One of Jose Mourinho’s major bugbears before he was sacked was there was a lack of football experience and knowledge at the top level at Old Trafford.
Mourinho has always got on well with Fergie and expert Duncan Castles claims the Portuguese was keen to change that.
With that in mind, Mourinho saw the appointment of Ferguson as a way to get more of a voice in footballing matters.
“One of the things that Jose Mourinho attempted to do during his time at the club was bring Ferguson back into a role of prominence on the board,” Castles told the Transfer Window podcast.
“Although he’s a board member, he’s not been involved in the PLC board which is essentially the Glazer family and their ex-city advisors who run the club financially and take all key decisions.
“Mourinho had hoped to get Ferguson back in there because he recognised the problem with the board and the lack of football experience and knowledge.
“He felt it would be good to have someone of Ferguson’s immense knowledge of the game as a counterpoint to them and as a voice to help him with disagreements with the board or advising the board on how the organisation of the club should change.”
Mourinho has now been replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has taken charge until the end of the season.
The Norwegian has won his first six games as boss – including a 1-0 win over Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham last weekend – and ex-star Darren Fletcher has likened his style to Ferguson himself.
Fletcher told BBC Sport: “Solskjaer won [the battle with Pochettino] in the first half and I could tell by the way that he and the rest of his bench celebrated Marcus Rashford’s goal together that it was down to the work they had done before the match.
“I recognise that reaction because I had Sir Alex Ferguson as a manager, so these things happened a lot during my time at United.
“Sir Alex knew how games would pan out because he would identify weaknesses in the opposition, and he knew how to exploit them.
“Solskjaer did the same at Wembley. He had a masterplan that came together, and ultimately it won United the game.”