Sir Alex Ferguson: I’m 82, I worry about dementia

Also on his playlist is the theme from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind – My Own True Love, sung by Margaret Whiting.

It reminds him of his late wife Cathy, who he met in 1964 while they were both working at a typewriter factory.

Sir Alex said: “When I went to see Gone with the Wind I would be only 21, 22. We were courting at the time.

“She was a great wife, fantastic mother, a great grandmother. She was the leader of the band, no doubt about that.”

Of their 57 years together, Sir Alex managed United for 27 – and Cathy is said to have played a key role in persuading him not to retire in 2002.

Writing in his autobiography, he said she had told him: “One, your health is good. Two, I’m not having you in the house. And three, you’re too young anyway.”

Football clubs across the country paid tribute to her when she died last year.