Martin Jol claims Sir Alex Ferguson owes him money

United manager Alex Ferguson and Martin Jol could have been one and two at Old Trafford

Fulham manager Martin Jol still remembers a sum that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson owes him. Back in 2004, the Dutchman had made a trip to Manchester to discuss taking up the vacant assistant manager’s job at Old Trafford.

Jol was the manager of RKC Waalwijk and he has revealed to the press that the airfare that he had incurred in the trip to Old Trafford was still pending from the Scot’s end.

In a double blow, Jol didn’t get the job either as Ferguson’s former assistant, Carlos Queiroz, had by then indicated his desire to return to Manchester in a bid to get away from his disastrous stint as manager of Real Madrid.

Jol though insists that he could never have been an assistant anyway.

“I went over there to talk,” said Jol.

“Don’t forget he’s Scottish so I had to pay for my own ticket – he never gave me my money back.”

“I never wanted to be an assistant. I don’t think I’m a typical No 2. You need a specific personality. Sometimes if it is a big club you think about it.”

“If you look at the coaches that worked with him it was not easy to manage elsewhere – Queiroz was probably the exception. The rest stayed as assistants. Even Meulensteen is struggling to be the No 1 somewhere. I was fine. It was nice to talk to him, he’s a good man.”

Later that year, Martin Jol was appointed manager of Tottenham Hotspur in November.