In a revelation that will prompt pangs of regret in North and West London, Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he almost pioneered the path later followed by Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef, before deciding that football management was far less stressful than life in the kitchen.

Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, confessed to contemplating a career change at the end of his playing days in an interview with Key 103, a Manchester radio station, during which he also admitted to a lingering fascination with President John F. Kennedy and the American Civil War, as well as describing his struggle to master his iPod.

Like Ferguson, Ramsay was once on the books of Rangers and the manager’s dressing-room hairdryer treatment is reputedly as devastating as the notorious televised outbursts delivered by his fellow Scot. The parallels between the men could have been closer, however, had Ferguson stuck to his original plans.

“Believe it or not, I worked in a kitchen for 18 months when I was a player because I had bought a site in Paisley for a restaurant,” Ferguson said. “I was 30 when I bought it and I felt that if I was going to run a restaurant, I needed to work in one to see what it was like, so I went to one called The Beechwood down the road from where I lived near Hampden Park.

“I was into cooking a great deal and I could do most things, but in terms of what you see nowadays, I would be lost. I can do a good pasta, though, and Chinese and I’ve even got a wok, courtesy of Ken Hom. I’ve been in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant. He’s fine, Gordon, but the problem with being a perfectionist and being so good at the job at the level he is at is that it must be terrible to drop your level even a fraction.

“I lost four games this year and still won the league, so there is room for error in football in a 38-game programme. But if Gordon has one bad meal in 38, he could lose business and his reputation. He respects the job I do and I definitely respect the job and conditions he works under.”

Notoriously hard-working, even at 65, Ferguson insisted that his job at Old Trafford does not dominate his life and portrayed a private life of surprising normality, even if his interests away from Old Trafford are fuelled by gifts from the Prime Minister-elect. “Cathy [Ferguson’s wife] and I go to the cinema almost every week and just wander in with everybody else,” Ferguson said. “We go to the early show at around 5 o’clock and I get my pick-and-mix, my hot dog and ice-cream.

“I had to get my grandson, Jake, to sort out my iPod, though. Nike gave it to me, but I said, ‘What is this?’ Jake said ‘Grandad, it’s an iPod’, as though it was the best invention in the whole world and the seventh wonder. I’ve got all my CDs on it. Sixties stuff — Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole. I’ve also got a lot of Mick Hucknall on it. There is Wee Andy Webber’s Scottish Medley as well. It’s hilarious. You’ve got to keep your Scottish identity, haven’t you?

“I’ve also got about seven books by my bed. I’m reading everything, but history mainly.

I’ve studied the American Civil War and Gordon Brown sent me 35 CDs on it, which was brilliant of him.”

While admitting that the Queen is the only person with the ability to make him nervous, Ferguson revealed his admiration for Kennedy, who helped to shape his personality in the 1960s. “As a young man, Kennedy was my era,” Ferguson said. “I was involved in the trade unions and I was ideological, so Kennedy presented a new vision of politics. He had his critics and I have read some fantastic books on it, but in his time as President I don’t think anyone had to deal with so many issues and he dealt with the lot in his three years in office.

“I have a copy of JFK’s autopsy report. I got a letter from the lad who runs the JFK assassination committee and he sent me the report and part of the Warren Report. I also have a brand new copy of the Warren Report signed by the former President, Gerald Ford, which is the only one he signed, so it’s one of a kind.”