Now though the Scot has called for unity and urged fans to stop their anti-Ferdinand campaign immediately after he was booed during the recent games against Clyde and Peterborough.

“I’m not entirely happy with the reaction of the fans,” the Scot said.

“I think we can make our position clear to Rio – we want him to sign and he has been deliberating on that but he’s still a Manchester United player, and whilst he is a Manchester United player I think we should support him.”

Ferdinand’s failure to agree new terms is particularly galling to fans who watched their club stand by him while he served an eight-month suspension for a missed drugs test.

But Ferguson insists it is not the United way to turn against their own players.

After a difficult close season dominated by Malcolm Glazer’s highly-controversial takeover of the club, Ferguson wants everyone connected to the club to stand together.

“Players who go on the football field and hear their own fans booing their own players is not the kind of encouragement they should be given,” the manager told MUTV.

“The new players who have come to the club, Park Ji-Sung and everyone, have said the same – ‘I didn’t expect this’.

“Manchester United as a club need to be united. A lot of things have happened during the summer, but we’re going into a season which is a crucial season for us, we didn’t win anything last season, we haven’t won the Premier League for two years and we really need to get a run together, including the fans.

“Our fans have been the bedrock of this club without question since I’ve come to the club, and we need their support unilaterally behind everyone.”

Chief executive David Gill, who has dealt with Ferdinand’s agent Pini Zahavi in the contract talks, is optimistic that everyone at United will ultimately emerge happy from the negotiations.

He told the club’s official website www.manutd.com: “Rio has said he wants to stay, Alex obviously wants him to stay, the owners want him to stay and so do the board.

“In my experience, when you have all that, then things invariably work their way through and you get a resolution.

“It is a big commitment. He has to think about his worth and I respect him for that. I’m sure we’ll sort something out.

“There is no real pressure on it. It is not as if he can leave [for nothing] in a year’s time. He has two years to go on his present deal and we are not in a rush to sell in order to realise that capital. When we were a quoted company, there may have been a bit more pressure.”