By Julia Hunt
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Sir Alex Ferguson has opened up about the heartache of his younger brother’s battle with dementia, revealing it’s on his mind “all the time”. The former Manchester United boss ‘s brother, Martin, is living with the condition. And Sir Alex is a supporter of Playlist for Life, a charity that uses music to help those suffering from the illness, reports the Express . In an emotional chat on BBC Breakfast , the 83-year-old admitted the situation was “not easy”. “He recognises me, you know, but the memory is not great and it’s in the back of my mind all the time,” he confessed. “I wonder if he’s in just now, whether I guess you give him a phone call and that. And I try to do that every day, you know, but sometimes, some days you don’t because you’re maybe busy or something like that.” When asked if the situation was often on his mind, he responded: “It is, yeah, you know, because I’m his brother and I’m saying to myself, I’m only a year ahead of him, you know? “I think people who get to my age have little worries about, you know, and how their memory is going to stand up. Well, I’m 84 in December. There are moments when I forget things.” Sir Alex continued: “I probably did that 20 years ago or 30 years ago when I was a manager going through previous games, which is really important in terms of preparation for a football match.” The football legend emphasised that his memory had “always been important”. “So I work, I do a lot of crosswords,” he shared. “I read a lot and sing a lot. Since I retired, I’ve done a lot of travelling, which I’ve enjoyed.” Sir Alex also revealed that he has been travelling since his wife Cathy passed away in 2023. He shared: “I think after my wife passed, I was stuck in the house a lot, you know. And I moved house out of the country, next door to my son. And then it’s not good enough, just sitting there watching TV. “And so I decided to travel and I went to Saudi Arabia, to Hong Kong, and to Berlin.” His advice for others experiencing similar situations was to “occupy yourself”. BBC Breakfast is broadcast on BBC One from 6am.
