Sir Alex Ferguson had never met Ralph Hasenhuttl before but he reached out to the Southampton boss after his team were thrashed 9-0 by Leicester City in October.
Brendan Rodgers' side recorded their biggest away win in the Premier League when they completely and utterly destroyed Saints at St Mary's.
Hasenhuttl looked like a man not far off losing job, with Southampton going eight games without a win and dropping into the relegation zone.
But straight after the most damaging defeat of his coaching career, the Austrian received an encouraging message from the greatest manager in Premier League history.
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He told Sky Sports: "I received an SMS from Alex Ferguson [after the 9-0] - I didn't know him. If I had never lost 9-0 I would have never had contact with him. That was the positive thing from the result. It really helped me. It gave me a lift as I was down and was looking for something to hold onto.
"I will have to live with this result my whole life. But when we won 2-1 in the rematch, the story is a good one. It's helped me become a more experienced manager."
Hasenhuttl would go on to turn things around big time starting with a fine run of form in November and avenged that loss with a 2-1 win in the reverse fixture at the King Power Stadium.
Saints are currently seven points clear off the drop zone after keeping faith in the 52-year old but the man himself says if it was up to him, he would have been given the boot following the drubbing.
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"If I was in his [Semmens] place, I would have sacked me," he said.
"We were hopeless, an absolute disaster. But Martin said that he knew how much I'd invested in the club. He was 100 per cent sure we'd get back to successful days. We had lost some of our direction, especially myself.
"When I look back it was a very difficult situation as we lost 9-0 then had to face Manchester City twice - it gave us a chance together to fight as a team.
"The reaction from the team was fantastic. We made the right decisions, changed the shape. I was getting back to what made my teams strong and this gave us the belief we could turn this around.
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"The last answer for what we did was the second league game against Leicester. Normally as a coach you don't have a chance to turnaround, normally it's the next manager that gets the chance, not you. I did get that chance and was very thankful."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Leicester City, Football, Sir Alex Ferguson, Ralph Hasenhuttl
