Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says he is grateful for the three years he has had since surviving a brain hemorrhage in 2018.
Ferguson made the admission before this month's release of a new film about his life.
In the documentary ‘Never Give in’ directed by his son Jason, Sir Alex Ferguson recounts his journey on and off the pitch, the support of his family, and the recovery from his health scare three years ago.
And the 79-year-old believes that audiences "may be quite startled" by the way he comes across in the documentary.
"They may say, 'he wasn't like that as a manager, he's a different guy, he's human'."
Sir. Ferguson, who retired from management in 2013, had emergency surgery for his brain haemorrhage on 5 May 2018, and was in intensive care for several days.
The film, which will be shown in cinemas and on Amazon Prime, starts with the audio of the 999 call that Jason made after his father fell ill at home.
"I tried to get out of my bed and just collapsed," said Ferguson.
"I was very fortunate because I fell against a shoe rack, and all the shoes fell out and made a noise, and Cathy was downstairs.
"She came up and got me sat up against the wall, and that's the last thing I remember."
Following his operation, Ferguson said his greatest fear was losing his memory.
"I always depended on that. And then my two grandsons were in with me, and all of a sudden I stopped talking, I just couldn't get a word out.
"And at that moment I was a bit terrified to be honest with you.
"And I'm starting to think, 'What are we going to do now? You can't talk, has my memory gone?' And then the speech therapist started, she was fantastic, got me to write all the names of my family, all the names of my players, and then about 10 days later it came back.
"All of my life I have appreciated the NHS, none more so with that experience, they were fantastic. And I owe it to them really."
When asked how the ordeal had changed him, Ferguson replied: "Probably not taking things too seriously in terms of knowing that you're vulnerable… if I go tomorrow I'll be grateful for three years extra I had. That's a feeling I've had for quite a while now."
With Ferguson's working-class identity and Glasgow roots a central theme of the film, it features previously unseen footage of him leading an apprentice march in Glasgow in 1960, when the shipyard workers went on strike to demand higher pay.
"When Jason came to me with the clip… that was astounding," he said.
"I said, 'where did you get that?' That was probably my proudest moment at the time, because apprentices in those days weren't paid well… the cause, to get them better conditions, always lives with me.
"It will cling to me all my life because how you're brought up lives with you, the important things that your mother or father taught you… as you get older your own personality maybe changes. But these things are really the foundation.
"I never used reflection as part of my management, always looked forward.
"So the reflection… thinking about some of the players you had and some of the triumphs and defeats was quite powerful for me."