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David Moyes has told how he was given the Manchester United manager's job in a secret meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Scot had a disappointing 10-month spell in charge of United after taking over from Ferguson in July 2013.

He was announced as United boss on May 9, 2013, following Ferguson's retirement.

But the appointment was actually made, unofficially, by the all-conquering Ferguson in a clandestine powwow at the Old Trafford legend's home some days earlier.

Moyes recalled the encounter in an interview with Si Ferry for Open Goal .

Insisting the job wasn't "set up over the years", Moyes, 55, said Ferguson called him out of the blue while he was out shopping in Cheshire with his wife, shortly after his birthday in April, 2013.

(Image: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) (Image: AFP/Getty)

At the time, he was still manager of Everton .

He said: "He (Ferguson) said, 'Come to the house later'. I says, 'Aye, OK.' That's what you did when he called. But I've got a pair of jeans on. It's my day off. I’d never turn up to Alex Ferguson’s house with a pair of jeans on - that’s just the way I’ve been brought up. I wouldn’t do that.

"I was like, What am I going to do - nip to Marks and Spencer and pick a pair of trousers up? Anyway, I dropped my wife at the shopping centre and I go and get to the door and say, Sorry, I’m in my jeans'. He says, 'Aye come on in,' and he made me a cup of tea.

"He’s got a really lovely big room with all his memorabilia and stuff in and he took me up and he says, 'You’re going to be the next Man United manager'.

(Image: John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)

"And that was it. He says, 'I’m retiring'. And the biggest thing, he says, 'Nobody’s to know. You can’t tell anybody'. He says, 'Tell your wife, but don’t tell anybody else'.

And we talked after that. He opened a bottle of red wine and we had a couple of glasses. And we talked about the squad for about half an hour, an hour. And he says, 'Come back tomorrow, the paper are coming to meet you tomorrow here in the house again'.

"So that’s what I done."

Moyes, who would later manage Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham , said he was only concerned at the time about Everton finishing above Liverpool - something they achieved - but took the job.

(Image: Gary M.Prior/Getty)

He added: "So it was as simple as that - he offered me the job and that was it. I never got a chance to say, 'No' or, 'By the way, what about this or that?'

"He went through the squad and just went on with it. That was exactly it and maybe in hindsight there needed to be much more done and said, but why would there be? I trusted him and why would I need to do more than that?

"I went back and told my wife in the shopping centre but I couldn't tell my kids, couldn’t tell my dad, couldn’t tell anybody. The biggest thing wasn’t me getting the Man United job, it was Sir Alex retiring, and I couldn’t say a thing."

Moyes has also told how he always thought he might be in with a chance of getting the United job because they "didn't always take the sexiest manager", preferring "up and coming" British bosses.