I’ve built United on a diet of toast, honey and lemon sole

SUCCESS ON A PLATE ... Alex Ferguson has turned Manchester United into one of the best teams in the world.

ALEX FERGUSON turned Manchester United into world beaters — on a diet of lemon sole, toast and honey.

The legendary boss revealed that his success of the past 25 years started with a canteen revolution. Ferguson masterminded United’s charge to become the most successful team in English football — lifting an incredible 37 trophies during his time in charge. The 70-year-old outlined how he had to build United from the bottom up to achieve his dream of them being one of the world’s greatest clubs. But Fergie admits changing the diet of his United squad after taking charge in 1986 left several players bemused. He said: “When I started as a coach — and before they started talking about diets — I used to take my team at East Stirling for lunch. “All I would give them was two slices of lemon sole, toast and honey. They used to go crazy. When I was a player, they used to give you fillet steaks and steak pie and things like that. “So when I became a manager I said to myself ‘What they eat before a game is as important as what happens during the game’. “I did that at Aberdeen and I did exactly the same at United.” Ferguson laid bare the dramatic way the game has changed since starting his managerial career in 1974. After his spell in Stirlingshire he moved on to St Mirren, Aberdeen and the Scotland national team. Ferguson added: “Thanks to the advances in sports science and the expert nutritionists we have here at Carrington, I don’t need to worry about that side of things now.” His incredible trophy haul at Manchester United since ’86 includes 12 Premier League titles, two Champions League wins and five FA Cups. But United face the biggest challenge to their domestic supremacy in the form of neighbours City, who have splashed more thjan £1billion since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008. City wrested the Premier League crown from United’s grasp thanks to Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp goal against QPR on the final day of the season. But Ferguson is relishing the challenge of trying to take the trophy back from the big spenders down the road. And his methods are not about to change now. Ferguson said: “If you look at the staff I’ve had here over 20-odd years, most of them have been with me throughout. “People like Dave Bushell, Tony Whelan, Paul McGuinness, Jimmy Ryan, Les Kershaw, they’re all still here and part of the fabric of the club. “So what you’ve got is experience of how to handle young people. Experience of what United really means, how to handle players coming to the club because in some cases it’s not always easy.” 

 Alex Ferguson was talking to the League Manager's Association and Barclays to celebrate 20 Season of the Premier League.