Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken out on when he intends to leave the club:

“I think the time, if you’re going to retire, would be at the end of a summer. I say to players, don’t retire at the end of the season,”

Speaking about former Celtic Captain Billy McNeill he continued:

“Billy retired at the end of the season and he got through the summer and he found he was ready to go again. You get a break, you are freshened up and you want to go again.

“But if you have your holiday and you come back into training and you’re thinking, ‘Not another training session . . .’ I think that will be the time,” Ferguson said. “When you’re fed up with actually going to training. I love coming into training.”

It seems, however, that the crucial element of a specific date still eludes the Scot.

Ferguson also spoke about his worry that superstar Cristiano Ronaldo may face rough treatment in the Manchester Derby:

“I think he will be targeted, not in the sense of bad tackling but what you are finding is supporters are helping teams to get away with what they’re doing. I thought at Villa Park, Villa got away with murder. The crowd got to the referee.”

“All these great players over the years, the Maradonas, Cruyffs, Peles – they all took a kick. It didn’t deter them at all. I remember wee Jimmy Johnstone at Celtic: he’d go straight at the defender who’d just fouled him to let him know he wouldn’t be bullied.

“Cristiano has a similar thing,”

“He had an operation in the summer, which was the result of consistent tackling on him, but he’s naturally brave. I don’t think it [fouling] ever stopped Maradona, I don’t think it stopped Pele. If you’re them, you don’t think of that when you have a ball at your feet, because that’s what you want.

“It won’t stop Cristiano and that’s not getting recognised. He’s always wanting to do

something with the ball, yet the fans chant, ‘Cheat!’ Well, who is the cheat? Who’s cheating football? Not Cristiano. It’s stupid – a stupid game.”

Source:times