27 January 2023 , 22:22
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Sir Alex Ferguson's rants at his Manchester United players became the stuff of legend as the Scot dominated English football.
But not all of his Red Devils were on the receiving end of his infamous 'hairdryer' treatment. Ferguson masterminded 13 Premier League title triumphs, five FA Cup wins and two Champions League victories during his 27 years in charge at Old Trafford.
At the heart of that dominance was Ferguson's notorious style of man-management, which involved frequent blasts at his side. But former player Ryan Giggs, who was part of the team for almost all of Ferguson's time as manager, revealed that not everyone faced his wrath.
Instead, four players escaped the temper of Ferguson as they were all born "match-winners" for the Red Devils. Giggs insisted that their team-mates did not mind the different treatment they received and hailed Ferguson's style of man-management.
“There were three or four players that he never had a go at. [Eric] Cantona was one, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo. They were all in their own ways match-winners," Giggs told beIN SPORTS' The Champions Club in 2020.
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"They did the stuff on the pitch, so he [Ferguson] never felt [he had to give them hairdryer treatment]. Eric, there were some games where Eric didn’t do anything. He didn’t score, he wasn’t running about like a [Carlos] Tevez or a Wayne Rooney, he didn’t have any impact.
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But Roy Keane and Eric Cantona were among four players who escaped the hairdryer treatment (Professional Sport/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)"But he knew sooner or later he would come good. We would be sat in the dressing room thinking, 'he’s got to have a go at him, he’s got to have a pop at him because he didn’t do anything today'.
"But the next week he’d score the winner or he would produce a moment of magic, so he handled the big names really well. As long as they were doing it on the pitch, he handled them in a different way.
"He was a master of psychology, he was a master at getting the best out of certain individuals like whether to put an arm around, or whether to give them a rocket at half-time or at the end of the game or leave them out, knowing that the player would react in a positive way."
Giggs also admitted that he was not immune to receiving hairdryer treatement from Ferguson. However, he insisted that he did not shy away from hitting back at the legendary manager.
"I fell out with him plenty of times. I mean, the amount of times I would say over my career, six or seven times where it was a couple of weeks' wages I was fined for talking back, for having an argument," Giggs added.
"At the time, it’s not very nice, you’re in the dressing room, you’ve just got beat or you’ve had a bad performance. And I just couldn’t help myself [but] have a go back. He actually, later in his career, he told me he like that, it meant that you cared.
"He’d still fine you two weeks' [wages] because he wanted to show that he was in charge, but he actually quite liked it, as long as it didn’t cross the line, of course."