Foreign cash causes unrest for managers, says Ferguson

Ferguson has pointed to foreign ownership (GETTY IMAGES)

Sir Alex Ferguson has blamed overseas ownership for the rash of 15 managerial departures in the past month, insisting that the loss of clubs "having the grandfather and father being chairmen for periods of 40-odd years" has destablised the profession.

"Unfortunately it's the climate of management nowadays and, over the last decade, it has got worse and worse," said the Manchester United manager whose own club is owned by the American Glazer family. "I don't think the game has the stable directorships it used to have, with clubs having the grandfather and father being chairmen for periods of 40-odd years. You have new ownerships now, people from abroad, the Middle East, the United States and Russia."

Ferguson considers Roy Keane to have been unfairly dismissed – "the ability is not in question, it is just about the trust that people put in you and managers are just not getting that, whoever it is". Speaking to The Football Show on Sirius XM, a US radio station, he also discussed how he managed to keep players happy while maintaining his rotation policy, having not named the same side in successive matches since the final week of the 2008-09 season.

"Several things come into it, but first of all the players have to understand that, at Manchester United, we have to use our squad," he said. "I'll always explain to a player who I have left out exactly what I am trying to do and the reason for not including him in a particular game. In general, it appears to pay off, in terms of respect for the player and giving him his head."