He said: “He doesn’t react as you think he does. We were beaten by Arsenal and he came around the dressing room, saying ‘Well done, pick yourselves up’.
“He doesn’t get carried away by defeat because he has been in the game too long.
“He knows there are going to be real disappointments and I have definitely seen him change. Everybody does with age.
“When I first started travelling with the squad there were a lot of strong characters in that dressing room – Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Keane, Cantona, Ince. But football has changed and he has had to deal with a new type of player. He has mellowed.
“He will never lavish praise on you. But when he says ‘Well done, son’, that is the most important thing because you know you’ve won.”
