Alex Ferguson says Mourinho right not to make Giggs his assistant

Sir Alex Ferguson has said Jose Mourinho was right, not to include Ryan Giggs on his Manchester United coaching staff.

Giggs left Old Trafford last weekend after 29 years at the club, after Mourinho offered him a reduced role. The Welshman had acted as assistant to David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, after Ferguson left United in 2013.

Mourinho will bring his trusted No.2, Rui Faria and Ferguson says the Portuguese needed someone he could trust.

“You’ve got to have, in your assistant, someone you have trusted all your life,” Ferguson said.

“When I came to United, I brought Archie Knox, because he was a valuable person for me.

“I trusted him 100 per cent. Jose Mourinho has had his assistant for years and, quite rightly, has stuck by his own man. If Jose hadn’t had an assistant, I know he would have taken Ryan.

“It’s time Ryan stood on his own feet, got out there and accepted the challenge.

“I talk about his poker face. He has a bit of steel about him.

“It’s such a highly intense results industry, you need people who go into it to have a bit of steel about them, a bit of character and personality.”