Ferguson explains Beckham bust-up

Beckham watches from the stands after being dropped

Alex Ferguson has revealed the reasons for his rift with David Beckham last season despite saying previously that the incident "would never be brought up publicly".

The matter is explained in an updated version of his autobiography which is being serialised in The Times newspaper.

"It doesn't matter to me how high a player's profile is," writes Ferguson.

"If he is in the wrong, he is disciplined. And David was definitely in the wrong.

If he is in the wrong, he is disciplined. And David was definitely in the wrong

  Alex Ferguson

"I had to think that David wasn't being fair to his team-mates. Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskaer can not count on being regulars in our first team, but they are model pros who never miss training," Ferguson continues.

Beckham had arrived late for training on account of his son Brooklyn being unwell, but Ferguson deemed this not to be "a satisfactory reason for being absent."

At the time it was felt that Ferguson saw the incident as a symptom of the celebrity lifestyle that Beckham was leading - his wife Victoria was not available to look after Brooklyn as she had been out in London.

As a result, Beckham was left out of the side to face Leeds - Ferguson goes on to explain his decision:

Ferguson is a no-nonsense manager

"There was no way I could consider including Beckham in the team to meet Leeds.

"That much was crystal clear in my mind before David worsened the problems between us when we met on the Saturday by making me lose my temper badly, something I hadn't done in years.

"At first he simply refused to accept that he had anything to answer for and that made me blow up."

Ferguson may risk upsetting his sensitive midfielder by bringing the incident up again in order to create headlines to publicise his book.

It comes hot on the heels of a spat between Mark James and Nick Faldo which was brought about by James' controversial book on his Ryder Cup captaincy.