Sir Alex Ferguson is widely considered to be one of the best managers of all-time following an illustrious 27-year spell in charge of Manchester United, but things could have been very different for the Scotsman.
In an interview with English publication 'The Sun', former Tottenham Hotspur chairman Irving Scholar claims that the former United boss agreed to take over at White Hart Lane two years before he was appointed by the 'Red Devils'.
When Kevin Brukinshaw left Spurs in 1984, Scholar was in no doubt as to who he wanted in to replace him and he felt that he had got his man.
Ferguson had made a name for himself at Aberdeen, winning the league in 1980 and impressively guiding his side to victory over Spanish giants Real Madrid int he 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup final, catching the attention of the Spurs chairman.
Speaking to 'The Sun', Scholar explained how he thought he had successfuly snared Ferguson, even going as far to shake hands on a deal.
"The truth was that I had been talking to and negotiating with Alex Ferguson about a deal," Scholar explained. "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 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."
Discussions dragged on somewhat but Spurs were still convinced that they had found their new boss, only for Ferguson to renege on the move.
"We went on and on and on, discussions, negotiations, down to the minutiae of the contract," added Scholar.
"Everything was agreed. So I said 'Can we meet?', he agreed and I said I'd like him to meet someone else on the board, Paul Bobroff. We arranged to meet in Paris on a Sunday morning, just by the airport.
"The idea was this was the moment, the seminal moment of the handshake. We'd built up to this for weeks. So we met. I said, 'Are you ready?'. He replied, 'I'm ready'.
"I said, 'Are you sure you're ready?'. He said, 'I'm sure'. 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."
Two years later, Ferguson took the reigns at Manchester United and the rest, as they say, is history...