Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed why his players used to throw boots and jockstraps at Cristiano Ronaldo.
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In his new publication “Leading“, which is published on Tuesday, Ferguson claims owners the Glazer family and then chief executive David Gill asked him how he felt about the fact that Wayne Rooney was about to get a big pay rise by signing a new deal following protracted negotiations that took place while he was also linked with other clubs in the media.
Ferguson says Everton pulled out all the stops to prevent Rooney joining United in 2004, including an emotional phone call from the player’s mother. “They could not have hoped for any more”, Keown told Match of the Day 3 at the weekend.
‘Alex Ferguson wanted to sign me twice, just before Arsene Wenger came to the club, ‘ said Adams.
Other revelations in the book include the disclosure that Ferguson considered a move for wayward Italy striker Mario Balotelli in 2010, only to be dissuaded by his contacts in Italy.
“It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid”, Ferguson wrote.
To maintain his authority over the team, Ferguson says that when Wayne Rooney’s salary was increased in 2010 he told the Glazers that it was not fair the striker earned twice as much as the manager. “We also knew Juergen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund, and would be signing a new contract”.
To that effect, Ferguson seems to be laying the blame for United’s poor 2013/14 season firmly on Moyes, which was the same stance he took past year in an update for his autobiography. “Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup”.
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson writes, Ryan Giggs, pictured on September 20, 2015, & … “There are one or two football agents I simply do not like”, Ferguson said.
The man who Van Gaal has anointed as his successor, Ryan Giggs, gets a glowing reference from Ferguson in the book.
“He had already won an enviable number of trophies with Barcelona… and I admired him greatly”.
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The 73-year-old Scot defends the quality of the squad that his successor David Moyes inherited in 2013, saying criticism of United’s players made it sound like “I had left 11 corpses on the steps of a funeral”.
