Ferdinand freely admits he spent last week badgering Sir Alex Ferguson to play in yesterday's Carling Cup Final despite not featuring in a minute of United's run to Wembley.

The defender clearly has a persuasive tongue as Ferguson relented and was rewarded with a superb performance in the triumph over Tottenham which gave United the second trophy in what they hope will be an unprecedented quintuple.

While not quite up to the levels of Ryan Giggs, who has moved on to a record 19 major medals, Ferdinand has a pretty impressive six, with a lucky seventh seemingly certain to arrive in the Premier League before the campaign reaches its conclusion.

Yet the 30-year-old is not satisfied, either with this season's efforts or his overall collection. He has been that way ever since he was a kid at West Ham. And he cannot see it ever changing.

"It is great to win what we have over the past 12 months but if we finish the season just winning the Carling Cup I would be disappointed," he said.

"That is not to undermine the competition. When I have finished my career it will be added to the lots of trophies I have won.

"We want to try and achieve more and win more trophies."

That attitude is why Ferdinand finds it so easy to re-focus on Wednesday's trip to Newcastle and why, virtually the moment he stepped foot off the chartered train that headed back north to Manchester last night, the latest triumph was consigned to the history books.

"I have never been satisfied with anything," said the Peckham-born star.

"As soon as you feel like that, you might as well pack it in.

"I felt that way even as a kid. I was in Sunday league teams that won stuff but I still wanted more.

"I always wanted to play in the age above and test myself. Winning was not something I really dwelled upon.

"If we won a cup at West Ham, I immediately thought, I want to be in the reserves next week. When I did that, I wanted to be on the bench for the first team.

"There are always goals out there to attain and you have to keep striving to reach them."

Certainly, while Ferdinand is sharing a dressing room with Giggs he can never see himself being satisfied.

The Welshman has set a standard which will prove beyond his team-mate, who only joined United from Leeds in 2003.

Various controversies have followed. But, with the ill-fated missed drugs test and the delay over signing a new contract now in the dim and distant pass, Ferdinand is viewed as part of the United furniture.

His next contract is likely to bring him a testimonial and the vision he has now is to continue winning for United.

"I have worked very hard to get to a club that is capable of winning a lot of things," he said.

"I want to stay here as long as possible. To do that I must maintain high standards. That means winning trophies.

"People say you are winning loads of stuff but I still have people like Giggs, (Paul) Scholes and (Gary) Neville in the changing room who have won a lot more than me.

"They are the inspiration for everyone else."

As everyone outside Old Trafford starts to proclaim United Premier League champions - they boast a seven-point lead plus a game in hand - Ferdinand is leading the call for a further drive forward.

"The momentum is with us but there are still loads of improvements to make," he said.

"We did well in parts against Tottenham but they managed to get through to our back line too easily on occasion so we need to cut that out.

"It is down to us really. If we win the rest of our games, obviously we will be champions and the way the results have panned out has been quite good.

"But it is not over. We still know Chelsea and Liverpool can go on unbeaten runs until the end of the season.

"We have to make sure we do as well as them."