Mourinho plays down United link

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho appears to have hinted that he will not be replacing Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager.

Mourinho gave a knockabout interview to former United European Cup winner Paddy Crerand on behalf of the club channel MUTV on Monday evening and jokingly said he wanted Crerand to arrange a free annual subscription for the channel.

In response, Crerand said the only people who did not pay the £6 monthly fee were club employees. To this, Mourinho replied: "There is no chance. I have to pay." Crerand responded: "You never know. One day?", to which Mourinho replied: "One day? Nah. I don't think so."

The exchange went on with Crerand saying: "You never know? Life is strange."

"You never know, but I don't think so," Mourinho said, before changing the subject.

While it could hardly be described as definitive, it was nevertheless an interesting exchange given Mourinho is one of the few obvious candidates to succeed 71-year-old Ferguson.

Admittedly, the Scot has said on numerous occasions he has no immediate plans to step aside, which he repeated today when quizzed about whether Mourinho was the right man to move into his seat.

"You get this question all the time and I can't answer it because I am still the manager here," Ferguson said. "I hope I am still the manager tomorrow.

"It is impossible to discuss who is going to replace me because there is no timescale to it."