Jose Mourinho may be the major threat to Sir Alex Ferguson securing a 8th Premiership title in this his 20th year in charge of Manchester United but that rivalry extends only as far as the touchline. Sir Alex Ferguson describes his relationship with Jose Mourinho to Sue McCann, explains why he’s not surprised by Cristiano Ronaldo’s outstanding form this season and tells her how he’s getting used to fans of United’s biggest rivals wishing him well.

Many ‘experts’ predicted your efforts to challenge Chelsea for the Premiership title this season would come a cropper due to lack of fire power….how pleased are you with your goals tally that’s come not just from up front but throughout the team?

“That’s relative, in the sense of when you go back 8 or 9 years ago there was one year when we had I think 18 goal scorers. At the time Scholesy would get you about10 but one season David Beckham got us 13 and Roy Keane got 8, something like that, which was a great contribution from midfielders and the defenders were scoring so we did really well. What we’ve got now is with the goals getting spread about, it’s amazing how there’s an impact in terms of competition in the team. For instance Gary Neville is getting stick at the moment because he hasn’t scored and they’re tipping Van der Sar to score before him. So it’s healthy that way and it’s creating a good atmosphere about the place in terms of for years, we were maybe relying on Van Nistelrooy to get us what we wanted to achieve, but when you get it spread about then you don’t have that big concern in the sense of who you are depending on, it’s not one individual. At the moment we’ve got Saha with 12 goals, Ronaldo with 13, Rooney with 8 and Solskjaer with 9 so it’s a terrific spread that.”

You mentioned Cristiano Ronaldo who has won several awards so far this season. He appears this season to have an added maturity and is showing real leadership qualities, maybe it’s because he’s a year older; have you seen that in him?

“I think you are right, he’s a year older and I think when you get to 21 or 22 you start thinking as a man. He is what we expected I must say, we never expected anything but improvement and maturity in his game because he’s got all the various qualities that you look for in a person who’s improving. He wants to practise all the time; he’s got the hunger and courage to play in all the big situations. I think you are just seeing what we expected and the same will apply to Rooney, he’ll go through the same process.”

I think people still forget how young these players are don’t they?

“They do, they forget how young they are; you’ve got to think back to what we were like at 20 or 21 years old ourselves and sometimes you have to pinch yourself. I remember I was just completing my apprenticeship and I was still part-time at football and I thought I was too young to go full-time at the time. So there’s a change; these young players are full of courage and confidence, it’s amazing the confidence they’ve got in each other and themselves.”

I laughed when I saw a Press Conference you did recently when you joked about having to get used to being the ‘nice guy’ because people seem to quite like Manchester United this season….

“I think that obviously that with Chelsea not endearing themselves to everyone in the game, it is strange that people, even Liverpool fans are saying (to me) ‘I hope you win the League’ which is amazing! (laughs). But I think that Liverpool supporters will always recognise what good football teams are and I think we are playing good football and I think that is getting its message across.”

Where does that leave you then in terms of this ‘siege mentality’, ‘nobody likes us’ attitude that is often attributed to Manchester United and supposedly gathers your players tighter together. Do you have to adopt a new mantra now or is that philosophy a myth?

“I think it is a myth. I think we’ve always had our detractors but also our admirers, I don’t think it’s ever been overloaded in one way. I think when we got all the success in the late 1990’s I think, yeah, quite rightly a lot of clubs were hoping we’d lose a week simply because you don’t want a monopoly. I think that’s fair, I watch a game on television and I want the ‘underdog’ to win, it doesn’t matter what the game is. That’s the way people are and it’s quite right but I think that they always recognised we played good football and anytime we won the League it was because of our style and the way we went about it.”

Chelsea look to be your main challengers this year. The continued speculation about Jose Mourinho’s future must be unsettling for his team in a similar way to when you announced your retirement a few seasons ago and it seemed to unnerve your team….

“I think in my case, I remember it, because I announced it at the start of the season and I just got a feeling as the season progressed a lot of them were saying ‘ah well he’s not going to be here any longer ….’ and maybe some genuine concerns about ‘who’s going to take his place?’ and just a relaxation possibly. But there was no doubt it had an affect and once I decided not to retire there was a genuine pick up again…it’s amazing.

