3.6 million for him. We'd also made a run at David Hirst. I had several conversations with Sheffield Wednesday's manager Trevor Francis, but couldn't pry him loose.

“I'd first heard about Dion from John Beck, the manager of Cambridge, who had sent me a video of his young striker. I'd liked the way that he had played an important part propelling Cambridge from the Fourth Division to the Second Division, and transformed himself from a centre-back to a centre forward. I thought he could develop into a natural partner for Mark Hughes.

“After Dion was injured though, we were back to where we started. We had several players in our crosshairs, including, yet again, Shearer and Hirst. Once more, our efforts came to nothing, even though we were prepared to pay £3m for Hirst. Finally, I thought about Peter Beardsley, who was out of sorts with Everton, but nothing came of this either. Then, during a conversation about Leeds wanting to bid for Denis Irwin, we accidentally landed on Eric Cantona.

“Like other natural leaders, Eric must have been born a rebel – a boy, and then a man, who questioned convention, hierarchy and normal expectations. He was a man capable of playing as a lone striker or as a deep-lying forward. He was also someone who relished long conversations about football and an arm around the shoulder.

“After Eric settled in, our fortunes changed. We only lost twice more in the league that season, ending the title drought that extended back to 1967. Without him, I doubt we would have won four Premier Leagues in five years.

“The only year we didn't win the title was 1994-95, when he was banned for lashing out at a Crystal Palace supporter. That fan and that decision cost us the league. Bear in mind that fan assaulted the prosecutor at his own trial, for which he was sentenced to a week in jail. “As for Dion, he made a few more appearances and then we sold him. I was glad to see him go on to distinguish himself, and his abiding contribution to United – as he himself has pointed out – was to help us bag Eric Cantona.”

West Bromwich Albion 5 Manchester United 5 - May 19, 2023

“Any team of mine that squandered a 3-0 or 5-2 lead, to draw a game, knew what would greet them in the dressing room: a proper bollocking. But that wasn't the case at The Hawthorns after United's final game of the 2012-13 season against West Bromwich Albion.

“Instead of a post-mortem where most of the players would have been staring at the floor and avoiding eye contact, there were celebrations. It was not just the end of a season in which we had won the league; this match marked Paul Scholes' 718th game and the last of a spectacular career, as well as the final professional game I would participate in as a player or manager.

“I had been careful to keep my decision to retire under wraps because I didn't want to repeat my previous mistake [in 2001], when my premature announcement made us lose focus.

“I hadn't been contemplating retirement until October 2012, when Bridget, my wife Cathy's sister, had died. On the surface, and for fans, I'm sure nothing had seemed wrong. But Bridget's death changed everything.

“Except for Cathy and our sons, nobody knew about my decision until David Gill came to see me one Sunday afternoon in February and told me that he too had decided to retire.

“I managed to keep my emotions in check while I conveyed my news to the coaching staff, players and everyone else at Carrington. It wasn't until I got back to the office and shut the door that everything caught up with me; I just sat at my desk and cried. I knew then it was over. I'd not be taking this team to Wembley or European games, and I'd not be sending a team out to win a cup or a league. After I wiped my eyes, I thought I had better clear out quickly before the news was made public. The last thing I wanted was to have to deal with the press.

“Shortly after that game, I went to France on holiday, to the hotel we'd stayed at for many years. When we checked in, the concierge confirmed that I wouldn't be needing special messages any more.

“He was referring to the release of the Premier League fixture list. Normally I'd be anxious to see it. But for the coming season it was no longer my responsibility and I could concentrate on enjoying my first free summer since I was a boy.”

Ferguson's book also throws up several more intriguing pieces of information about his life – including the time he ran not one, but two pubs

Old Firm Divide

Growing up in a two-bedroom flat in Govan, south west Glasgow, Ferguson shared a room with his brother Martin. The second bedroom was rented out to an Irish family, while his parents slept on a recessed bed in the kitchen. He grew up a Rangers fan, but explains in the book that his dad Alex Sr supported Celtic. Ferguson joined St Johnstone as a teenager in 1960, but struggled to hold down a place and started going out more at night, causing his father to give him the cold shoulder. An injury crisis, though, meant he got a chance to face Rangers – he hit a hat-trick in a shock win, earning his father's praise.

Sir Alex: Pub Landlord

The Scot began his managerial career with East Stirlingshire and St Mirren – alongside both jobs, he also operated two pubs. He owned one outright, buying it aged 32 for a steady source of income and renaming it Fergie's. In the book, he talks about how it taught him to become a manager, with the role also requiring him to put on special Gaelic nights and bring in entertainment like The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Ferguson United

Weeks after his treble against Rangers, Ferguson caught the eye of Cathy Holding, who he married two years later. While he became the Manchester United boss, in the book he credits Cathy as not just manager but “CEO, assistant manager, team doctor, kit woman and club ambassador” of “Ferguson United” – a household that included eldest son Mark, plus twins Darren and Jason.

Dirty Tricks

Ferguson respected Brian Clough's achievements as a manager, but didn't like him as a man – he'd call Clough's assistant Ron Fenton when he wanted to buy a player from Nottingham Forest. He also tells a story of when Clough brought his Forest side to Old Trafford and gave his dirty shoes to a Manchester United trainee, to be cleaned before the match. An angry Ferguson ordered that no-one touch them, and when Clough returned for the shoes, Ferguson handed them back dirty and told him never to demand such a thing again.

Letters of Complaint

After overcoming criticism from fans early in his Old Trafford reign, Ferguson won the Premier League in 1993, then the Double a year later. That still wasn't enough for complete support when he sold Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis in the summer of 1995, shortly after losing the title to Blackburn. In the book, Ferguson shares letters he received in the post – one labelled him an “idiot” and a “traitor”, while another used letters cut out from magazines to menacingly tell him “Don't sell Incey to Inter or regret it”. He didn't regret it – the sales allowed the Class of 92 to come through, and the rest was history.

Pep Lament

Ferguson met Pep Guardiola for dinner in New York in 2012, during the Catalan's sabbatical following his Barcelona exit. At that point, the Scot hadn't definitely decided to retire, and Guardiola was already making plans to join Bayern Munich. In his book, Ferguson says he wishes he'd met Guardiola a couple of months earlier, and tried to persuade him that his future lay in Manchester. As Ferguson rues, eventually it did…