Paul Scholes has opened up on how he annoyed Sir Alex Ferguson (Image: Getty)
Paul Scholes has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson once told him that he had played his last match for Manchester United during a dressing room spat.
The ex-England international wrote himself into United’s history books with his sensational performances at Old Trafford, asserting himself as a club legend and becoming widely regarded as one of the best midfielders to grace the Premier League.
However, it could have been a different story if Ferguson stuck to his word in the 2001/02 campaign.
The former United manager was furious with Scholes after he came off of the bench against Newcastle and made a mistake which proved decisive, with Alan Shearer pouncing on the error to score the winner in a 4-3 defeat at St James’ Park.
Ferguson was furious with how his side’s first defeat of the campaign had unfolded and took aim at Scholes post-match, but the academy graduate was not willing to entertain the ‘criticism’ from his manager.
Opening up on the exchange on the Football’s Greatest Eras podcast, Scholes explained: “’I think we’re getting beat 3-0 at half time, he brings me on with 20 minutes to go, maybe. And we get back to 3-2. I’m not saying that it’s nothing to do with me.
Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with Scholes (Image: Getty)
“We get back to 3-2 and I tried a flick in the middle of the pitch in the centre circle, they broke and scored. Alan Shearer scored to make it 4-2. So we couldn’t get back into the game. And he went ballistic at me. He went absolutely…
“Do you know when I got a b****cking, or the hairdryer, as it was called, I always took it. I never answered back in my life. There were some people, you’ll know, there were some people that answered back all the time.
Sir Alex Ferguson told Paul Scholes he would not play for United again (Image: Getty)
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“But for some reason that day, I kept answering back. I didn’t agree with what he was saying. So, he kept saying stuff, “You’ll never play for this club again,” and all that usual kind of stuff. I got back on the bus that night. I remember thinking, “I’m gone. This is me, Monday morning. I’m signing for somebody else.”‘
Scholes then revealed that he actually received an apology from Ferguson rather than being pushed out of the door by his manager, with the Red Devils legend reviewing the match and conceding that the midfielder had made a significant ‘influence’ on the game which he had overlooked post-match.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1953954/Man-Utd-news-Paul-Scholes-Sir-Alex-Ferguson