Mikel Silvestre revealed the worst hairdryer treatment he received under Sir Alex Ferguson, in what was a brutal introduction to English football for the Frenchman.
In an exclusive interview with SPORTbible via Freebets.com, the former Manchester United defender incurred the wrath of the fiery Scot after the 3-3 draw with Southampton in September 1999.
The game was best remembered for Massimo Taibi's goalkeeping error, after the Italian let Matt Le Tissier's long-range effort slip through his grasp. However, another mistake from Silvestre saw him dispossessed by Marians Pahars, who in turn teed up Le Tissier to score his second and Saints' third goal of the day.
"The worst one [hairdryer] was my first one because I didn't know where it had come from! I didn't know anything about his temper at the time.
"It was after my second home game against Southampton. I went inside and intercepted the ball, but then I lost it, and they scored. We drew the game and I got the hairdryer as soon as I got back into the dressing room.
"My English wasn't that good at the time, but I remember him saying to me that if I do this again, he will send me back to France and I will stay there!
"I didn't say anything back in this case because I made a mistake, so I swallowed it and made myself as small as possible, as my ego was taking a massive hit at the time. In a normal business, you don't get this type of behaviour from your bosses otherwise you would go to HR and complain, but in football, this is what you get from the coaches.
"You react by either giving up or showing that you understand the message and don't do it again in order to improve. This is what I did because I wanted to keep my place in the starting 11.
"As a defender, it's mainly about learning from your mistakes, whereas if you're a striker, there is always going to be another opportunity to score. But if you make an error as a defender then you will get punished straight away. I made sure I improved quickly after that."
The four-time Premier League winner also spent two years working under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and explained the key differences between the two legendary managers.
"They are complete opposites to each other", he added.
"Arsene didn't react in the heat of the moment, so he will take his time to analyse the game and usually do a debrief the day after a game.
"But as a player in the dressing room, I thought it was better to find out straight away what went well and what went wrong, otherwise you have players pointing fingers at each other because nobody wants take the blame. So, when the manager blames someone straight away, then this is it and there's no need for any further discussion.
"In terms of coaching as a whole, Arsene has more of a continental approach where he's in charge of the session every day on the field. Sir Alex used a different model, where he was the manager and had a team of staff who took care of the sessions. Those are the two main differences."
Featured Image Credit:Topics:ย Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Premier League, Arsenal