Not sure of the veracity of the story but if true, it's not a good move.
The weight of Busby's presence was very difficult for the manager's who tried to move the club forward back in the day.
Your comment was my first reaction. This is a hugely difficult subject that many clubs have had to cope with varying degrees of success.
Liverpool were quick to get Shankly distanced from their club and claimed it was preferable to Busby’s continuing influence at OT. Their results in the 70s and 80s suggest there’s was a succcessful solution.
I would argue Busby was simply impossible to sideline. He was a ‘presence’, in close proximity he was almost deified. Unlike Fergie, he was at the heart and soul of Manchester football. Red or Blue he was held with such high esteem, it was a phenomenal relationship between the man and the city. Most of it came from his playing for City, Munich, and the European Cup but he was also that ‘humble’ quiet man that no one could fail to respect. However, there is the case that Busby made it difficult for Wilf and O’Farrell to function especially in regards to dropping the legends. In Too Good To Go Down, it was Busby’s presence that contributed to the team’s long term decline that led to relegation. I think Patrick Barclay said he was simply too loyal to drop the legends.
The Fergie situation is also complex:
Firstly, he has hardly been quiet in his retirement - attending games, the second book, the lecture circuit and the tv interviews have all been about United past, present and future. This was not as he claimed in July 2013, a retirement of living in New York with the missus visiting museums.
Secondly, he became that go-between from squad, club, board to shareholders, which was unlike any other managerial relationship in football. He was called upon to identify a replacement, which in business is frowned upon. However, its possible that his meeting with potential candidates made some of them jittery over his continuing presence in squad politics.
Thirdly, Fergie is not untainted by past events that stretched from ‘the Rock’, to the Glazers, the Keane affair, and even the Beckham incident. He promised to back Moyes but released his second memoir which meant he remained in the spotlight. At the time this suggested to me that there was no one in the club capable of asking him to step away.
But, Fergie doesn’t have the same loyalty to the players as Busby. He is the ultimate pragmatist and competitor and can take the semi-director of football role temporarily although his health must now be a major concern for everyone.
