Sir Alex Ferguson may be Scottish and fiercely patriotic, but he has vowed to do everything he can to help find England’s next manager.

Ferguson, who yesterday was named as one of the 12 football luminaries that Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, is consulting over hiring Steve McClaren’s successor, said he welcomed the invitation.

“Obviously, I will try to help the situation,” Ferguson said. “A lot of people want to do that because it is important to our game that England get the right man to replace Steve and try to drive the team on.

“It is not easy to get international managers. It is not an easy job and it is not an easy selection process. No-one at the FA has spoken to me and I don’t know if they will or not but there is nothing wrong with them asking football people.”

It was reported earlier this week that Ferguson had informed a friend he would put Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea manager, at the top of his hit-list.

Ferguson denies making the actual comments, although he agrees Mourinho would have to come under serious consideration if he declared an interest.

“Obviously, if Jose wanted it, he would be a consideration,” he said. “But if Arsene Wenger said he was interested, he would be a consideration. If I said I was interested, I would be a consideration.

“First of all, it is about who wants the job and then who has the qualifications for it.”

One problem, however, could be Mourinho’s age, at 44, is 10 years younger than the age Ferguson feels is ideal for international management.

“I have said time and time again that experience is important,” he said.

“Being an international manager can create a problem. If you are young, there is an inclination to go back into club football, particularly if you are successful. That has been shown with Alex McLeish [the Scotland manager who joined Birmingham this week].

“I spoke to him a couple of times about his situation. He is a young man. The fact Scotland were doing so well just gave him the urge to be back in daily involvement again.”