I do not think it is necessarily inaccurate per se, but all of this was partly the result of the fact that Fergie’s retirement decision (made on Christmas) was kept in secret by himself and by others for a long time. Apparently he only told Gill in February (when Gill himself told Fergie that he is leaving) and most other people at the club did not know until April, shortly before public announcement . As a result, we started looking for a replacement very late in the season and by that time most top managers on the move were already bound for the next season.
I mean Fergie earned the right to handle his retirement however he wished, he had his reasons and our lack of structure was not on him. But I am sure that at Christmas time basically everyone from the list was still available (the earliest to drop was Pep who signed mid-Jan with Bayern).
And regarding Pep - I know that some might blame him for not calling Fergie/remembering his words, but honestly it is on organisation to proactively hunt and call potential top employees regardless of what was said in private conversations.
Were it announced early in the year & had we started calling top managers immediately - am sure that we would have landed our 1st/2nd choice.