Former Manchester United coach Tony Coton lifts the lid at Old Trafford... Roy Keane's rant about his villa was the real reason Sir Alex Ferguson axed him

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Unlike me, Sir Alex Ferguson was a master of when to pick his fights. One of his great attributes was to treat every player the same way. 

It didn't matter if it was a first-team player on £100,000 a week or an academy kid learning the ropes, he would always deliver a punishment that fitted the crime - and no one was above the law.

As Manchester United's goalkeeping coach between 1998 and 2007, I had a close-up view of just how calculating the boss could be, as great United players such as David Beckham, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy were banished from Old Trafford at a time when everyone else regarded them as indispensable.

Former Manchester United coach Tony Coton (left) talks about life at Old Trafford

Coton reveals how Sir Alex Ferguson ended the United careers of three footballing stars

It wasn't the dressing-room row in the aftermath of a 2–0 FA Cup defeat at the hands of Arsenal at Old Trafford in 2003 that did for Becks. It was his reaction to the fallout, a crass attempt by the nation's favourite player to turn United fans and the general public against his boss. 

Sir Alex and David were having words about the midfielder's failure to track back for the second goal. The manager saw a stray boot lying on the floor and kicked at it in frustration - only to see it fly above Becks' head. The boot thudded against the wall, but the metal aglet on one of the laces caught David above his eye. Becks felt blood trickle down his face, then lost the plot completely.

Thankfully, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs managed to calm their mate down, while Sir Alex told David that he was sorry for kicking the boot towards him. It was a genuine apology from the boss, even though it was a freak accident.

What David should have done was accept the olive branch and issue his own words of remorse, but he petulantly brushed the gaffer away before adding insult to injury.

The incident was leaked to the tabloids and the next time Becks appeared in public his hair had been swept back off his face and held in place by an Alice band. A couple of butterfly stitches had been inserted into the small nick above David's eye, and he wanted the whole world to see.

When I saw how staged the photographs were I realised Beckham's PR experts had gone for Sir Alex's throat. My first reaction was: 'Close the door on your way out, David.' 

In the final weeks of the season, it became the worst-kept secret at the club that Becks was Real Madrid-bound in the summer.

Coton claims David Beckham played up the cut he got when Ferguson kicked a boot at him

The manager was always willing to sacrifice a stellar player if he felt it necessary to maintain control; it was his number one rule of football management. So when Keane began to challenge his authority a couple of years later, there was only going to be one winner - and it wasn't Roy.

The tipping point was an interview Roy gave MUTV in November 2005 criticising his team-mates after a 4-1 defeat at Middlesbrough, but my view is that the seeds of his downfall were sown in pre-season when Keano decided to test the strength of the relationship between Sir Alex and his assistant, Carlos Queiroz, after a season of bitter disappointment and an FA Cup final defeat by Arsenal.

Sir Alex wanted his players to hit the ground running in 2005-06. A pre-season training camp in Portugal was arranged, but the manager, mindful he was cutting into players' holidays, arranged for wives, partners and children to join the squad. It was clever man-management, but wasn't appreciated by the skipper, Roy.

He and his family had been holidaying further along the coast and he wanted to stay where he was and travel into training every morning. That would defeat the purpose of the exercise. 

He also reveals how Roy Keane was unhappy at the villa he was given on a team training camp

The captain made it clear he wasn't happy with the accommodation. The villa he had been forced to vacate was bigger and better equipped and an offer to move him to a better property backfired when he complained that the pool was too cold. When a barbecue was arranged for the families, Roy sought out Sir Alex. In hushed tones, the boss convinced his skipper this wasn't the time for a frank discussion.

When we arrived at the airport for a pre-season tour to Hong Kong, China and Japan a couple of weeks later, our captain was nowhere to be seen. The 'official' reason was that he had been left at home to work on his fitness, but a rift had opened up between the United manager and his captain.

An uneasy truce was reached, but when Roy limped out of a challenge with Steven Gerrard at Anfield, it was to be the last time he played for United. Two months later, one of the club's greatest-ever players was allowed to join Celtic.

As for Van Nistelrooy, he was distraught at being on the bench for United's victory in the 2006 League Cup final. When Ronaldo's No 7 went up and Kieran Richardson was sent on, Van Nistelrooy's temper started to stir again. Ten minutes later new boys Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic came on for Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown. Without even turning to look Ferguson in the eye, Ruud spewed out a torrent of four-letter curses.

I was sat one place away from the manager and could see the red mist descending over him. A TV cameraman close to the bench had also picked up on Ruud's vitriolic rant. 'He's finished here,' whispered the manager to me. 'No one speaks to me like that.'

In the dressing room Sir Alex sought out the striker while all around champagne corks were popping. It was an incongruous moment to tell one of the club's star players he was doomed at United.

