Sir Alex Ferguson's hairdryer treatment was enough to scare even some of the toughest players to ever grace Manchester United's dressing room.

If the Red Devils ever put in a disappointing performance during the first 45 minutes of a match, United's stars were the first ones to hear about it from the legendary Scot.

And more often than not it worked, as Ferguson's side became one of the best in the business at mounting comebacks - see Munich 1999.

But Rio Ferdinand has revealed that not everyone saw Ferguson's nasty side.

The former centre-back spent over a decade at Old Trafford but there was one man who never got told off by the boss and even went to the extent of calling him the 'teacher's pet'.

Who is it? Well, it turns out Ferguson appeared to have a soft spot for fellow Scot Darren Fletcher.

Speaking on BT Sport, Ferdinand admitted there is a WhatsApp group of former United stars, which Fletcher is also a member of.

"He must've actually been in one of our group chats we had last night with a few of the old United players," Ferdinand responded, when asked by a Middlesbrough fan - see the video below.

"Darren Fletcher was Sir Alex Ferguson's pet. He was round the house for Sunday lunch and stuff, or so I'm told! I never saw it, but that's the rumours. Fletch never got a bollocking ever.

"Fletcher understood he was the teacher's pet, yeah."

Everyone may point towards the Scottish link as the reason why, however, Fletcher's rapid rise to become West Brom captain suggests he might just be the perfect professional - or knows exactly what to do to impress the manager.

The 33-year-old made over 300 appearances for Man United during his 12-year spell at the club which also featured a lengthy stint out through illness.

Ferdinand went on to discuss the WhatsApp group in question further and added that the likes of former flop Anderson are also involved, even though the Brazilian barely speaks English.

"A few of us have a WhatsApp group. A few of the lads, a few of the lads who played for United," the ex-England centre-back continued.

"And there's a few who can't even speak [English], like Anderson can't speak English but he just throws in the odd comment here and there."