A former Manchester United star has set the record straight after Wayne Rooney previously claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson would vent his anger towards the England international to avoid “losing” another Red Devils player.
Ferguson, who guided Manchester United to 13 Premier League titles between 1986 and 2013, was not afraid to vent his anger at even the very best players if he felt his side was underperforming.
Ferguson’s explosive close-range verbal dressing downs became known as the ‘hairdryer treatment’ with the likes of Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Roy Keane all being on the receiving end of the Scot’s tirades.
In some ways, Ferguson’s tactics will have no doubt kept players on their toes, while others did not respond so well to criticism.
Advert
In a 2018 interview with the MEN, United’s record goalscorer Rooney claimed that ex-United winger Nani was treated slightly differently as Ferguson knew “he’d lose the player” if he shouted at him.
“So many times at half-time, I had played well, and others in the dressing room hadn't, but he’d come for me. He knew there’d be a shouting match, but it’d get a reaction from me,” Rooney claimed.
"If he did it to another player - for example, Nani - he knew he’d lose the player, but he just knew the right thing to do with different players."
Nani, now 39, joined United from Sporting CP in 2007 before going on to make 230 appearances for the club, a period in which he helped the side win four Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League.
The Portugal international was best known for being a flair player who would give opposing full-backs a tough day’s work.
Aside from his obvious talent, there have also been some suggestions that Nani didn’t enjoy the physical nature of English football, with Rooney previously claiming that he saw the winger crying after Jamie Carragher put a strong tackle in on him during a match against Liverpool at Anfield.
So, what is Nani’s take on his reputation and was what Rooney said about Ferguson refusing to have a pop at him true?
The 39-year-old gave his thoughts during an interview with SPORTbible, on behalf of online casino experts, casino.co.uk, claiming that Ferguson's berating of his players was totally “normal”.
“Inside the dressing room, every single game, someone was shouting,” Nani said.
“The only time inside the dressing room and you knew there would be no shouting, is because you are winning 4 or 5-0 and everyone is playing well.
“But when you see a player making a mistake, you know for sure at half-time, this player will be shouted at; everyone has faced it at some stage.
“The only players I didn't see shouted at much were Scholes and Giggs, but I remember it happening to Scholes once; it was proof that it didn’t matter who you are in that dressing room.
“Sometimes it would set off towards other players, maybe it was a younger player first, and then balanced out with a more experienced player who faced it, just to show it was aimed at everyone.
“The truth is, sometimes they were really shouted at because they were not performing well or because they were supposed to be the example on the field.
“When Sir Alex did shout, he used to give you the truth of the game. It wasn’t just random shouting.
“He didn’t care if you are Rooney or Cristiano or Giggs or Scholes, he didn’t care.
“He once said to Scholes, ‘How was that possible with your quality of passing?! How are you missing that? Put your head on the game!’
“He would do that, and it's amazing when you see the coach giving to someone like Scholes. It reminds you that if someone like that can get dressed down like that, so can anyone.”
After leaving United in 2015, Nani went on to represent clubs such as Fenerbahce, Valencia and Orlando City before retiring in 2024.
Topics: Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney, Nani, Football, Premier League, Roy Keane
Luke Davies