Former Manchester United left-back says Sir Alex Ferguson’s glory days were underlined by tough management and a steely squad mentality
Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has described the kind of hard life that the squad lived under Sir Alex Ferguson at the club, saying the legendary manager’s fierce approach would likely raise serious questions today.
Speaking on the SDS Podcast, Evra recalled the no-nonsense atmosphere that ran through the club during its most successful years.
“If Ferguson was coaching now, he’d probably end up in jail,” said Evra. “There’s no way he wouldn’t end up in prison with the things he did.
“Do you know how many players I’ve seen cry during his arguments or throw boots at them?”
But pointing to Ferguson’s strict standards wasn’t even the most interesting thing about the full-back’s account. It’s the fact that mentality was passed down through the squad, and the players had some really harsh (in modern terms) expectations of each other. Toughness was everything and any sign of weakness was met with scorn by your own teammates, not sympathy.
One example stood out in particular for Evra: a match against Liverpool at Anfield in 2011, where Jamie Carragher caught Luis Nani with a late challenge that left him bleeding and in tears. The reaction from Ferguson and the rest of the squad was brutal.
According to Evra, Paul Scholes was unimpressed with Nani’s reaction on the pitch, and after defending him from the Liverpool players surrounding him, he then told him to “fuck off” when he saw him crying.
“Scholes left complaining about seeing Nani crying,” Evra recalled.
“Ferguson told him, ‘I hope your leg is broken, a United player can’t cry at Anfield.’ After the game, we waited for the next training session because we were going to kill Nani. That way I can explain how unpleasant we were. If you cried because you were bleeding, you were finished. You weren’t one of us.
“In the end, Ferguson gave him a week to recover because we were waiting to kill him. Now we still use the photo of Nani crying at Anfield in the United WhatsApp group.”
