Premiership: Fergie set for bumper pay packet

Sir Alex Ferguson is set to spend his final season in charge of the Manchester United first team as the highest-paid manager in the history of British club football.

Ferguson retires after 16 trophy-laden years at the helm in May 2002 and is to continue his association with the club after earlier this month signing a lucrative five-year deal to serve as a consultant.

United broke the bank over the summer when they spent almost stg£50m to bring Dutch international striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and Argentinian midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron to Old Trafford as Ferguson bids to go out on a high.

And the 59-year-old Scot can expect to earn in excess of stg£50,000 a week as United chase a repeat of their 1999 Treble success when they won the Premiership, the FA Cup and the Champions League final.

‘‘I am a great believer that a manager can’t command respect from the changing room unless he earns more than the players,’’ said Ferguson’s financial advisor and negotiator Alan Baines.

Baines, a senior partner at BDO Stoy Hayward accountants in Nottingham, said: ‘‘I was pleased at the success of my talks with the club to clinch a deal for this coming season that gives Sir Alex a bigger salary than any first-team star, players such as Keane, Giggs, Beckham and even the new signing, Veron.’’

United begin their pre-season tour of the Far East tomorrow when they take on a Malaysian Allstars XI in Kuala Lumpur, with van Nistelrooy possibly making his debut.