Sale Sharks have enlisted the help of legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of Saturday’s Premiership final against Saracens.

The club shared photos of the football boss chatting with Sale players and staff at their Carrington training base, where he addressed the squad and held one-to-one sessions.

Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson will be hoping his side can get past Mark McCall’s men without the need for any Fergie time but should at least arrive at Twickenham well prepared after hearing from the 81-year-old Scot, who won 13 Premier League titles before retiring at Old Trafford in 2013.

Sanderson invited Ferguson into the camp as Sale prepare for their first Premiership final since they won their one and only title with a crunching 45-20 triumph over Leicester Tigers back in 2006.

Sale shared a clip of Ferguson addressing the group on social media. “To lose, you don’t want to lose,” he said. “I wish you all the best on Saturday.

“The thing is, I’m telling you, don’t wear a white suit for Christ’s sake [laughs]! Concentration – you’re not there to enjoy it, you’re there to win.”

It’s not Ferguson’s first foray into rugby, he is friends with Sale’s co-owner Ged Mason with the pair owning a number of racehorses together. Ferguson attended his first ever game of rugby six years ago when Sale took on Toulouse in the Challenge Cup.

Former England coach Eddie Jones has also consulted one of the biggest names in football and has spoken about how, ironically, it was Ferguson’s advice that prompted him not to deploy the hairdryer treatment during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Jones told The Athletic: “We played Samoa, who we should beat pretty easily. At half-time, we’re ahead by five points. Sloppy. Just going through the motions. Fifteen years ago, I would have gone in and I would have blasted. I went in — and I actually got this idea after having lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson — and I changed the whole routine of half-time.

“So I said, ‘Boys, come in here’ and I just said to them, ‘This isn’t good enough. Fix it. So when we get back together, you have the solution’.

“So you’re making the point you’re unhappy but you’re doing it in a way where they own the problem now, rather than you imposing your problem on them and I got a really good result out of them in the second half.”

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