Sir Alex Ferguson's six-word response to Gary Neville offering to give up role at Man Utd

Gary Neville has revealed that a candid moment with Sir Alex Ferguson led to an explosive reaction from the legendary Manchester United boss. Neville, who had doubts about his captaincy amidst the wealth of talent at Old Trafford, approached Ferguson to discuss stepping down as skipper, only to be met with a forthright “keep the effing armband” from the fiery Scot.

The former England defender, who has maintained strong ties with the Red Devils since hanging up his boots in 2011, is currently involved with the club’s stadium taskforce. This comes as Sir Jim Ratcliffe explores options for creating a ‘Wembley of the North’ to succeed the iconic Old Trafford.

Despite Ratcliffe’s commitment to propelling United back to the pinnacle of global football, he faced backlash for discontinuing Ferguson’s lucrative full-time ambassadorial role as part of sweeping cost reductions. Interestingly, just after Ferguson’s ambassadorial deal was cut, Neville was representing Manchester United in India, promoting grassroots football through the Apollo Tyres ‘United We Play’ initiative.

Neville’s long-standing bond with Ferguson has been evident years before he was named the Red Devils captain by the Scotsman following Roy Keane’s controversial exit in 2005. After three years wearing the armband and witnessing the extraordinary squad around him, Neville questioned his own merit as captain, reports the Mirror.

His honesty with Ferguson about potentially relinquishing the role elicited a characteristically blunt directive to “keep the effing armband”. In an interview with Sky Sports back in 2020, the former Manchester United skipper shared: “I got injured about a year after taking the captaincy and that became really difficult for me because I felt as though I wasn’t contributing like a captain would do for the last four years of my career.

“I actually remember going to see Sir Alex one pre-season, I think it was about the third year I was captain, and it was obvious then, we had an amazing team. [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Wayne] Rooney, [Carlos] Tevez, [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, [Michael] Carrick,[Rio] Ferdinand, [Nemanja] Vidic, [Patrice] Evra, [Edwin] Van der Sar there were some great personalities and great players in that group.

“I went over to Sir Alex one day, walking over to the training pitch, and said: ‘Boss, I don’t feel worthy of keeping the captaincy anymore, this team’s shifted onto a level that I can’t compete at’. And he said: ‘You’ll keep that effing armband, son’. Am I allowed to say that on Sky Sports? I think in lockdown you’re allowed to say it.

“And the reason he gave me, he said: ‘You and Giggs will rotate it. If I give it to Ronaldo, Rooney will kick off. If I give it to Rooney, Ronaldo will kick off, if I give it to Vidic, Ferdinand won’t be happy’. So literally I think me and Giggsy kept the armband for about three or four years, and Giggsy beyond that, just purely because of the camaraderie in the dressing room, keeping things together.

“We were the policemen in the dressing room if you like, we were the older statesmen and we were setting the example. Sir Alex wanted to make sure that the team came first, even though I felt unworthy of the captaincy at that stage to be honest with you.”

As current skipper Bruno Fernandes once again leads United this season, they find themselves in a challenging 11th position on the Premier League leaderboard. Despite unrelenting speculation over Erik ten Hag’s future as manager, the club secured a crucial three points with a 2-1 triumph against Brentford on Saturday (October 19), buying the Dutch strategist some respite amidst the pressure.