Sir Alex Ferguson's brutal reaction to Van Nistelrooy swearing at Man Utd boss

02 July 2023 , 07:45

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Sir Alex Ferguson's brutal reaction to Van Nistelrooy swearing at Man Utd boss

Just about every player who donned the Manchester United shirt during Sir Alex Ferguson's illustrious 26-year reign felt the wrath of the fierce Scotsman at some point.

Ruud van Nistelrooy is no exception and in truth, the Dutchman only really has himself to blame. The Netherlands international made the mistake of swearing at his manager during the 2006 League Cup final after he was left as an unused substitute during United's 4-0 victory over Wigan Athletic.

Much to the dismay of Van Nistelrooy, Ferguson opted to start the game with a strike pairing of Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha. At full-time, the majority of those associated with the Red Devils were delighted with another piece of silverware secured, everyone bar their star striker.

Van Nistelrooy quickly made clear what he thought of the decision to leave him on the bench for the entirety of the game. According to the United manager's book, Ferguson was the subject of profanity from the Dutchman which then prompted assistant coach Carlos Queiroz to step in.

Ferguson's assistant did not take the incident lying down and was quick to confront Van Nistelrooy, as things threatened to sour United's celebrations.

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In the years that followed the altercation that Ferguson described as "fractious", the former Red Devils boss also made clear it was the beginning of the end for his goalscorer at the club.

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Ruud Van Nistelrooy's relationship with manager Sir Alex Ferguson broke down after an incident in 2006

A man of his word, Ferguson sold Van Nistelrooy to Real Madrid that very summer, where he spent four seasons before his club career wound down with stints at Hamburg and Malaga.

The exchange really did damage the relationship between Van Nistelrooy and his former boss, until four years later in 2010 the ex-United forward opted to try and bury the hatchet by reaching out to Ferguson out of the blue.

"I had been thinking about it for a while and talking it through with my wife," Van Nistelrooy later explained.

"Two or three times every year I would think to myself what a shame it was that it had ended like it did with Ferguson. I wanted to do something about it.

"My wife suggested I send Ferguson a text to see if he was willing to talk and when I sent him a message asking if I could ring him he replied to say: 'OK, call me at this date and time.'

"I rang him and he answered and said: 'OK, fine, go ahead.' I said I wanted to apologise for what had happened and he replied: 'Fine, I appreciate that, when we meet again it will be OK.' That was great to know."

Josh O'Brien