Press officer had to break up scuffle between reporter and Sir Alex Ferguson during Cristiano Ronaldo interview

The daughter of former Manchester United striker Denis Law had to stop a furious Sir Alex Ferguson after he "physically jumped" towards reporter Geoff Shreeves during an interview with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Shreeves, who left Sky Sports at the end of last season after 32 successful years with the broadcaster, has spoken to some of the Premier League's biggest characters during his established career.

And in a recent interview, the 59-year-old reminisced about a number of former top flight managers, including Jose Mourinho, who he never fell out with, despite a number of close shaves.

Shreeves also opened up about an exchange with Arsene Wenger after Arsenal suffered a humiliating 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford in 2011.

"He didn’t take it too well when I asked him if he thought he might be relieved of his duties after they just lost 8-2 at Old Trafford," he told BettingSites. "That didn’t go so well."

Shreeves also recalled a "few frosty exchanges" with Pep Guardiola but a frosty incident involving Sir Alex Ferguson in 2007 was arguably the biggest stand-out moment.

"One time I did an interview with Cristiano Ronaldo which Sir Alex took exception to and he had a pop at me," he remembers.

"I had a pop back and then he physically jumped towards me, and a press officer – Dennis Law’s daughter – jumped in between us and said ‘stop this stop this!’.”

Shreeves added: “They were such huge characters. Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Mourinho, along with Pep and Jurgen, they’re the five grand dukes I loved dueling with the most.

"When you’re going in there to interview them, you’re trying to get an answer for your viewers, so it’s how far you are willing to push them; a lot of that depends on your relationship with them."

Shreeves has previously spoken about the post-match scenes after Cristiano Ronaldo won and scored a penalty against Middlesbrough that was deemed soft by many.

Shreeves saw no harm in asking Ronaldo about the incident, but it quickly got back to Ferguson.

In an excerpt of his book Cheers, Geoff! Tales from the Touchline, he explained: "He [Ferguson] stood up for his players, as I discovered after an FA Cup win over Middlesbrough when Cristiano Ronaldo went tumbling to win a penalty.

"I asked Cristiano whether he went down easily. Ronaldo is pretty non-committal but says it was a penalty. I certainly wasn’t aware of the impending explosion.

"Sir Alex comes out of the dressing room and stalks straight towards me. 'You and your f***ing questions, you’re f***ing out of order,' he snarled. 'The boy hardly speaks English, you’re f***ing bang out of order', plus even more colourful language. 'Don’t talk to me like that,' I replied. 'I’m not one of your daft, young players'."

Shreeves was banned from Ferguson's press conferences for a period of time and upon reflection, he realised he was in the wrong.

"I thought I’d done a decent job but as soon as I got home, I stuck the tape on. Then I saw I had got it wrong. It was heavy-handed, piling into him, demanding to know if he was a cheat.

"I wrote Fergie an email, admitting I’d got it wrong. No response."

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano Ronaldo

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

@jackkenmare_