The media was manipulated to promote the Ferguson way. If you weren't prepared to play that game, you would see the other side of his personality, an unpleasant one.

The clashes were memorable and unpredictable.

Knowing his drive and ambition it was almost acceptable that anyone who dared disagree, criticise or simply do their job as broadcasters and journalists that wasn't in the Ferguson script, was kept out of the tent.

The great man was described as someone who could start an argument in an empty house and I had that dubious honour on several occasions. He banned me from seeing him for six months.

My crime? He told me that a piece of unexpected team news he gave me on air turned out to be a mistruth, and I told my radio audience.

Ferguson didn't qualify as a panel member for the TV show, but when he heard of my broadcast, he almost melted the receiver I held in my hand.

As a former Scottish boxing champion and internationalist, I was always able to deal with aggression and it amused those within a half-mile of me.

I was told not to film his squad training on the morning of the European Cup match in 1980 because he would not be interviewed.

It was a complete surprise as we had featured him on the news programme before we boarded the plane.

He said I was not an Aberdeen man and that I was from the south.

I turned up at training and filmed the session and stuck a mic under his nose as he left, but I didn't know what he was talking about.

He might not be seen as a contender, but I would have made it.