Sir Alex Ferguson had clever clause inserted into his Man Utd contract that meant none of his players could be paid more than him

Sir Alex Ferguson inserted a clause into his contract that ensured no Manchester United player – not even their biggest star – would be paid more than him during his final years as manager.

The tale begins on October 20, 2010, when Wayne Rooney questioned United's ambition and ability to attract the top players needed to win major trophies.

In turn, Rooney expressed his desire to leave Old Trafford, which infuriated then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who accused the England international of a lack of respect towards the club.

"I'm disappointed, very disappointed, I can't believe it," Ferguson said at the time.

"He had told us he was happy at the club, that he was at the best club in the world, so I must say it was terribly disappointing to get the news because I can't quite understand it."

Two days later, Rooney made a surprise U-turn and signed a new five-year deal which made him the best-paid player in the club's history, doubling his wage packet to around a reported £180,000 per-week.

Around this period, though, Ferguson made sure he was on a higher wage than Rooney.

In his 2015 book Leading, the former United boss opened up on the contract situation.

He wrote: "I told them I did not think it fair that Rooney should earn twice what I made. Joel Glazer said, 'I totally agree but what should we do?'. It was simple. We just agreed no player should be paid more than me."

The Scot never allowed his players to think they were bigger than the football club, so he made sure that nobody – and I mean nobody – was paid more than himself.

Rooney signed a new deal in 2010. Image credit: Getty

More than 13 years later and Rooney admitted that his relationship with Ferguson was never the same after that moment.

“When I put the transfer request in [to leave Manchester United], I was still speaking to David Gill on where the club was going, how they were going to move forward," he said on an episode of Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by SkyBet.

"Being a manager now myself, and looking back, it was the wrong thing to do probably. At the time, I felt like it was the right thing to do to really get assurances for my own career.

“Once David [Gill] had explained what the club are doing, I said, ‘Fine – that’s all the manager had to say. That’s all the club had to tell me’, and then I signed the new deal."

Rooney added: “In terms of the relationship with the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson], of course it was never the same.

"After that, the big thing that probably hurt him was they had just sold Carlos Tevez, they had just sold Cristiano Ronaldo, and probably couldn’t afford to let me go.”