Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘final’ chewing gum sold for US$516 896

Former Manchester United boss, Alex Ferguson

YOU can’t buy Fergie time but you could have purchased his last piece of managerial chewing gum – for £390,000 (US$516 896).

The Manchester United legend’s used gum from the 5-5 draw at West Brom in May 2013 has been sold on eBay for a sum that is hard to swallow, because you’d need to be minted to afford it.

For the same price, you could have bought quite a tidy player when Sir Alex Ferguson took over at Old Trafford in 1996 — or five days of current top-earner Alexis Sanchez.

Or perhaps an 18-carat gold version of his mythical hairdryer.

The eBay listing for Fergie’s masticated morsel gave the historic item due reverence.

It read: “Used chewing gum: RARE. Recovered from The Hawthorns. Clear Perspex/wooden case. Unofficial merchandise, rumoured to belong to Sir Alex. After 1,500 games of intense chewing as manager of Man Utd, here lies Fergie’s last piece of chewing gum. All proceeds go to the MU Foundation charity.”

Certainly the gum must have gone through some hard graft as Fergie’s 1,500th and final United game gave him plenty to get his teeth into. They led 3-0 and 5-2 after 81 minutes – only to be undone when an up-and-coming Baggies loanee netted twice to complete his hat-trick as a substitute. Romelu Lukaku was that man, just a week after celebrating his 20th birthday.

Chelsea lent him to Everton the following season ahead of a permanent move to Goodison Park in 2014. And it was Jose Mourinho who brought his former Blues striker to Old Trafford three years later. Every now and then, since replacing the sacked Mourinho last December, interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can be seen chewing on gum, ala Fergie. The Norwegian will surely be made permanent boss in the summer. And, come the middle of the century, he will really know he made it if he can look back on his managerial career and see his used gum sold for a price that could buy both a top-of-the-range Ferrari and Lamborghini. – thesun.co.uk