Rooney Lifts Lid on ‘Disrespectful’ Bust-Up With Ferguson Involving Ronaldo

Wayne Rooney has spoken out about a bust-up he had with legendary Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

During what was a stellar career, Rooney, 39, played for clubs like Everton, United, DC United and Derby County.

The Liverpool-born superstar spent his prime years at Old Trafford under Ferguson, scoring 253 goals in 559 appearances across all competitions.

Rooney lifted five Premier League titles and one Champions League among other trophies.

Recently, Rooney caught up with former United teammate Rio Ferdinand as they reflected on their careers.

During their chat on the Rio Meets podcast, Rooney was asked to speak about the biggest dressing room bust-up he was involved in.

The 39-year-old went on to pick out an incident that happened during a match against Portsmouth, which also involved Portuguese duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani.

Rooney said: "Portsmouth away, this is with Alex Ferguson. We come in, we're winning 1-0, I'd scored. And all I remember was Cristiano Ronaldo was here (Left), Nani was here (Right).

"And, He's (Ferguson) come in and just gone for me, gone for me massively about dribbling and not passing the ball. And I'm sat there, honestly, I'm sat there, looked at Cristiano and looked at Nani, I'm like 'You cannot be talking to me, there's no way you're aiming that at me'."

Biggest Dressing Room Bust Up! Wayne Rooney describes his: “He told me I was dribbling too much…”

CC: @rioferdy5, @WayneRooney, #MUFC pic.twitter.com/NjeTFDNmVx

— Rio Ferdinand Presents (@RioMeets) September 25, 2025

He continued: "And he's gone again, and then I've snapped. I've lost my head and so I said some things which I shouldn't have said, were a bit disrespectful, and the manager told me that.

"I went out, scored another two, so I scored a hat-trick, and then I was sat on the bus on the way home, and I was still thinking about it, thinking what was going on, why did he go for me.

"And that was his skillset; he knew that was all aimed at Ronaldo, all aimed at Nani. If he had done that to Ronaldo, he would've started crying."

Since retiring from professional football in 2021, Rooney has managed the likes of Derby County, DC United, Birmingham City and most recently, Plymouth Argyle.