Coton says Ferguson told him 'he's finished' about van Nistelrooy at the 2006 League Cup final

I was wild and heading for prison until Taylor became my saviour

Graham Taylor was portrayed as the devil incarnate with England but to me he was a miracle worker for keeping me out of prison and turning my career around. News of his death from a heart attack in January hit me like a sledgehammer because I'd always wanted to thank him for saving me from a life unfulfilled.

When I signed for his Watford team at the age of 23, I'd already had a growing rap sheet from my first club Birmingham City.

As a young pro, I'd been done for GBH after being caught up in a mass brawl during a weekend in Skegness. I was then convicted and fined £350 for ABH after going toe-to-toe with a bouncer during the season Blues were relegated in 1983/84.

When I joined Watford in September 1984, another ABH case was hanging over me. I'd been out in Tamworth. A doorman had tried to close the door on us, I wasn't having that and jammed one of my size 11s through the doorframe. Fists started to fly and a taxi driver recognised me when the altercation spilled into the road. I knew a knock on the door would come.

ABH is an offence that carries a maximum sentence of five years and as he signed me, Graham said: 'Please tell me that I'm not about to waste three hundred grand of my chairman's cash on a goalkeeper who is going to be playing for a prison team in a few months.'

I came up for sentencing early in March 1985. My new club appointed a barrister to represent me and he told Graham Taylor that my previous convictions for assault meant that I had run out of second chances. 'Wear a cheap suit,' he said. 'And ask a friend to drive you to court – because I don't think you will be going home.'

Coton credits former Watford manager Graham Taylor of saving him from going to prison

Thankfully, the gaffer refused to give up on me. He stood up in Tamworth Magistrates' Court and delivered a character reference that painted me as a misunderstood fallen angel who needed help and understanding rather than a stretch in Winson Green.

I didn't recognise the individual that Graham described, but he told the judge that he would stake his reputation on keeping Anthony Philip Coton on the straight and narrow. It was a performance Rumpole would have been proud of.

The judge gave me a six-month sentence suspended for two years – I was a very lucky man. I thanked Graham Taylor profusely for his intervention. 'The man I described in that dock isn't the man you are,' said Graham. 'But it is the man I know you can become. Don't let me down.'

The six years I spent at Vicarage Road were the best of my career and we had great players like John Barnes and Mo Johnson.

Graham demanded high standards in every aspect of being a professional footballer. Small things, like being clean-shaven, banning players from wearing jeans and just being punctual were minor details but they pulled us all together.

And please forget the genial Mr Nice Guy image. He was certainly a gentleman in public, but I probably saw him smash more tea-cups than Sir Alex Ferguson. I remember one occasion at Watford when he lost his rag so completely that he kicked the skip used to collect dirty kit. He was only wearing trainers and ended up with a broken toe.

Coton claims that Taylor was no Mr Nice Guy despite his gentlemanly persona in public 

When Graham Taylor succeeded Bobby Robson with England in 1990, I thought my chance of a full cap might finally come. I was in squads but never played. On a tour to Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, all I returned with was jet-lag and a few bottles of duty-free while Brian Deane, Earl Barrett, John Salako, Gary Charles and David Hirst became internationals.

Graham told me a few years later he'd been told in no uncertain terms by his employers at the FA that playing me wasn't an option. Apparently there was no such thing as a rehabilitated criminal as far as the men in suits at Lancaster Gate were concerned. Then in 2016, Steve Harrison (Taylor's assistant) told me: 'Of course Graham wanted to give you a cap. He planned to give you a game in Malaysia but was asked not to by Peter Swales (chairman of Coton's club Manchester City and chairman of the FA's International Committee).

'The problem was City would have to pay Watford a £350,000 bonus if you ever played for England and Swales didn't want that to happen. So he put the squeeze on Graham. It was agreed that you'd get a game at a later date, but the opportunity never materialised. I know Graham has regretted it ever since.'

With England, Graham was on a hiding to nothing after Italia 90. His biggest mistake was allowing a documentary team unrestricted access during the ill-fated qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup that was to cost him his job.

There was nothing positive to be gained from being filmed and wired for sound during the crucial qualifiers in Norway and Holland, but it did open him up for ridicule when things started to disintegrate. No-one looks good under pressure and 'do I not like that' and 'thank-you linesman' became humiliating catchphrases that were used as sticks to beat a thoroughly decent man with.

Coton thought his England chance would come when Taylor was appointed as manager

Graham Taylor deserved respect, not derision. I honestly still can't fathom exactly what (assistant) Lawrie McMenemy's role was supposed to entail. He was obviously a great manager for Southampton, but the only thing I can remember him telling the players was to keep our hotel rooms tidy. Mind you, he was once a member of the Coldstream Guards, so I suppose the old soldier in him demanded a spick and span barrack room.

I was there the night Graham's reign came to an end in Bologna's Stadio Renato Dall'Ara against San Marino in 1993. It was also my last experience of being in an England squad.

