Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he has had to adapt his style of management to deal with the "egos" that have crept into the game.

sir alex ferguson manchester united uk 01 - Ferguson admits to change in style

Ferguson is the longest serving manager in the Premier League, having been in charge at Old Trafford since 1986, and he has seen players' wages skyrocket in recent years. The popularity of the game has seen players afforded celebrity status and the Scot admits that dealings with players and agents has forced him to change his approach.

"I have had to change as a manager," Ferguson told ESPN. "You have to adapt to the individuals and the characters of the people we deal with now. It's a different human being we're dealing with now, a much more fragile human being.

"Facilities are better, the quality of life is better. The people I am dealing with nowadays seem to be more cocooned by their pay or their agents or their egos, so you have a different person altogether. You naturally alter yourself as it goes along."

Ferguson has seen a string of managers come and go, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson and Chris Hughton have been jettisoned this season, and it is a trend he is not comfortable with.

"There is a trend at the moment [to short-term management]," he said. "You hope it goes in cycles.

"You are getting people from abroad and the old style of chairman is gone. We have got very aggressive, very ambitious directors and I think people's natures have changed a lot in the last 30 years. I have got a great photograph of Manchester United and Leeds players scrapping in the middle of the pitch and the crowd is absolutely motionless. There is not a bit of emotion in the fans. Nowadays, anything that happens they are screaming over the top of each other. The emotions of the support have generated a different atmosphere in the grounds. It gets through to the boardroom and these directors panic like hell."