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The football world was rocked recently when Sir Alex Ferguson was admitted to intensive care after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Thankfully, the legendary Manchester United manager seems to be making a positive recovery, with friend Alex McLeish revealing he is in good spirits.

Amongst the outpouring of tributes to the Glaswegian, Tiverton Town manager Martyn Rogers was able to cast his mind back to meeting Ferguson back in 2010.

Rogers had just reached 1,000 games in charge of the Yellows, having taken charge at Ladysmead in 2010, and, after Ferguson heard about the achievement, he invited the long-serving boss up to the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground.

“It was when I’d reached 1,000 games in charge of Tivvy, he invited me up,” Rogers said.

“I had a fantastic time, I spent the day with him up there – it was good, he said 1,000 games doesn’t happen to too many.

“I think I’ve gone over the 1,200 mark now.

“It was sad to hear about his brain haemorrhage but he’s a proper fighter and him coming out of intensive care shows there’s still plenty of life in him yet.”

Rogers, who left the Yellows in 2010 before subsequently returning in 2014, spent the night before the meeting at Ben Foster’s house after the keeper, who was playing for United at the time, spent 16 games on loan at Tivvy back in the 2002/03 season.

He said at the time: “It was nice to catch up with Ben. He’s still pinching himself that he’s at United and we had a good chat about old times.

“It was just an honour to meet Sir Alex. He was very complimentary. He’s a nice fellow and made us feel really welcome.”

Rogers presented Ferguson with two bottles of wine and said it was a gesture to say thank you for the invite.

He said: “At the time, Edenvale were our main sponsors and Steve Light was Man United mad.

“He asked if he could get Alex some of his favourite wine, and I took it up and presented it to him on behalf of the club.

“He said we’d done our homework.

“I had a great day – when I look back now, someone said I’d gone past 1,200 games and it’s crazy in today’s climate of managers getting the sack.

“To do that many games is good, although I wish I could have had Alex’s wages!”