Former Tottenham chairman Irving Scholar has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson went back on a handshake agreement to take charge of the club.

Scholar had a deal agreed with the then Aberdeen manager, well before he took the Manchester United job.

In the new book 'White Hart Lane — The Spurs Glory Years' author Martin Lipton explains how Scholar firmly believed he had recruited the man who went on to become English football's greatest manager in 27 years at Old Trafford.

Scholar revealed: “The truth was that I had been talking to and negotiating with Alex Ferguson about a deal. He and I had had very long and detailed discussions.

“I told him that I was a very old-fashioned type of chap and that the most important thing was that once you agree something, once you shake someone's hand, it's in concrete.

“Once you do that, then you do not — under any circumstances whatsoever — you do not go back on it. It's over.

“I told him that, when I first met him. So we had this big thing about the handshake."

Scholar also said: “So we had this seminal moment of the handshake. As you know, unfortunately, he didn't keep to it.

“He never told me why. I had my own theories but it doesn't matter anymore.

“It was a disappointment. He stayed at Aberdeen for another two years."