Alex Ferguson's thoughts on life and football as book comes out Sir Alex Ferguson's return to Aberdeen at the Music Hall sold out in a matter of minutes. Little wonder. Here we offer just a taste of what might be to come: Part of my job was making sure these lads [at Manchester United] kept their feet on the ground. I hammered it into them that their work ethic was what had got them through the door here in the first place and they must never lose it. When you go home to your mother, make sure she is seeing the same person she sent to me, because if you take all the fame and money the wrong way, she'll be be disappointed. I never give in or give up easily on a player or a cause. Even if the team have won, I'm not always happy, because standards are all important to me and, if they have dropped. I'm angry. We never give in, we play right to the end of every match. I have always rammed it home to my teams that they shouldn't understand the word defeat. And they should never be happy with it."" [On Eric Cantona] "Nothing Eric did in matches meant more than the way he opened my eyes to the indispensability of practice." [On David Beckham] "David thought he was bigger than Alex Ferguson. There is no doubt about that in my mind. When Beckham moved to America to join LA Galaxy, I believe he began to realise he had surrendered part of his career. I think he's a wonderful boy. But you should never surrender what you're good at. David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous. [On Cristiano Ronaldo] "Cristiano was the most gifted player I managed in all my years at Old Trafford. He surpassed all the other great ones I coached at United. When the possibility of him leaving edged towards being a probability, I reached a gentleman's agreement with him. His agent Jorge Mendes is, I should say, the best agent I dealt with, without a doubt. [On Roy Keane] "I believe Roy Keane's behaviour pattern changed when he realised he was no longer the Roy Keane of old. The hardest point of Roy's body is his tongue. He has the most savage tongue you can imagine. [On the possibility of managing England] "There was no way I could contemplate that. It wasn't a bed of nails I was ever tempted to lie on. Could you ever imagine me coming back up to Scotland as the England manager?