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It is a very surprising comment but Sir Alex Ferguson believes that both Manchester City and Manchester United will fail to make the top four this season.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes that both Manchester City and Manchester United will fail to make the top four this season.

Ferguson was speaking at a festival lunch and the former United manager believes that Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham would make the top four along with current leaders Leicester City. The recent defeat of United at the hands of West Brom certainly dealt a major setback to their race for the Champions league spot.

City did not do their chances any good by only being able to draw against a struggling Norwich. United are currently six in the Premier league table four points off the top four with West Ham ahead of them by two points. City, on the other hand, are fourth in the table with just two points ahead of West Ham.

Both the Manchester rivals would be facing each other in the coming weekend and that match would certainly have a huge bearing in the race for the Champions league.

However, Ferguson believes both these teams may not be able to make it this time around. United have been struggling under Louis Van Gaal off late but City, with the squad at their disposal, certainly have the capability to go on a winning run till the end of the season.

When Sir Alex Ferguson says something, you listen. He recently launched his new book, " Leading" which is about the art of leadership and he has made some interesting revelations in the book. We look at the top five previously unknown facts from the book

Sir Alex Ferguson

*Sir Alex had come close to signing Mario Balotelli in 2010. Balotelli was then a teenage sensation plying his trade at Inter Milan. Ferguson was thinking about the possibility of a swoop for the Italian but decided first to contact other managers about him.
'I did my homework on him, speaking to a few Italian contacts, but the feedback I got confirmed it was too big a risk.
'I don't know whether this sort of candid professional courtesy exists in other fields, but for me it was a Godsend.' Ferguson writes in his book.
Balotelli went on to join city rivals Manchester City and was one of the scorers for City in their 6-1 thrashing of United. But Balotelli's career has since fizzed out after a poor spell in Liverpool.

*Ferguson expressed his resentment at Paul Scholes and Gary Neville not joining Manchester United's coaching staff. Both the class of '92 graduates are now working as TV pundits.
Ferguson writes, "I really wanted [Gary] Neville to be involved with our academy, but he got a contract with Sky and went into the television world.
"I was disappointed, as Gary's character and attitude would have enhanced the club and Paul is one of the best assessors of a footballer within the game. I feel they were a loss to Manchester United."
*Ferguson also reveals that it was not David Moyes who was his first choice replacement at Manchester United. It was widely said that Moyes was chosen by Ferguson and there was even a banner to welcome the former Toffees coach saying "The Chosen One". Moyes went on to endure a disastrous campaign in his first season and was sacked before the end of the season but Ferguson reveals that he actually wanted Pep Guardiola to take over at United. Pep was without a club when Ferguson decided to meet him.
"I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn't and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013,"

*Ferguson was criticised by many for letting Paul Pogba leave in 2012. He since has gone on to win the Serie A with Juventus and is one of the most sought after players in world football. Ferguson blames his agent Mino Raiola for the youngster leaving the club.


"There are one or two football agents I simply do not like, and Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba's agent is one of them. I distrusted him from the moment I met him. We had Paul under a three-year contract, and it had a one-year renewal option which we were eager to sign.Raiola suddenly appeared on the scene and our first meeting was a fiasco. He and I were like oil and water"
*Ferguson has also revealed the four world class players he had at his time with United.

"I don't mean to demean or criticise any of the great or very good footballers who played for me during my 26-year career at United, but there were only four who were world class: Cantona, Giggs, Ronaldo and Scholes."

There are some notable omissions from the list which could have had Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane etc.