The Daily Telegraph said that the Scottish Premier League club would be ready to give their former manager a controlling interest in the club he led to the European Cup-winners' Cup.

But a spokesman for Aberdeen's board insisted that there had been no discussions whatsoever with Ferguson regarding a management role or any future investment at Pittodrie.

"Sir Alex obviously still has many friends at Pittodrie and, because of this and the fact he attended our game against Hearts yesterday, this type of unfounded speculation is not entirely surprising," he said.

"However, all this is doing is creating false hopes in the minds of our supporters, which is disappointing."

Major surprise

Ferguson also ruled out any move back to Aberdeen, saying: "I just thought I'd take in a game, but you can't go anywhere without speculation.

"It's just a load of nonsense."

A Manchester United spokesman understandably remained confident of retaining the services of Sir Alex after he quits as manager next summer.

Ferguson is expected to carry on in some other role with the English champions.

It would be a major surprise if anyone could prise him away from Old Trafford.

The 59-year-old Scot has recently spoken of his desire to spend more time on his horse racing interests.

In negotiations

That would be more difficult to achieve from a base in the north of Scotland.