‘Do not f**k with this guy’ – Ferdinand recalls ‘mad’ Man Utd bust-up ‘like a movie’ between Keane and Fergie
Rio Ferdinand has recalled a “mad” bust-up between Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane which led to the former Manchester United midfielder’s exit from the club.
Man Utd legend Keane gave an infamous interview with MUTV 18 years ago, where he criticised a number of his Red Devils team-mates and even fired shots at his manager.
His words left Ferguson fuming with the legendary Man Utd manager calling Keane in for showdown talks with Red Devils chief executive David Gill.
The former Republic of Ireland international stormed out of the chat after being told his current contract, which only had months to run anyway, would be paid off and that he would never play for Man Utd again.
Ferdinand, John O’Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher were all called out in Keane’s rant on MUTV.
On Ferdinand, Keane said: “Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar.”
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Former Man Utd centre-back Ferdinand revealed the full extent of the bust-up between Ferguson and Keane on his FIVE YouTube channel with Sir Alex stopping the interview from being broadcast.
Ferdinand said: “We play a game on a Saturday, a player gets nominated on MUTV to do analysis of that game. We get beat by Middlesbrough, everyone plays rubbish. Roy Keane does the video analysis and destroys the whole team, including me. He goes through people individually, hammers them.
“The manager, before it goes out, gets wind of it, cancels it going out, says it ain’t going out anywhere, that is a disgrace, it can’t happen.
“Calls a meeting at the training ground, we all go into the manager’s office, watch it and the manager goes off. It’s a movie in itself, everyone’s cringing. The manager’s going how dare you, I’m the only one who should speak about our players publicly.”
Ferguson informed the rest of the Man Utd squad that Keane would never play for the club again with “some mad stuff said” between the pair.
Ferdinand said: “Roy has a go back, it kicks off between the coach and Roy again, some mad stuff said. The next day we go into training, the manager calls a meeting as we go on the training pitch and says just so you know Roy Keane will never play for this football club again.”
When asked what message Ferguson’s decision sent to him, Ferdinand added: “Shiver me timbers. Do not f**k with this guy, do not mess with Sir Alex. This guy is the truth. This guy is the coldest dude about.
“This is our captain, this is a legend of the football club, a phenomenal player, a great guy to have around the place when the chips are down.you know you can look to your right and go Roy, where do we go now?
“The manager says not on my watch, this ain’t happening. My man is done, he’s done. He’s doing that, he will never wear this kit again, looking around and all of a sudden he goes, let’s go and train.”
Ferdinand continued: “I know some man’s legs were flaky after that on the way over, like spaghetti on the way to the training pitch, because Sir Alex Ferguson’s cold, you’ve got to be cold in those situations.”
