Sir Alex Ferguson is used to facing tough questions but the Manchester United manager found himself on unfamiliar ground when quizzed by his side’s celebrity fans. This rare insight into Ferguson’s personality covers a lot of ground — from rebuilding United’s youth system to calls for a knighthood for Ryan Giggs. Ferguson, who refused yesterday to rule out coaching the Great Britain Olympic team in 2012 — “I have not come to a decision about it yet. It was just something that was thrown across my bows and I said I would think about it” — says that United will be his last full-time job in football and reflects on his toughest decisions in the game.

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Gary Pallister would have taken some beating in a sprint. But speed in football isn’t about running 100 metres on a football pitch. In a football sense, I’d say [Andrei] Kanchelskis and Giggs, particularly when he was younger.

Denis Law, former United striker: When you retire from United, probably in another 20 years, would you accept the Scotland job if it was vacant?

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No. I won’t turn to international management. When I’ve finished here, I deserve a rest. I’ll be off to my wee butt and ben [holiday home] for a complete rest. After here, I’m finished.

Simon Le Bon, singer (Duran Duran): You seem to be the object of more public speculation and criticism than any manager before. How does it affect you?

It’s part of the job when you’re manager of Manchester United. It’s not just me, either. Look at the criticism [Cristiano] Ronaldo gets, the best player in the world. He only has to have half a bad game and he’s slaughtered. [Eric] Cantona got it, he got slaughtered for ages. You have to accept it’s part of the package. It doesn’t bother me one bit.

Mickey Thomas, former United player: What was the turning point in the early part of your United career?

I always felt having a youth programme was important. That was the foundation we built at this club. We held trials every week up at Albert Park in Salford. I remember saying: “I don’t want the best boy in their street. I want the best boy in their town.” We worked really hard at the youth and you could start to see the fruits of that after 1½ years. In those days, you could have trials all the time, but not now. We’d have the kids in for two or three weeks in August, two weeks in October, a week in December, two weeks in March. That way we got all the best young kids and trialling all the time. It was hard work.

Meanwhile, I felt that the first-team squad was too old to carry on challenging and we had to start changing that. In 1989, I decided to do that. I brought in five players and we sold off about eight — Paul McGrath, Norman Whiteside, Gordon Strachan, Jesper Olsen, Peter Davenport, Chris Turner and Graeme Hogg. We gave a free transfer to Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton and Mick Duxbury. We started to build a new team. But the biggest thing was the youth development, it was starting to progress.

Ian Brown, singer: Sir Alex, as the greatest manager of all time, is it hard to be humble?

The important thing is just to keep your feet on the ground. I have a commonsense attitude to life. My wife cringes every time someone calls me Sir Alex or calls her Lady Cathy. She says to me: “I don’t know why you accepted it in the first place.”