Fergie: I've turned down "terrible" England job TWICE

Sir Alex Ferguson has branded the England job “a poisoned chalice” and revealed he twice turned it down.

England’s dismal showing at the World Cup has once again focused attention on what the Manchester United boss called “a terrible job”, with current coach Fabio Capello under more scrutiny than ever.

Fergie, speaking on United’s pre-season tour of Canada and the US, revealed he had twice rebuffed the FA’s advances and said his Scots roots meant he could never take the job.

“I’ve been asked to manage the England team on a couple of occasions,” said Fergie. “But of course it’s just out of the question. It’s a poisoned chalice anyway, it’s a terrible job. Plus the fact I have a tremendous handicap in being Scottish and the way you look at it, it’s important.”

He also pointed to the pressure on Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the World Cup.

“All the best players with the expectation and hype had bad tournaments,” Fergie added. “There was a lot of expectation on Rooney, that this was going to be his tournament, but Wayne hasn’t had any great experience of World Cup football.

“Wayne will have other opportunities and he’ll be much better.”