A confidant of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson feels he may've been given a nudge to accept retirement this week.

David Meek, who helped write Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography and also writes his Old Trafford programme notes, made the suggestion on talkSPORT yesterday.

Meek said: "I can't honestly say I'm aware of anything. We never hear anything from the Glazers but they're in charge. There is the scenario that he was blissfully intending to carry on for another season, true to his programme notes, but then there was a top summit meeting and the suggestion was made (that he retired). I don't think it had to be made forcefully. If he felt the owners no longer had 100 per cent confidence in him, I don't think he'd hesitate [to go].

When pushed if he thought that was realistic, he replied: "Well yeah... I'd love to know. That's the next chapter to the story. Did he go or was he pushed?"

He added: "I knew something was afoot when I rang him [on Tuesday] at his home and I said 'shall I come in tomorrow morning?' He said 'no, I shall be too busy.' That's all he said."