Revealed: What Alex Ferguson said to Louis van Gaal in a recent phone call

This is one less worry for Louis van Gaal.

The Manchester United manager, if reports were to be believed, was on the brink of losing his job a number of times during the team's terrible run of form during December and January. Van Gaal appears to have weathered the storm, until the end of the season at least, but stories about him being imminently replaced by his assistant Ryan Giggs, or the out of work Jose Mourinho, were omnipresent during the past few months. The speculation reached such a fever that Alex Ferguson was reportedly ready to replace Van Gaal until the end of the season, before handing the reigns over to Giggs. However, the former United boss rang up Van Gaal to assure him that the story wasn't true, according to football writer and author Andy Mitten.Mitten, the founder and editor of the United We Stand fanzine, wrote in his ESPN column this week that Van Gaal "reads the newspapers and wonders who said what. Did a senior player really say that they are playing with more freedom?"

"Van Gaal can put out some fires - or people close to him can - such as when (Alex) Ferguson phoned him to say that stories he'd be coming out of retirement to manage the team were nonsense. Ferguson built up a massive bank of credit and became the club's bedrock, but he's the past."

Mitten also claimed that should Mourinho succeed Van Gaal in the summer, it will mostly likely spell the end of Giggs' long tenure with the club.

"If Mourinho arrives then Ryan Giggs would almost certainly leave. 43 in November, he feels ready to become a manager in his own right. If that's not to be at Old Trafford - a job that he and most managers in world football would love - then it will be elsewhere.

"Giggs feels like he's served his apprenticeship but his stock has been damaged by working alongside Moyes and Van Gaal and fans view him as part of the problem. Maybe a change of scene would be good, to go away and show his talents and see if he can make it on his own."