What do you give a man who has won everything? Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates 21 years as Manchester United manager on Tuesday. “I’d like,” he said, “to spend it by having a day off.”

Perhaps it is because he has a press conference scheduled soon. But you doubt that Ferguson really means it. His love is his work.

Ferguson has enjoyed nearly every second of modern football’s most extraordinary reign. “I was saying to Paddy Crerand the other night that I can’t believe where it has all gone,” he said. “I couldn’t think about this in 1986 because it was such a big challenge at the time. You need a good board of directors and I had a board with Bobby Charlton, who was 100% behind me because he could see the work I was doing with young players.

“We were building a football club, not a team. Bit by bit you get to where you want to get to. It’s like if you go on a long bus journey, you go through a lot of the wee villages in Scotland before you get to the other side of the country and where you are going to.”

Ferguson’s departure point was so long ago that two of the players he used yesterday, Anderson and Nani, were not even born. Managing successfully through such a change in eras has been as great an achievement as the 26 trophies he has won.

“I feel the potential of the team is good. They’re young, there’s a good desire there, they work hard. Most are tough mentally. You see that with Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, and Anderson is surprising us all the time. And if you have young ones with that mettle it gives you confidence you’re on the right path.

“I’d say the difference with young players now is we do everything for them. The old tradition was the young boys did the boots, washed the manager’s car, used to paint the stand. They’re not even allowed to brush boots now.

“It’s to do with the Academy status but what we’ve lost is the tradition of when players get a wee bit older they’d say to the apprentices, ‘You’ve never had it so good, in my day...’ So, by creating that soft approach or easy approach, you do everything for them. Sixteen-year-old boys – not even allowed to clean their own boots.”

Pampering is never going to be a danger at Old Trafford while the old shipyard foreman is in charge but Ferguson, a long-time critic of Academy rules and regulations, worries for the wider game. “We have to adjust to the culture now, but that doesn’t mean you produce players with the right character to perform at the highest level,” Ferguson continued, warming to the subject. “Because I always think the football field is a judgment place for everyone. It’s not just about ability.

“If that was the case, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane wouldn’t be in my top 20. But in terms of overall package they’re in my top two.

“Some people are natural winners and money doesn’t matter to them. And I see some others change when they get a bit of cash.

“They buy themselves a Ferrari, they get themselves places abroad, they eat in the best restaurants. Whereas you get other players still getting stuck into Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald’s. I think it’s fair to say that you like to see young players with their feet on the ground.”

Like so many tenets, Ferguson forged the latter through the life lessons of growing up in Govan. “I used to say to the young ones, ‘What does your mother think when you go back to see her?’ Because I always remember I was a really good writer when I was young, an excellent writer. I was third in a competition in Glasgow when I was at primary school.

“I sent my mother a Christmas card and when you become a footballer you start to scribble. So I went up to see her and she was sitting with this card in her lap. She said, ‘Did you send this card? That’s not your writing. Don’t you ever send me a card like that again.”

Ferguson lamented that when new players arrive at Old Trafford nowadays “they’ve never heard of Duncan Edwards. Some have never even heard of Bobby Charlton. In fact, a couple of the young ones a couple of years back had never heard of Denis Law”.

They get told, soon enough. Ferguson is still full of enthusiasm for the game, its history and his future. “Last year’s championship was as good as the first,” he said. “Winning is your drug. And I’ll see the lot of you [journalists] off first. Once I’ve done that, I’ll think about retiring. There are no thoughts about that at the moment, definitely not.”

Not ready for the pipe and slippers then?

“I don’t wear slippers,” Ferguson smiled.