Sir Alex Ferguson Fined Man Utd Legend for Refusing to Play in League Cup Tie

Sir Alex Ferguson once fined a Manchester United legend for refusing to play in a League Cup tie, with the matter resurfacing after the player's recent comments about Marcus Rashford.

The third round of the Carabao Cup has taken place over the last week, with the final set of games to be played on Wednesday night. On Tuesday, Chelsea came from behind to beat League 1 Lincoln, while Alexander Isak scored his first Liverpool goal as they defeated Southampton.

Manchester City, Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal are all in action on Wednesday night. The draw for the next round of the cup will take place at around 22:10 BST, following the conclusion of Arsenal's match at Port Vale.

But one team that will not be in the hat are Manchester United, who suffered a humiliating second-round exit to League 2 Grimsby. For Ruben Amorim, it leaves the FA Cup as the club's only realistic chance of silverware this season.

Back in 2001, Ferguson found himself at the centre of controversy when Paul Scholes refused to play in a third-round League Cup tie against Arsenal.

Paul Scholes celebrates at Highbury. Image: ADRIAN DENNIS / Staff via Getty

Ferguson had named a heavily rotated squad, with academy graduates Luke Roche, Michael Stewart and Danny Webber all in the starting line-up.

But Scholes refused to travel to London for the game, as United lost 4-0. As a result, Ferguson handed him the maximum fine of two weeks' wages.

The situation even caught the attention of then-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who admitted: "I was not aware of his selection for that game. That's not my business and I don't talk to players about their clubs.

"But I would talk to them if they seemed down and not in good shape, though there was no reason to today."

Scholes has made headlines again recently, this time for his criticism of Marcus Rashford.

The forward scored his first goals for Barcelona last week, netting twice against Newcastle in the Champions League.

Paul Scholes. Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA / Contributor via Getty

But he was dropped for their following La Liga fixture against Getafe after he arriving late to a team meeting. Rashford came off the bench at half-time and provided an assist Dani Olmo, who scored Barcelona's third in a convincing win.

Despite the strong start in Spain, Scholes questioned Rashford's attitude at Old Trafford, even branding him a 'disgrace'.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, he said: "I really struggled to feel happy for him, to feel pleased for him. Mainly because his attitude, his attitude at United. The time he was leaving, I thought it was just disgrace at United, not trying, basically.

Look, if you fell out with a manager, then OK, but remember, you've got team-mates you're playing with.

"You've got a massive 80,000 there, whatever it is, every single week that you have to put a bit of effort in.

"The amount of times I saw him at United walking because he wants to leave, I thought his whole demeanour was a disgrace. I think he actually quit on Manchester United. And once you quit once, you'll quit again."