Rio Ferdinand Lifts the Lid on How Legendary Man Utd Personalities Were Treated by Sir Alex Ferguson

Rio Ferdinand has offered a unique insight into the Manchester United dressing room under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The ex-United centre-back spoke to Clare Balding on her new BT Sport show about his reason behind taking up a boxing career, and was naturally quizzed on his time as an Old Trafford player under the man dubbed 'Fergie'.

Asked specifically about his teammates' relationship with Ferguson at the time, Ferdinand revealed who he had considered to be the Scot's favoured personnel and the one star who seemed to get more stick than everyone else.

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He joked: "Well, Darren Fletcher was like his son. He used to get round to Fergie's for Sunday lunch!

"Gary Neville was a teacher's pet so nothing was ever said to him...When Scholesy got sent off though Fergie said 'Well played'.

"Giggsy used to get a bit of grief from time to time because he was the most experienced one, so if he shouted at Giggsy then it meant he wasn't happy - he was an example to everyone else."

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One element of being a United ace that Ferdinand was always cautious of was Ferguson's infamous hairdryer treatment.

The 39-year-old went on to explain that United's senior squad weren't afraid of him, but did fear him turning the switch and laying into them - and how one particular example left a former superstar feeling about three inches tall.

He added: "We weren't scared of the gaffer as he had a really good way about him but, when it came to that switch about passion and desire and he turns on you, that's when the fear does come in for some people.

"Cristiano Ronaldo was probably the one that I saw react the worst to it. He wasn't very happy with it - he was broken - when he tried to take on Benfica by himself and the gaffer said 'You aren't a one-man team, this is about the team'.

"He was very young and he had his head bowed the entire time!"