The legendary manager led the Red Devils to 13 Premier League titles in his 27-year tenure at Old Trafford and felt that the formidable mental strength that he was able to instill in his players helped make the club so successful for such a long period of time.

In an interview with TNTSports, Ferguson said: "The perseverance, they never give in. That's a quality that great teams always had.

"It's also about myself and the team. We were second in the league six times and won the next year. Isn't that amazing? Six times second, and twice on goal difference, and won the league the next year.

"That tells you what that club was about, what those players were about. Not just one set of players, that was going back to the 94/95 team, tough as nails. To a really talented team in 2008, with [Carlos] Tevez, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Wayne] Rooney up front. Unbelievable."

The footballing landscape underwent major changes during Ferguson's stint at United but he always felt that new arrivals embraced the "romance" of the club.

The retired coach said: "The 94/95 team was basically an English team, with Schmeichel, didn't have a lot of foreign influence. By the time we got to 2008, we had quite a few foreign players, the game had changed.

"Every foreign player, European player came in, adapted right away. They probably looked onto coming to United [as] bigger than anything, because the reputation of the club had grown.

"There's no question, people say it's the biggest club in the world. It's a club that probably had one billion fans over the world. It's that kind of club. It's got a romance about it."