We needed to win by seven goals and hope Holland lost in Poland to qualify for the World Cup. I was sat next to Paul Parker and had just started munching on a hot-dog bought hurriedly from a street vendor when the home side kicked off. I was still on my first bite when Stuart Pearce's under-hit backpass allowed Davide Gualtieri to toe-poke a shot past David Seaman. A computer salesman had scored against England after 8.3 seconds.

A week later, Graham was gone, proving the FA can get a shift on when it suits them. I knew he was suffering during those final days in a job that he had been so proud to get.

Some of the players just didn't buy into Graham's philosophy. Maybe it was because he hadn't managed Manchester United or Liverpool, perhaps they thought his tactics lacked the sophistication needed to succeed at the very top level.

But I still find it impossible to find fault with the man who put my life back on the straight and narrow. 

Ferguson toughened up Ronaldo by recognising his weaknesses

Alex Ferguson showed what he thought of this kid Ronaldo by handing him the club's iconic No7 shirt when he signed him in 2003. But just as important was the gaffer's ability to recognise his weaknesses.

One flaw was his habit of falling to the floor like a rag doll every time he lost a tackle. Sir Alex embarked on a mission to toughen him up. Members of the coaching staff were encouraged to turn a blind eye if they saw Ronaldo being fouled in practise matches and small-sided games. 

These games were intense and no prisoners were taken. Poor Ronaldo didn't know what hit him as team-mates he'd been sharing a joke with him gave him the kind of treatment that was no laughing matter.

When a free-kick was not forthcoming, he'd throw his hands up in outrage and sit on the turf muttering Portuguese curses while the game continued around him. Toughened pros like Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand would lambast him for being soft. It was tough love and slowly but surely, the message began to seep into our winger's consciousness. 

Ferguson refused to indulge Cristiano Ronaldo's habit of falling to the floor like a rag doll

How Albert our kit-man disrupted a speech by the mighty Mandela

During a Manchester United summer tour of South Africa in 2006, we caught a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg to meet the great Madiba, Nelson Mandela.

You meet so many famous people as part of United it's easy to become blase, but there was a real sense of excitement as we walked up the steps of the building that housed the Nelson Mandela Foundation. We had a private viewing of a new photographic exhibition that put Mandela's personal sacrifice into sharp focus.

We were then ushered into a small auditorium for an intimate meeting with the great man. Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton led the way and were informed of two rules: all mobile phones to be switched off and no photographs to be taken.

Coton was on the United tour to South Africa in 2006 when they met Nelson Mandela

The atmosphere was punctured when the kit man's phone went off during Mandela's speech

The trip came just after Mandela's 88th birthday and he was presented with several gifts

When your distinguished host entered the room, the silence was palpable. He exuded an aura that commanded your respect. It felt like a religious experience. 

Sir Bobby presented him with a Manchester United Opus, then Sir Alex, right, gave him a United No 88 shirt, commemorating his recent birthday. Even our manager was in awe of this frail-looking man who still brimmed with an indescribable strength and charisma.

Then, Mandela spoke. He thanked United for visiting his country and said how the fortunes of the club had been a constant source of conversation inside the three prisons he had been incarcerated in for 27 years before his release in 1990.

United kit man, Albert Morgan (far left), was the guilty party who had not turned his phone off

A mobile phone started to ring. Mandela continued to address his guests about his foundation and the fight to combat AIDS in Africa, but the phone continued to ring.

It became clear that our kit-man, Albert Morgan, was the guilty party as he was fiddling around in the pocket of his tracksuit bottoms trying to kill the call.

Sir Alex, crimson-faced with anger, fixed him with a look sharp enough to kill and afterwards I could see him breathing fire into Albert's face from about six inches. My own sense of mischief kicked in.

'Nelson Mandela is talking about being locked up - and Albert's ringtone is the theme tune from The Great Escape.' Sir Alex looked at me, turned to finish his dressing down, and burst out laughing. I'd inadvertently got Albert off the hook.

Elton made me feel like a No1 hit

In 1988, Watford manager Steve Harrison called me into his office to deliver a bittersweet update.

'Spurs have offered £800,000 for you,' he said. 'We're not selling you at that price but if they offer a million quid, the ball will be in your court.'

With that, the boss picked up the phone and started to dial. When he got an answer, he handed me the receiver. It was our chairman, Elton John, and what I heard left me stunned. 

Elton said: 'I want to keep you and, as a gesture of how much I value you, I am offering you a new six-year contract. If you honour your new contract in its entirety, I'll play a concert at Vicarage Road with all the proceeds going to you.'

I didn't just feel wanted, I felt loved. I stayed - but ended up going to Manchester City in 1990. Elton never did dedicate any classics to me, though there is a brief glimpse of me in action in the official video to accompany his smash-hit single Nikita.

There To Be Shot At by Tony Coton will be published by deCoubertin Books on September 21. You can pre-order by going to decoubertin. co.uk/Coton

Elton John offered to play a concert in Coton's honour if he honoured a six-year deal at Watford