Wigan Athletic boss Warren Joyce has stated that he could not leave Manchester United earlier due to his loyalty to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Following a stellar job with the United reserve team, Joyce was handed the reins by Championship outfit Wigan recently and the move represents a great opportunity for the 51-year-old.

Joyce has now gone on to state that he could have made the switch to senior management earlier in his career but did not choose to do so due to his loyalty to former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as a whole.

The Wigan boss told the EFL Weekly podcast: "I had an opportunity to manage Royal Antwerp, which was a tremendous experience and I really enjoyed that.

"I could have gone a couple of different directions at the time and maybe managed a different club in Europe.

"I had a lot of offers to stay out there and manage on the continent but to come back to Man Utd, the job offer was looking for someone willing to commit and not use Manchester United as a stepping stone to get a manager's job.

"When you say something like that to Sir Alex Ferguson, you have to mean it and my handshake was my bond.

"I stayed loyal to that despite having a lot of offers over the eight years to manage in the Championship and above."