Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he had an emotional reunion with every single NHS worker involved in his care after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
The Manchester United football legend met with more than 30 staff who treated him after he collapsed at home in May 2018.
The 79-year-old, who also managed Aberdeen and the Scotland national team, had to have emergency treatment and spent several days in intensive care at Salford Royal Hospital near Manchester.
He told how he was grateful to be able to meet up again with the paramedics, doctors, nurses and hospital porters who helped him recover.
Ferguson said: “I was lucky to survive. I appreciate I survived and I appreciate the people who helped me through it. The NHS is fantastic.
“This is interesting, they asked me if I would come in and meet all the staff who contributed in the time I was in there. I went and there were more than 30 of them, including the ambulance drivers and the porters.
“Everybody involved in it was there and it was fantastic to be able to thank them. It was a really, really good moment that.”
Glasgow-born Ferguson was speaking during an interview on the official Manchester United podcast.
In 2019, he raised £400,000 for the NHS as a thank you for the care he received during his health scare.
In a documentary released earlier this year called Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In, he told how he feared he would never speak again and lose his memory after waking up from surgery following the near death experience.
He said: “I lost my voice, just could not get a word out, and that was terrifying – absolutely terrifying.
“Everything was going through my mind: is my memory going to come back? Am I ever going to speak again?”
