London, Oct 6 (IANS): Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that he did not make a mistake by hiring David Moyes as his replacement.

Ferguson defended the appointment of former Everton boss Moyes, who was sacked after eight months in charge.

"We did the best under the circumstances we were in. We picked the right man," Ferguson was quoted as saying by the BBC on Monday.

Ferguson ended his 26-year reign as United manager in 2013, recommending fellow Scot Moyes as his successor.

Ferguson told the club's chief executive, David Gill, of his plan to step down a couple of months earlier and claims most of the other potential candidates to replace him were unobtainable.

"I don't think we made a mistake at all. I think we chose a good football man. Unfortunately it didn't work for David," he said.

"Jose Mourinho was going back to Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti was going to Real Madrid, Jurgen Klopp had signed a contract with Dortmund, Louis van Gaal was staying with Holland for the World Cup," the former manager said.

Ferguson said he went for dinner with former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola in September 2012 -- when he had "no idea" he was going to retire -- and told the Spaniard, "Give me a call and tell me what you're going to do."

"I was just trying to think way ahead. But I didn't get any answer and then he goes to Bayern Munich. We'd like to have spoken to many managers because that's a process," he remarked.

"We'd like to have asked them what they felt about leaving a big club to go to a bigger club -- to come to Manchester United. It wasn't there for us," Ferguson added.