"In the case of Jose the one thing you’ve got to remember is that I made an announcement whereas it’s all speculation at Chelsea. So no-one knows for sure and of course with the modern media the way they are today it isn’t speculation, it’s fact the way they present it. I had dinner with Mourinho in November and he seemed happy enough. I think that whatever has happened the situation with Shevchenko seems to be at the core of it (the speculation) but you don’t really know.”

When Porto beat you in the Champions League and Jose Mourinho celebrated exuberantly on your touchline I remember thinking to myself ‘God if he ever comes to the Premiership…’ but he doesn’t seem to bother you, you appear to be quite fond of him…

“I get on well with Jose. I don’t think he’s the type to be honest with you that separates himself from everyone; he’ll have a drink after the game, he’ll laugh at himself and he’ll tell jokes against himself as I’ve heard him sit in our office time and time again. So I don’t see any negatives as opposed to other managers because I always have my door open to all the managers and we never talk about football, we talk about general things and most of the managers come in for a drink. I think it’s important for some of the younger managers I think they want to come in to talk to me because they might learn something and I like that and I say to them ‘anytime you are needing advice give me a call and a lot of them do’.

You play Arsenal this weekend and yes, they beat Liverpool twice conclusively last week but by the standards Arsene’s teams have set over the past decade their form has been a bit patchy this season. Do you think they are suffering any sort of hangover from losing the Champions League final because they are a young side who did so well to get there?

“I don’t think the Champions League final has anything to do with it, because I think it was a bonus them getting there. Nobody expected them to get there, it was a surprise and I think they would recognise it themselves because they were a young team and had no record in Europe, so they did exceptionally well to get there. So rather than it being a negative it should have been a positive because they’d over achieved. This season, yes they’ve got young players, change to a new stadium may have something to do with it, change of environment, different type of pitch, there’s a lot of things can go into it. But they’ve got quality and you always expect quality to eventually surface and there seems to be a good camaraderie about them, there doesn’t seem to be any break in the ranks.”

You appointed Walter Smith to be your Assistant Manager at Manchester United and have known him a long time. He’s renowned for having a lot of integrity but that’s been questioned by some of the media and some Scotland fans because he’s left the Scotland job to return to Rangers, what are your thoughts on that?

“Well I think that the Scottish fans should be happy that he regenerated the team and the country. I was at the France game and it was a fantastic atmosphere and for any Scottish fan to be there that day they would be absolutely ‘over the moon’ and proud of what their team had achieved. So yes it was a big dilemma for Walter because having spoken to him I know exactly what the dilemma was. He felt a great obligation to Scotland because he is Scottish and is as proud as any other Scot, but the lure of Rangers and the fact that they were offering him a long term future was hard to turn down at his age. He’s taken a job on which is really his love, Rangers, it’s understandable but at least he’s given Scotland a position where they hadn’t been for a long, long time. There’s a bit of pride back in the country, there’re some young players who got an opportunity through Walter and they’re starting to emerge quite well and I think although the Scotland fans didn’t want him to leave they’ll be secretly pleased that he’s done so well (for Scotland.)”

Alex McLeish has confirmed he’s to be interviewed for the Scotland job. With the number of trophies he’s won at Rangers, the experience he has managing in the Champions League and his own International playing career it should make him the outstanding candidate shouldn’t it?

“I think he is, I think he’s ideal, I think it’s perfect. He’s had a good grooming in management; he’s been with Motherwell, Hibs and Rangers. During his four and a half years at Rangers he’s won trophies and had the experience of dealing with difficult situations at Rangers. I think only now, the Rangers fans and the Scottish media recognise what a really good job he did. He did a fantastic job at Rangers because he had even less resources than Paul Le Guen, but he still kept them at a very, very good level so he is without question in my mind the ideal choice for the job. He may think himself that he’s maybe a year too young to manage Scotland but I think he’s perfect for it now. I think he’s a good age and that he’d have great back up from Tommy Burns who is an absolutely magnificent person to have at your side, a man with great experience, great integrity, good character…everything is right for Tommy Burns to be in that role of helping Alex. Alex is an intelligent lad and he’ll look to add to what Walter has done. Rather than be disillusioned that Walter has left I think that we (Scots) should be happy that a younger man with the credentials of Alex McLeish, whose Scottish, can do the job.”