Manchester United have given the clearest indication yet that Carlos Queiroz could succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as the club’s manager. Ferguson, who will be 67 in December, said over the weekend that he would stay on as United manager for another three years “at the very, very, very most” and that there was no chance of him still being in charge at Old Trafford at the age of 70.

But while David Gill, the United chief executive, denied that a retirement date had been set and that Ferguson’s “fitness and health” will determine when he steps down, he claimed that the club could follow in the footsteps of Liverpool in the 1970s by appointing a new manager from within as they seek to maintain and develop the dynasty created by the Scot.

Bill Shankly was succeeded at Anfield in 1974 by Bob Paisley, his assistant, who proved even more successful, guiding Liverpool to six league titles and three European Cups over the next nine years, and Gill indicated that United would give serious consideration to attempting to replicate that situation, with Queiroz being groomed as a potential replacement for Ferguson.

“It’s not like another business, where you can say, ‘He is hot this month’, but you can’t go for him because a season is a long time in football,” Gill said. “It’s more difficult, but we have an assistant manager who will be very much in the frame in Carlos Queiroz.

“There are all those factors to be taken into account but, like any good business, we follow what’s happening in football, both on the player side and the managerial side. Carlos is clearly a key part of our success. If you look what Liverpool achieved in their very successful years in the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of it was through their internal appointments.

“Both Carlos and Alex would be the first to admit it, as would the players, that he [Queiroz] has been a key factor in the success we have achieved over the last couple of seasons. What we are doing is making sure our squad is continually reviewed and improved as necessary and the age of the squad is right, so when Alex does decide to retire, anyone taking over has a fantastic squad with the right age profile.”

Ferguson was deliberately coy when asked on Friday whether Queiroz might succeed him, but the prospect of filling the hot-seat at Old Trafford in the coming years may dissuade the Portuguese from taking another job in the meantime.

Portugal will be without a coach when Luiz Felipe Scolari steps down after the European Championship finals next month and Queiroz’s name is certain to be in the frame for the post.

Having previously admitted that he made a mistake in announcing that he would retire at the end of the 2001-02 campaign, only to perform an abrupt about-turn, Ferguson declined to say precisely when he would retire, but Gill appeared hopeful yesterday that he could persuade the manager, who has won ten league titles and two Champions League trophies in 22 years at Old Trafford, to stay on beyond his 70th birthday.

“He [Ferguson] may have said he can’t see himself managing at 70, but that decision will be based upon his fitness and his health,” Gill said.

Gill suggested that United could give Ferguson a “bit of a sabbatical” should he wish to take charge of a British football team at the London Olympics in 2012, although with the manager expected to have stepped down by then, the chances appear to have increased of him accepting the job that Lord Coe, as first revealed by The Times, is eager for him to take.

Gill, meanwhile, has denied reports of a move for Thierry Henry, the Barcelona striker, but admitted that there would be “one or two” additions in the summer, and has reiterated that Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal forward, will not be sold amid firm interest from Real Madrid.

Although Gill claimed that there were no plans to extend or improve Ronaldo’s £120,000-a-week contract, the chief executive confirmed that the club would attempt to “sit down and extend it with him at some time” and that they were hopeful of keeping him beyond 2012, when his present deal expires, however unlikely that seems.

Real defend tactics

Real Madrid have defended their conduct in the transfer market after Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, accused the Spanish club of having no morals over their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, the United forward and scorer of 42 goals this season.

“I am really surprised to hear what he [Ferguson] said about us,” Ramón Calderón, the Real president, said. “Real Madrid have conducted themselves exquisitely in this whole affair with Cristiano Ronaldo. We have always said that he is a player who has a contract and that Manchester United is not a selling club. That’s everything.”