I was praised by Sir Alex Ferguson after winning the league with Manchester United on Saturday and released by him on Tuesday

"You've been absolutely f**king useless tonight." Those were the final words from legendary Manchester United youth coach Eric Harrison to Alan Tonge after a dressing room dressing down for the then 15-year-old right-back at Gresty Road.

United's under-18s had just lifted another piece of silverware - the Lancashire League Supplementary Cup - and Tonge had made the step up to the age group for the first time, but despite the victory Harrison tore him to shreds afterwards, telling him he was a disgrace and how poor he had been.

It was another eye-opening moment for Tonge, who had fulfilled a dream when signing for the club he supported as a boy at 14, but was now discovering that youth football in the late 1980s and 1990s was a harsh, often toxic environment to be in. It was bordering on bullying.

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Tonge tells this story and many more in his new book, From Red to Read: The Story of Fergie's First Fledgling, and it isn't just a sob story. He looks back fondly on plenty of his five-and-a-half years at United and although he had to retire from the game at 24, he has forged a second career every bit as good as the first, returning to education to complete a PhD, hence the name of the book.

Some of what he went through as a child at United has helped forge aspects of the 52-year-old's character now and still influences his teachings at the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB), but at the time it was immensely difficult for someone who describes themselves as reserved, going into an environment full of masculinity.

"You have to be careful sometimes, banter and