Ahead of tonight's match at Newcastle United, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted his admiration for the Toon Army's passion.

The Manchester United manager and assistant Archie Knox took a stroll into town before a fixture against the Magpies almost 20 years' ago where they were met by the holler of the local newspaper seller.

Fergie takes up the tale: "I always relate to a story, and it's probably the only city in the world where this would happen.

"Archie Knox and I were once walking through the town centre and the newspaper seller was shouting out the story, 'Micky Quinn ankle injury - read all about it!'.

"There were all these different stories in the world that day but they wanted to read about Micky Quinn's ankle.

"But that sums up the city and I can relate to that.

"Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle - they are all real working-class footballing cities.

"And that's because of the industrial nature of mining communities and ship-building communities.

"They seem to drift towards a passion for football as an outlet in life.

"And that proves there is one thing in life a man can never change, and that's his football team."