Sir Alex Ferguson Forced England Player to Withdraw From Squad While at Man Utd

A former Manchester United midfielder who won 39 caps for his country says he was forced to withdraw from an England squad after Sir Alex Ferguson intervened.

Ferguson, who spent 27 trophy-laden years at United between 1986 and 2013, once claimed that international football "interfered" with his side's ambitions.

He had no problem with the competitive side of things, but the Scot would become particularly annoyed at the inclusion of friendly games in the football calendar.

Back in 2013, after then-England boss Roy Hodgson said clubs treated international breaks as a holiday, Ferguson made his feelings clear on the subject.

"They have been doing it for the last decade, playing a friendly in the week before the season starts," he said. "Tell me the sense of that. It doesn't matter what way you look at it."

He added: "Club managers are always in disagreement with international football, particularly in friendly situations."

Ferguson wasn't the biggest fan of international football. Image credit: Getty

Former United striker Wayne Rooney recently spoke about the rule Ferguson would try and enforce while his players represented their respective countries.

Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, he revealed that Ferguson would even speak to the England manager and tell them that his players should play no more than 45 minutes.

"I always remember Sir Alex Ferguson before we'd go in for some of the games, I'm sure he'd speak to the England manager as well," Rooney began.

"He'd be like: 'Right, you, no more than 45 minutes. Make sure you come off after 45 minutes or you only play 45 minutes.'

"So, I'd get to England and I'd be like: 'Boss, I want to play 90 minutes. I want to play the full game, don't take me off,' because I used to love playing."

He added: "Some players were different and some players were protecting themselves with injuries as well, especially in the friendly games. But I used to love going."

Nicky Butt and Wayne Rooney pictured on England duty. Image credit: Getty

As well as Rooney, former United midfielder and academy product Nicky Butt has also spoken about Ferguson's thoughts on international football.

Butt, who spent more than two decades at United, where he made 387 appearances and scored 26 goals, revealed that he was asked to withdraw from an England squad by Ferguson.

"He never once said to me to fake an injury," Butt said at the Soccerex Global Convention. "He'd just say 'You've got an England friendly coming up and you're not going.' And that was that."

He added: "At one stage there was nine of us and he would pull one or two of us out and let the other six go."