Demanding Fergie will die on the job

Sir Alex Ferguson will die on the job before he retires from it, according to fans’ favourite Patrice Evra. The French left-back, who signed from Monaco in January 2006, says that despite recent rumours Ferguson will never leave his role as Manchester United manager and still demands the highest possible standards from his players.

“The manager will die on the bench. It is his destiny,” Evra told the Daily Mail, dismissing rumours that Ferguson will retire in June 2011.

“He just started talking about how people had been saying he was going to retire. And he asked us if we seriously thought he would just be sitting in his house watching the TV, listening to the radio and doing nothing.

“He said, ‘No chance. I have worked all my life and I will work until I die’. For a moment he laughed. And then he said, ‘This is my victory. I cannot walk away from this’.

“Before a game he always tells a small story. Sometimes he talks about when he was the Aberdeen manager. Another time he went round the dressing room and talked about the different players.

“The fact that here we were, from Korea, France, Serbia, Bulgaria, from different parts of England and the world, and how we had all come together to be in the same place. He talked about our stories. The different obstacles we had overcome to get here. It gave the players this huge lift.”

“Alex Ferguson is a culture. And he is a winner. Football is like a pyramid. To reach the top is easy. It is staying there that is difficult. He does not let you rest. He is always hungry for the next game.

“I remember one match when we were winning 2-0 by half-time and he still gave us the hair-dryer because we should have been four or five up. He reminded us that people had paid money to watch us. ‘Why don’t you respect them?’ he screamed.

“He demands the highest standards. If you play a good game for United, you sit on the bench. Only if you play an amazing game do you stay in the team. Those are the rules and the players accept them.”

Evra, who has played nearly 200 times for United, is a popular player in both the dressing room and the terraces since joining in a £5.5 million deal.