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Man United quartet who Sir Alex Ferguson would target – ‘He wanted confrontation’
by Jake Bayliss · Manchester Evening NewsManchester United legend Peter Schmeichel has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson deliberately picked certain players out to clash with as part of his iconic management style.
Ferguson's remarkable tenure at Old Trafford saw him lead United to 13 league titles, two Champions League triumphs and five FA Cup victories. His 26-year reign led to several spells of dominant success that re-established the club at the top of English football. However, the desire to accomplish those feats was stoked by Ferguson's fiery temper.
The formidable Scotsman was infamous for giving his players the 'hairdryer treatment', both from the sidelines and behind the scenes. Iconic goalkeeper Schmeichel, who played nearly 400 matches under Ferguson, has opened up about his former manager's approach and admitted he was one of the key players who the United boss would deliberately dig out to get a reaction from his team.
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"What I learned very quickly was that Sir Alex Ferguson needed an out," Schmeichel explained, speaking to his former teammate Gary Neville on the Stick to Football podcast, sponsored by Sky Bet. "Very often it was in games where things were going well, or he needed something off his chest. He had certain players that he would do that to.
"I was one of them, Gary Pallister was one of them and Roy Keane was one of them. Ryan [Giggs] was also one of them. It would have been brutal to watch but you were allowed to talk back as a player. He wanted that confrontation because it was shaking things up. He wanted that."
"What I learned from him was that 95% of everything he said was by design and he was thinking about it and was waiting for the opportunity to say that," Schmeichel added. "He would pick those moments and once it happened, gone."
Schmeichel won 15 major trophies during his remarkable eight-year stint at Old Trafford and praised Ferguson's fiery leadership style. Former United captain Gary Neville, who played alongside Schmeichel in the 1999 treble-winning season, shared an insight from his 20 years with the club and admitted that he saw Ferguson's style change over time.
"When I was travelling with the team around that time and when I first broke into the team, Sir Alex Ferguson would have a go at players sometimes," Neville said. "He was more ferocious in those early 90's compared to the late 90's. More international players came and certainly in the 2000's it was different again."