Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he will spend three more years as Manchester United's manager before stepping down. The Scot, who has previously gone back on plans to retire, would then have been in charge at Old Trafford for 25 years.

"I still have a lot of passion," Ferguson was quoted in the Daily Mirror. "I'm still happy. But I'm 66 now - maybe three years more, then I'll finish."

Addressing the issue of his successor, he said: "I have a great assistant in Carlos Queiroz. He will come into the reckoning. But we have owners and a chief executive who will choose the new man in three years' time. The thing about football is we have some potential young manager but because of the dangers, the hazards of management, they may not be there in three years' time."