Sir Alex Ferguson has reacted furiously to Real Madrid's incessant flirting with Cristiano Ronaldo, accusing the Spanish club of lacking morals.

The Manchester United manager even brought the former Spanish dictator General Franco into the argument before insisting that his prized asset will still be at Old Trafford next season.

Ronaldo's future has been the subject of feverish speculation linking him with a move to the Spanish giants and the player himself has done little to quash such rumours, saying: "I don't promise nothing. I want to stay, but the future ... no one knows."

However it was the Real club president Ramon Calderon's comment that "slavery was abolished a long time ago; nobody can prevent a player from moving," that has particularly angered Ferguson. "I read on Teletext last night; Calderon is talking, [manager Bernd] Schuster is talking," he said. "Calderon makes that great statement 'Slavery was abolished many years ago'. Did they tell Franco that? Give me a break.

"They think they can ride roughshod over everyone but they won't do it with us," he continued. "Real Madrid have no moral issues at all. In terms of great clubs, Barcelona have far better morality than Real Madrid will ever have. Do you not think we have had many expressions of interest about our players from big clubs in Europe? Real Madrid are not the only club interested in Ronaldo. But the others are not saying so. They don't get into this nonsense."

Ferguson, who has previously lost David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Bernabéu, was confident that Ronaldo would be wearing the red of United rather than the white of Madrid next season. "We will not be moving anyone out. When you want to keep someone you work hard to do it," he said. "That is a fact not lost on Manchester United but it is a fact not lost on Real Madrid either. We sold them Van Nistelrooy and Beckham because we wanted to."

Ronaldo's seeming uncertainty - he has claimed that he wants to stay at United and that he would love to play in Spain - has provoked United's assistant manager Carlos Quieroz, a former Real Madrid coach, to advise Ronaldo against moving to the Spanish champions. "Ronaldo knows we are the best club for him," he said.

Some departures from the Manchester United dressing room do seem certain though, despite Ferguson's claims. The defender Gerard Pique appears bound for Barcelona while the future of the injury-plagued Louis Saha is undecided. "I just need to look at the squad and know I have enough cover for next season as we have three extra games, one in the Super Cup and two in the World Club Championship to cope with," the United manager said.

When asked whether he would step down after the Champions League victory or continue at the club he has managed for 21 years, Ferguson added: "It is not something I have even thought about."

A planned open-top bus tour of Manchester for the new European champions was cancelled last night over in the wake of the violence after Rangers' ill-fated Uefa Cup final with Zenit St Petersburg last week. "It is disappointing there was no parade but maybe the fact the flight was delayed so long was a blessing," said Ferguson. "The fans would have been standing around for hours. Maybe they would have started drifting away and the impact would have been lost for the players."