How Manchester United could do with Sir Alex Ferguson right now.

It's been a tough and frustrating season for the Red Devils and Jose Mourinho, who only became manager in 2016, is fighting to keep his job.

The recent comeback against Newcastle, where United went 2-0 down but won 3-2, somewhat alleviated the pressure on the Portuguese but he's shown signs of cracking.

Bust-ups with players like Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez has created tension at Carrington, which has made United fans miss the good old days under Ferguson.

Five years ago Sir Alex retired as United manager and since then the club has struggled under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and now Mourinho.

But the hardest part is that Ferguson didn't even want to retire - he felt compelled to after his wife, Cathy, lost her sister.

"She has lost her best friend, her sister," Ferguson told Sky Sports in his final post-match interview. "She's isolated a lot now and I think I owe her a lot of my own time.

THE FERGUSON'S HEARTBREAK

"For 47 years she's been the leader of the family, looked after our three sons and sacrificed for me.

"Now she’s got lots of grandchildren, they all dote on her and I think she's lost her best friend, so I think I owe her time."

News of Ferguson retiring broke before he could even tell United's players and now Michael Carrick has recited the Scotsman's heartbreaking speech to them word for word.

Sir Alex gathered the players at their Carrington training ground on a Tuesday morning and explained the reasons for his decision.

"I took in every detail, the Boss began speaking and became quite emotional," wrote Carrick in his new autobiography, Between the Lines.

"'Look boys, I didn't want to do it this way. I wanted youse [sic] to be the first to know. I'm really disappointed how it's come out.

"'I really did want to be telling you first, but I've been forced to tell you now because it's come out last night. Someone's leaked it.'

"He was fuming about that. There couldn't have been many people who knew.

"Sir Alex went on, 'Look boys, this is not something I've taken lightly.' He mentioned Lady Cathy's sister passing away.

"'I feel that I owe it to my wife to be with her and look after her. It's been unbelievable and thanks for everything, I've loved every minute. I don't really want to go, but I've got to take this decision.'

"You could see it was hard for him to finally say, 'This is it boys.'"