Speaking at his book launch for his autobiography, “My Decade As A Red”, Rio Ferdinand talked about how Sir Alex Ferguson inspired the players to reclaim the league title last season.

“It was weird,” said Rio. “All of last season, because all of the credits were all Man City winning and that goal, you’re watching TV thinking to yourself ‘they’ve got to move on now, surely’. Things like that irritate you. When we were in the stadium we just heard a noise and it was the Sunderland fans screaming and cheering. Afterwards on the coach I was thinking about why they were even cheering, what they had to gain from that. But the manager came in after and he was speaking more to the young players, especially the younger ones that hadn’t won anything, and said ‘do not forget this day. Remember these fans and make sure that you’re coming back here at some point as champions and rub it in their face.’ It wasn’t so much what he said, but the way he said it. Everything he said, there was a meaning behind it and there was a forcefulness behind it. It was more that than the words he said that hit home and made you think about next season.”

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Ramsin Isaac was at the event on behalf of RoM. Follow him on Twitter.