“Big red-face as gracious as ever in defeat.”
Sir Alex Ferguson ignored a former Liverpool star for 20 years due to an incident that dates way back to 1992, before the inception of the Premier League.
Manchester United and Leeds United were the two teams going for the title, the last ever of its kind and it looked to be the Red Devil’s to lose.
All Ferguson’s team had to do was beat their arch rivals Liverpool, but instead lost 2-0, while Leeds beat Sheffield United 3-2 to secure the trophy.
Gary McAllister would have a fruitful few years with Liverpool, winning a treble of trophies during his time there, but it was while we was a Leeds player during this particular campaign, that he upset Ferguson.
When his team beat Sheffield, they went to his teammates house to watch the United vs Liverpool game that was scheduled to be played later in the day.
However, a crew of TV cameras were also there, and picked up on something that McAllister had said.
“We all went back to Chappy’s (Lee Chapman) house after the game in Sheffield to watch Man U play Liverpool at Anfield,” said McAllister.
“Because I’d done some TV work, I was tuned in to the director at Anfield so I could hear the director and all his comments, talking to the presenter, talking to the cameramen. I could hear everything which was going on in the studio.
“Liverpool win 2-0 and Leeds United win the league, we’re p****d. After the game, we’re watching the pictures coming across and the interviews after the game and I can hear in my ear the director saying, ‘Get to the tunnel, we’ve got Fergie.’
“Milliseconds later he’s up on the TV and Fergie comes on. His face is bright red. His first comments, as you can expect, were, ‘I want to make it clear, Leeds haven’t won the league. Manchester United have lost the league! I’m making it clear!’
“Nose very red, he says, ‘Make no mistake, Leeds have not won the league! Manchester United have lost the league! We’ve thrown the league away.’
“So flippantly in Lee Chapman’s living room, I say, ‘Big red-face as gracious as ever in defeat.’ Then Dennis Law came back in my ear and said, ‘Gary, Fergie can hear you.’
“Alex Ferguson has walked past me in Lithuanian airports and Albanian hotels for 20 years and never looked in my direction!”
Thankfully, the two Scots did bury the hatchet, and Ferguson was one of the first people to reach out to him following the death of his wife Denise in 2006.
Related links:
- Liverpool reportedly selling Caoimhin Kelleher for Jude Bellingham funds
- Alex Ferguson on how Owen Hargreaves was ‘one of the most disappointing’ signings he made for Man United
- Alex Ferguson’s failed attempt to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed
