JEWELL THINKS FERGIE'S A DIAMOND

"Alex is a role model for all managers and I know he gives a lot of advice.

"Last season when we were playing Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final second leg, United were playing Blackburn in the other the next night and fancied their chances of getting through.

"My phone rings just as I'm going to leave for London and it's Sir Alex, who says 'Right then...' and tells me how to play Arsenal. 'Play narrrow ... and I hope you bloody beat them'.

"I put the phone down and thought, 'It's not because he likes us, it's because he wants to play us in the final rather than Arsenal! Typical Fergie, ringing me to give me some advice before we play Arsenal, but that's him.

"Then there was the time at Bradford when they'd just done us 4-0. I was sitting in my office with my assistant Chris Hutchings, feeling flat, and Fergie knocked on the door.

"Actually, he didn't knock, he just came in and said, 'Right, let's see this 5.30 race - I've a horse racing in it!'

"Everyone looks up to him and you wouldn't want to make an enemy of him, that's for sure."

"If I was a punter, I'd think Fergie is driven on by Chelsea,".

"I don't think he is obsessed by them, but I don't think he likes them that much. I see more hunger in Fergie's eyes now and maybe that's because Chelsea have got up his nose a little bit.

"I know the chief executive Peter Kenyon says things about Chelsea that maybe raise a few eye brows at United.

"Eventually Alex will retire but it is remarkable he is 65 and still at the very top. The United job is arguably the most coveted in the country and I reckon he won't retire until he wins something else.

"He is driven by trying to beat Chelsea this year and he has every chance this season.

"I look at people like Alex, Roy Keane and the best players in the world, and you know that's why they are the best - because they don't sit back and think, 'I have won the league or the Champions League'. They always say, 'I want to do better'.

"All the best managers and players have that drive and burning ambition, that steely determination to keep getting better. Alex has that and I don't think you can put that into someone.

"Unfortunately, I can see that hunger in his eyes again and I know we will have a difficult time at Old Trafford on Boxing Day.

"But as a neutral, what is happening this season is the best thing to happen to the Premiership for a while. "It's about time United, Liverpool and Arsenal gave Chelsea a challenge, because the last two title races have been over by Christmas and that's not good for the Premiership."