Ferguson set to sign new United deal

Alex Ferguson could stay in charge of Manchester United until 2007 at least.

He is set to agree a new deal to stay at Old Trafford beyond his 65th birthday, which is on December 31, 2006.

Ferguson is close to securing his future with the club he has managed for 17 years and said: "We have had good discussions and we are not far away. It could be done in the next week.

"The length of the contract is open to discussion. That is one of the areas we are discussing. How long should I stay on? It is a difficult one. I would probably think until I am 65 years old.

"I have made the point of saying that I am enjoying it and I have my health, and I think that is the way of looking at it."

Ferguson will reach his 65th birthday midway through the 2006-07 season, and says if his appetite for the job remains as it is now he could work on.

He plans to prevent a repeat of the situation which occurred when he made his original retirement plans public. At that time he announced that he would quit at the end of the 2001-02 season and blamed that for a drop in form.

"That is one of the issues we are discussing at the moment," said Ferguson, "rather than putting a date on something.

"Time is important. If you have got time you can plan. Not everybody is in that luxurious position in management I'm afraid, but I have been lucky in that way."

Ferguson scrapped his original retirement plans on February 26 2002 when he did what he described as "an amazing U-turn" and signed a new three-year deal.

"I do think about that sometimes. It wasn't my decision to stay, it was my wife's, but I think it was what I wanted to hear when she said I should.

"When I think about it now I wonder what I would have done. I could travel and go throughout the world because you could afford to do it, but there are only so many times you can go to New York or any of these places.''