Top 5 Players Who Had Rifts with Sir Alex Ferguson

There are football managers and then there is Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scottish gaffer had a truly remarkable career in which he emerged as the best football manager to lead a team in the Premier League Era. Fergie is a legend in every sense of the word.

There are certain qualities in him that truly set him apart from his peers. The former Aberdeen manager led Manchester United to 26 years of unprecedented success in which he won numerous titles for his team.

There were highs as well as lows for him, but Fergie managed to battle everything and led his team to glory much to the envy of all others.

It did not come easily, to be honest. In his 26 years in charge of the club, Sir Alex had to deal with different characters in the dressing room-- some really bold ones, some timid too. Managing a top team for this long is no mean feat, as you need to keep in mind the interests of the players too. From Eric Cantona to Cristiano Ronaldo, Fergie had seen it all in his managerial career.

He went through some difficult phases and made some extremely bold decisions; decisions that other managers would have thought twice before taking.

However, Fergie was different. He simply had the cojones to reject the demands of even the greatest of the players.

The team always came first for him and anyone becoming toxic for the dressing room environment was unacceptable to him. In his tenure at Manchester United, which incidentally lasted for a little more than a quarter of the century, he had his set of disagreements with players too.

Sir Alex always claimed that the player should never become bigger than the manager should. He said that football clubs would be demolished the day players started managing them and hence always maintained his authority over the squad as well as over the club.

So, who were the players with whom he had a rift? What was the inside story of the situation at that point in time? Let us see.

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#5 Jaap Stam

Jaap Stam won the treble at Manchester United

There are various versions of this story and we can look at each one of them. However, if there is one thing that everyone can agree on, Jaap Stam was one of the greatest players to leave Old Trafford.

He was a class apart from the other defenders and it was quite evident in his performances. The Dutch had a strong built and stood at around 193 centimetres. He was extremely strong and owned his box with command.

His bullish nature did not allow anyone to get past him and his pace made up for whenever the strikers actually got behind him. He had incredible speed, which helped him run around in his own half, making crucial tackles and leading the backline well.

Such was his stature that the Premier League managers once said that they would buy him over the likes of Thierry Henry and other forwards. Stam had a memorable three-year stay at Old Trafford where he won the Premier League title each term.

He also won the treble in his first season with the club. Therefore, all hell broke loose when the news broke out that the Dutch would leave Manchester United for a fee of 16 million pounds. Apparently, Stam had written a memoir in which he stated that Sir Alex had been tapping the defender ever since his time with PSV Eindhoven.

The gaffer was not pleased with the incident and had a good long discussion with Stam. It has been wildly believed that this led to the ouster of Stam from the team but over the years different aspects of the story have come out.

Earlier this year, Stam said that the club wanted to balance the accounts and hence some players needed to be sold off. Sir Alex has stated that he was getting 16 million pounds for a 29-year-old defender and he thought it was best to sell him off.

However, it cannot be denied that Fergie was fuming after reading the excerpts from the book and this particular incident could have played a part in the eventual decision taken by the club.

#4 Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney was on the verge of leaving Manchester United in 2010

Rooney is the apple in the eye of the Manchester United faithful. Signed as a young 16-year-old from Everton, the fans hold the veteran in high regard.

His performances ever since he started playing for Manchester had been truly remarkable as he formed a deadly attacking partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo and other forwards.

Wazza was important in United’s Champions League title triumph in 2007/08 season. He possessed a great finishing touch and his ability to run all around the ground was appreciated by the fans. However, things turned sour in 2010.

A rumour started spreading that Wayne Rooney was unhappy with his contract and was seeking a move away to Chelsea. This obviously enraged Sir Alex.

The plan had been that Wazza would be called up for a contract talks after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup. There were various reports talking about rifts between Fergie and Rooney. The English international told that the club was not being ambitious enough with their signings.

He wanted the team to sign Mesut Ozil that summer. Ozil had joined Real Madrid from Werder Bremen and Rooney thought that the German would have been the perfect acquisition to the side.

Sir Alex termed this reason as rubbish and told Wazza that the transfer window was none of his business.

The club had won three Premier League titles and a Champions League before that season. Therefore, there was no reason to doubt the ambitions of the club.

At around the same time, reports broke out that Rooney had been cheating on his wife with another woman and this put a lot of media attention on him.

Sir Alex decided not to bother the player at a time when Rooney needed him and this made their relationship a bit worse. The Gaffer openly stated that Wayne Rooney wanted to leave the club and the situation seemed to have gone out of hands.

Anyway, after this, the owners called the player up and apparently he was made the highest paid player in the country. The fans were furious with Rooney’s behaviour as he showed total disrespect to a club that had given him so much.

Sir Alex questioned Rooney’s commitment to the club and his professionalism. The team had stuck with him through the thick and thin, helping the player whenever required.

They were absolutely taken aback by such behaviour and it is safe to say that Wazza lost a whole lot of respect from everyone.

#3 Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Mr Fox in the box

The Dutch hitman is probably the greatest striker to have played the game in the mid-2000s era. Van Nistelrooy was the perfect poacher, an absolute beast inside the box.

The former Madrid man had the finishing skills that every striker desires to have in his arsenal. His ability to strike the ball at the perfect place, at the right time was amazing.

