A HANDFORTH dad is seeing red after being plagued by phone calls for Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Julian Barlow, 37, receives around five voicemail messages every week meant for the premiership side manager who lives in Wilmslow.
And he recently had a long chat with Fergie's aunt, who telephoned from America where she lives.
Dad of three Julian, who lives in Sagars Road and is the son of Express columnist Vic Barlow, revealed a Fifa official called Ken had also been in touch, desperate to talk to the soccer boss.
And while he admits he is not a football fan he is secretly hoping for a call from Wayne Rooney or David Beckham
He said: "It is very strange. You never know who might call.
"I suspected that the number was one digit away from Sir Alex's number but the calls have been very frequent indeed. I think it must just be an old number rather than people continually misdialling."
The bizarre phone calls started around two months ago when Julian got a second phone line installed at his house for use in connection with his business, Wicked Yarns.
He said: "The business makes promotional clothing and I had a line installed and an answer phone connected. At first I was just curious about the messages being left as there was nothing specifically asking for Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Then, people did start asking for him by name and it clicked.
"But the thing is I hate football. Neither my partner nor I are into football and neither are our three daughters. We are not even watching the World Cup.
"In fact, I am still upset that they cancelled 'Top Gear' for five weeks to show the World Cup.
"But I'm still finding it very funny, people calling up and asking for Alex Ferguson. I get around five messages a week meant for him.
"I had quite a long chat with his aunt, who hasn't spoken to him for some months. She was having some trouble tracking him down.
"We had a good laugh about it.
"There was one guy phoning from Fifa and he was very keen to get in touch with Sir Alex.
"A local furniture store also phoned and asked for Lady Ferguson because they wanted to deliver some furniture. There's been a lot of calls from Scots and I'm half expecting to pick up the phone to David Beckham or Wayne Rooney one day."
Julian says he has no plans to change the number because he has had it printed on business cards and letterheads.
He added: "My answer machine clearly states who I am but they still leave messages. It's very funny."
A BT spokesman said: "Due to client confidentiality we cannot confirm whether or not Mr Barlow has Sir Alex's old phone number.
"If Mr Barlow is being inconvenienced we would be happy to give him a new number free of charge."
