FERGIE Time means something different to Craig Levein.

Levein had played under Sir Alex Ferguson once for Scotland but it was only after becoming national team manager himself late in 2009 that he truly got to know the man. What he discovered was a figure very different to his public persona.

The Ferguson shown on television before, during and after Manchester United matches always seemed to be in a state of agitation, forever pointing at his watch to either demand more time be added on or to remind referees that enough had now passed. The perception was of a man who needed to be somewhere else – and quickly.

That image perhaps crossed Levein's mind as he drove down to Old Trafford last year to watch Darren Fletcher in action, hoping to catch up briefly with Ferguson afterwards. Fletcher was making his return to the United team after nine months out with ulcerative colitis, a debilitating bowel complaint, and Levein was keen to hear just how his Scotland captain was progressing.

Ferguson, he hoped, would spare him five minutes, perhaps the following day, to give him a medical update. Instead, he found the Manchester United manager available before the game to chat for as long as Levein needed. Time, on this occasion, was not a factor.

"I went down to speak to him about Darren and I said I'd stay overnight after the game and go into training in the morning to see him," recalled Levein as he paid tribute to the outgoing Ferguson. "But he said, 'no, watch the game and I'll come and see you'. Kick-off was 7.45pm and he sat with me from 6.50pm to 7.30pm because I had a lot of things to discuss about Darren and other stuff, too. I know what it's like an hour before a match as a manager, you've got so many things going through your head.

"But he sat there for 40 minutes and answered every question. He had an important match but he was quite happy to give up his time to go out of his way to help. That told a big story about him. Any time I've had contact with him, more so in the last two or three years through the Scotland job, for a man who has so much going on in his life he shows an amazing amount of patience and a desire to help. The amount of Scottish guys you speak to it becomes clear he's been so helpful to them all. I've never played for him really but he's definitely looked upon as a father figure.

"He's got a grit about him. There's something Scottish and working class about him. Something practical. It takes a clever man to keep things simple but he's found a successful formula and he doesn't deviate from it. He's had to change because football has changed but his core principles have not and that's his great strength and the great strength of his club. That's why his teams keep coming back and keep coming back. For ever more there's a time at the end of the game that is known as 'Fergie Time' and what a compliment that is to his influence."

There will be a raft of former players, rival managers and media men who would raise an eyebrow at talk of Ferguson's compassionate side but, in his handling of Fletcher, Levein saw a manager who knew how to look after his players.

"Sir Alex was unbelievably helpful to the SFA with that whole situation but he was also unbelievably helpful towards Darren, too. Darren's got an illness and he's had that illness a lot longer than anyone knew. But Fergie gives him a four-year contract. What does that tell you? You couldn't meet a better person than Darren Fletcher and I think Sir Alex knew that and made sure the lad got looked after. He's just an approachable, decent guy. He's the manager of the biggest football club in the world but never once did he not return a phone call."

Ferguson only managed his country for a short period following the death of Jock Stein in 1985, leaving some to suggest he might be considered the greatest manager Scotland never had. Levein, though, wonders whether Ferguson would ever have been seriously interested in taking on the role. "I'm probably speaking out of turn, but I'm not so sure it's something he would have wanted to do. I don't know him that well but you look at the way he runs his club, those players don't do a thing without referring to Sir Alex. In the Scotland job you're managing other people's players and he would not have the same control. That's my perception from the outside."

John Collins was part of the Monaco side that knocked out Manchester United at the quarter-final stage of the 1998 Champions League. The Scot yesterday diplomatically suggested "we maybe got a little bit lucky that night" as he paid tribute to the departing Ferguson.

"Twenty-six years at one club winning trophy after trophy –unbelievable " said the former Hibernian manager. "He's got so many strengths: he knows what a player is, knows how to motivate a player, knows how to put a team together, knows how to spend money wisely. When you put all that together, it explains why he's been such a special manager for so long. I just enjoy watching his teams playing as they tick so many boxes. They play with passion, they try to play good football, they're always attacking, if the opposition gets one goal, they're determined to get two. That's all to do with the manager and the culture he's cultivated, the system of playing and the players who have come in. He was given the freedom to control the whole club and they've stuck by him."

Levein and Collins were promoting ESPN's coverage of Sunday's Edinburgh derby from Tynecastle.