He had the ability to pounce on any loose ball and put it at the back of the net. He had the ability to deceive the goalkeeper with the deftness of his shots. The forward had an excellent goalscoring record for Manchester United. In fact, Sir Alex once stated that he was the most selfish striker ever. Goals were all that meant anything to Van Nistelrooy.

The Dutch forward was never a great athlete. As said by Fergie himself, his fitness results were never amazing. However, he had the striker’s instinct that enabled him to turn up in crucial moments and eventually had a huge impact during his stay at Old Trafford.

The team had somewhat become dependent on him to score goals. Van Nistelrooy understood the situation and tried to play his tricks. He became quite arrogant and was unresponsive during his contract renewal talks.

Sir Alex was playing Louis Saha as the striker in the League Cup as Van Nistelrooy was rested for this particular tournament. However, in the finals, Nistelrooy wanted to play but Fergie preferred Saha over him. Sir Alex said that it would be unfair on Saha if he did not trust him to play in the final.

Nistelrooy got angry and hurled abuses at the manager. Ferguson had had enough. This was the peak of his foul behaviour and Fergie decided to fire him from the team.

Van Nistelrooy had a problem with Cristiano Ronaldo too and had teased him after the latter’s father’s death. This did not go well with Ronaldo and the gaffer too ousted the Dutch.

Going down the wire, it was a really bold move from Sir Alex. The team did not have any renowned strikers at that point of time and still he did not let Nistelrooy have any negative impact on the team.

#2 Roy Keane

Roy Keane had quite a temper

One of the greatest mysteries of Manchester United’s locker room would be how in heaven Sir Alex managed to work with Roy Keane for this long a time. As all know it, Keane was a fiery character and had a dangerous personality.

The Irishman could be the angriest player to have ever stepped foot on the football ground and his performances benefitted from it. Keane was a great midfielder for Manchester United and an inspirational leader.

He took no nonsense from his players and demanded performances of the highest quality every time. As Ryan Giggs had said it, every training session with Roy Keane was like preparing for a cup final. He wanted the team to play with high intensity.

He had the ability to drive the team forward and it was crucial to the numerous injury time winners that Manchester United scored over the years. Two similar characters hardly ever work together and naturally, Fergie had a rift with the captain too.

Actually, it all started when Manchester United were preparing for the upcoming season at a training camp in Portugal. Keane had issues with the assistant coach Carlos Queiroz and said that Carlos was not doing enough to maintain the welfare of the players in that pre-season tour.

Then Keane provoked team members such as Gary Neville who called up Fergie and told that the players were not happy with the training methods. After this, Keane gave an interview to MUTV in which he criticized the youngsters of the team, John O’Shea, and others after the team’s loss to Middlesborough.

Keane said that many players were taking their place in the team for granted and were not giving expected performances. Fergie was furious with this incident, as he wanted to save the youngsters from this kind of negative influence.

According to the manager, Keane had managerial ambitions. He wanted to take over the team and Fergie eventually sent him off to Celtic in 2005. In this way, the gaffer maintained his authority over the team and did not let the captain have any more influence over the young players.

#1 David Beckham

David Beckham is the darling of Old Trafford

Beckham was the absolute darling of Old Trafford. The fans revered the spiky youngster and he too loved the team and fans alike. The attacking midfielder was a gifted footballer who had the vision and passing range that delighted the manager.

Beckham was an extremely fit player, probably the fittest among those plying their trade in Old Trafford. The manager loved his professionalism and the attitude with which he played.

At his peak, Beckham had the class and ability to take on the best of midfielders and would dominate the proceedings of the game all by himself. He was the best crosser of the ball in the team and his work-ethic was adored by the manager.

Beckham was an incredibly hard-working footballer. In his young days, he spent hours and hours, working on his dead-ball abilities. His free-kicks were amazing too and the player absolutely justified his number seven shirt.

The question arises: Where did it all go wrong for David Beckham?

As Sir Alex says it, things started to change when the midfielder got married to Victoria Beckham. The gaffer says that Beckham was the only player who consciously tried to become a star outside the game.

There were incidents when the manager would cringe; like the media lining outside Carrington just because Beckham was getting a new haircut. His stylish nature did not go down well with Sir Alex as it started affecting the player’s approach too.

The tipping point came during the FA Cup final that Manchester United lost to Arsenal. Sir Alex hated losing against Arsene Wenger and Beckham failed to turn up big time in that match. He did not track back for Arsenal’s second goal and merely jogged his way back to his own half.

Running all around the ground, trying to create something out of nowhere and the urge to stop attacks had what made him famous in the first place. After the match, Sir Alex accidentally kicked a boot at Beckham when the English international failed to acknowledge his mistake.

According to Fergie, Beckham never accepted his mistakes. He had immense self-belief and always knew that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

The manager admired this attitude of his but that day was different. Beckham got a cut on his eyebrow and this created quite a scene in the locker room. The decision was made and Beckham was going to be sold to Real Madrid.

The Galactico policy was at its peak at that time and Perez eventually bought him for quite a hefty fee. Still, the player is still respected among the Old Trafford faithful while some rate him even higher than Cristiano Ronaldo.

There is no bad blood now and the duo can be seen together in many conferences and matches. However, Sir Alex and David Beckham did have quite a fight at one point in time.