I interviewed Ruud van Nistelrooy and saw how much Manchester United still meant to him

Usually when you knock on the door ahead of an interview you are greeted by a chirpy and overbearing PR. The man stood at the doorway of the Gran Melia's penthouse had a very familiar face.

"Hi, how are you?" Ruud van Nistelrooy asked, beckoning me in.

This was October 2013. Sir Alex Ferguson's second autobiography had been published the previous day at a ramshackle launch at the Industry of Directors. In it, a whole chapter was dedicated to Van Nistelrooy entitled 'Ruud'.

Back when press conferences were not filmed, Ferguson would call journalists every word under the sun. In his autobiography, every swear word was asterisked. "'You ****,' said Van Nistelrooy," Ferguson wrote. "I'll always remember that. Could not believe it... That was the end of him. He'd burned his boats."

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Van Nistelrooy's mood was unaffected by Ferguson dredging up the past. He had picked up the phone to apologise to him over his reaction to that 2006 League Cup final snub and attended Ferguson's statue unveiling at Old Trafford in December 2012.

He did not dispute any of Ferguson's recollections in a book laden with 45 factual errors. "The way he decided, what happened, it was... it wasn't an easy situation, in that sense," Van Nistelrooy said. "We both moved on like many players before me and after me, it's just the way it happened. I cherish those five years. It's the longest time I've played for a club in my career."

United were 4-0 up in the League Cup final against Wigan and Van Nistelrooy, benched in favour of Louis Saha, anticipated a cameo. Ferguson