Manchester United expect to conclude contract negotiations with Alex Ferguson today with the champions' manager of 15 years set to stay on at Old Trafford for another three seasons.
Ferguson revealed yesterday his wife Cathy and three sons helped him change his mind about retiring at the end of this season.
In an interview in the Scotsman the 60-year-old admitted his wife Cathy and sons, Mark, Darren and Jason helped him change his mind.
Ferguson said: "It was really Cathy's idea. If she hadn't come up with it and the boys hadn't given full support, I wouldn't have considered a change of mind.
"But I do have to confess that maybe it was an idea I was hoping deep down she would come up with."
Ferguson spent yesterday tying up the details of the contract with the United chief executive Peter Kenyon and an announcement is expected to the London Stock Exchange this morning. It is believed Ferguson will command an annual salary of around £2.5 million sterling.
The news that Ferguson is to prolong his stay at the club is likely to be followed by confirmation that the captain Roy Keane is ready to sign a three-year contract extension worth around £75,000 a week and his representatives are hopeful that the deal will include an option on future coaching duties at Old Trafford.
Negotiations with Keane are far more advanced than those with the England captain David Beckham, despite the latter first opening talks with the club last May. He is still stalling on signing United's proposed £80,000-a-week deal with an impasse reached over the player's demands for £20,000-a-week image rights.
United are also likely to appoint an official number two to work under Ferguson.
The champions did not recruit a new assistant after Steve McClaren left to join Middlesbrough in the summer because the appointment would only have been on a short-term deal until Ferguson's proposed retirement. Jimmy Ryan had filled the position since but, with a three-year role on offer, Ferguson will be keen to bring his own right-hand man into the dug-out.
The former United captain and Middlesbrough manager Bryan Robson has been taking sessions at the club's Carrington training complex recently, though Ferguson may prefer to lure David Moyes away from Preston.
The Scot was in the frame to replace McClaren in the summer and might be willing to leave Deepdale having steered Preston out of the second division and into contention for promotion into the Premiership.
Any move would be resisted by Preston. "It's not surprising David gets linked with jobs because of his abilities, but he is the manager of Preston North End and he is doing a damn good job here," said the chief executive Tony Scholes.
Ferguson said he will modify the job in the coming years and delegate some of the responsibility. "I'll tailor it a little differently, reduce the workload a bit," he said.
His decision to stay on was welcomed by Gary Neville who said Ferguson's announcement to them in the changing-rooms was music to their ears.
Neville said: "The best thing in football is continuity and not only has the manager been here a long time, but he has kept a nucleus of players together with him . . . the news can't fail to give us a boost."
Guardian Service
