Sir Alex Ferguson says he owes success to being beaten with a belt •

'Six from that belt and you were in absolute agony' •

Sir Alex Ferguson says he owes his success to being beaten with a belt by his favourite schoolteacher when he stepped out of line as a schoolboy. Ferguson, 72, who stepped aside for David Moyes as Manchester United manager, says he now has the belt in his study at home after it was left to him by Elizabeth Thomson before she died. "Six from that belt and you were in absolute agony. That was the punishment you had, in my case, usually for fighting in the playground," he told the Times Educational Supplement. Ferguson, famous for his "hair dryer" dressing down of players, said: "Elizabeth Thomson was an inspiration to me. She had a raw determination about her and she improved everyone she touched. "Mrs Thomson endeavoured to make you be the best you could be. Yes, that part of me comes from her." He says he kept in touch with her long after his schooldays ended in the 1950s, doing so as manager of Aberdeen and then United before retiring at the end of last season. "When she died, I couldn't go to her funeral but months later I got a parcel. She had bequeathed her belt to me. "Her nephew sent it with a letter saying: 'You'll know more about this belt than anyone.' It's in my study now. My grandchildren are terrified of it." Corporal punishment was banned in Glasgow schools in 1982.