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A year after David Moyes' appointment at Manchester United, one broadcaster claimed a member of the club's board threatened to resign if Jose Mourinho replaced Sir Alex Ferguson.

No, it wasn't Ferguson, and the member's alleged fears about Mourinho were assuaged by Ferguson's own thoughts on who should replace him.

“I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012, but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point,” Ferguson said in his latest book, Leading.

“He had already won an enviable number of trophies with Barcelona…and I admired him greatly. I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club, but he didn’t.” Ferguson was the one who should have picked up the phone.

Ferguson's powers have waned at United in retirement. He was not the kingmaker when it came to selecting Louis van Gaal and, although he is understood to not want Mourinho managing United, he is not the only one in those leather-padded south stand seats who is voicing their reservations about the Portuguese.

Ed Woodward resisted dismissing Van Gaal last month weeks after he labelled him a 'genius'. Some on the board hoped Van Gaal would step down, but the prospect of Mourinho strolling into Old Trafford's modest boardroom has intensified support for Van Gaal among some of his sceptics. United do not want to inherit the identity of a sacking club, too.

In ITV's essential 1998 documentary The Alex Ferguson Story, then-United director Peter Kenyon evocatively described working with Ferguson: "Don't be fooled by Alex, he is an astute businessman... There are times when he will fight his corner and dig his heels in for something that he thinks he has to achieve his part of the business." That still applies to Ferguson in his lucrative ambassadorial role which pockets him nearly £3m-a-year.

Those who sat in that meeting with Ferguson almost 18 years ago included Martin Edwards, Sir Bobby Charlton, Kenyon, David Gill, former solicitor Maurice Watkins, and Mike Edelson. All, bar Watkins and Kenyon, are attached to United in some capacity, as Van Gaal was keen to mention seconds before his Carrington walkout last month. Then there are the Glazers, Woodward and Richard Arnold - the listed board members. With such a diverse concoction including former professionals, accountants and, in the Glazers' case, the uninitiated, it is little wonder the direction of United feels as skewed as Labour's shadow cabinet reshuffle.

Those in United's hierarchy need to set aside self-interests and do what is right for the club. Charlton might be offended by Mourinho, however his arrival would give United the managerial figurehead they need, intensify the team's competitiveness and ensure the club does not fall further behind their rivals. Is there a superior available alternative to Mourinho? Probably not. Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, one of modern football's great motivators, preaches a more polarising style than Mourinho.

This season, Mourinho gave an exclusive interview to Nick Robinson for his BBC documentary on Ferguson, which was another chance to save face and reaffirm he only ever wanted to return to Chelsea.

Ferguson helped Mourinho toe the line in his latest tome by assuring he was a candidate to manage United but was not attainable, having supposedly agreed to his marriage of convenience with Roman Abramovich. Ferguson, though, also claimed Moyes was sixth-choice behind even Van Gaal, who did not even feature on bookies' chalkboards and would have managed Tottenham had Woodward not intervened.

Almost three years on, United supporters are suffering a bout of déjà vu. There remains opposition to appointing Mourinho at the club, Guardiola has slipped through their fingers and another eminent candidate, Ancelotti, has committed to Bayern Munich. United could end up making another romantic appointment in Ryan Giggs.

Ferguson, having anointed Moyes as his successor, championed Giggs as the next United manager in 2014 and that viewpoint has almost certainly not altered.

"I think that he is the one man they should go to, really," Ferguson said at a fundraising dinner in Manchester days after Moyes' dismissal. Giggs, though, is not Zinedine Zidane reincarnated, never mind Guardiola.

Zidane and Guardiola managed Real Madrid and Barcelona's B teams for a season before they replaced Rafael Benitez and Frank Rijkard to take control of first-team affairs, while both inherited world-class attacking trios. United's sole world-class player is David de Gea.

READ MORE: Van Gaal's preparations for Liverpool revealed

City have worked on bringing Pep Guardiola to Manchester for two years, aided by their last managerial appointment. During that changeable summer of 2013, City employed a steady manager and, despite a trophyless 2014-15, Manuel Pellegrini's era has been much smoother in contrast to United's, which has taken in three managers within three years and nearly included a second sacking last month.

Appointing Moyes, who should never have been considered as a United manager, set the club back three years. Van Gaal has laid solid foundations and ridden out one storm, yet after five wins in three months the hurricane could resurface and, just like under Moyes, the priority has become a top four finish.

Only one United resignation should matter. And it is not a board member's.