Peter Schmeichel recalled the time that he endured a ‘brutal’ argument with Sir Alex Ferguson that almost turned into a physical fight.
The legendary Dane was as fierce a competitor as you were likely to find that that’s why he goes down in history as one of Manchester United’s greatest-ever goalkeepers.
But while he and Ferguson spent eight hugely successful years together at Old Trafford, it didn’t come without their fair share of fairly heated disputes, including one after a 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield in March 1995.
Gary Neville, a young talent on the periphery of the first team at the time, asked Schmeichel about an argument that day during the Dane’s appearance on Stick To Football, saying: “I came in at half-time and you had the most ferocious argument – I mean, it was brutal.
“It was probably the worst I’ve ever seen and I actually thought you were going to fight. What was it about?”
Schmeichel replied: “I don’t know, but what I learned very quickly was that he needed an out and often it was in games when things were going well and he had certain players who he would do that to – I was one, Pally (Gary Pallister) was one, you (Roy Keane) were one and Ryan (Giggs) was one.
“He came in and yes, it will have been brutal to watch but you were allowed to talk back as a player and he wanted it – he wanted that confrontation because it was shaking things up.
“What I learned was that 95 per cent of everything he said, even in those situations, were by design. He’d wait for the opportunity and pick those moments and then once it had happened, it was gone.”
This came one year after another argument between Schmeichel and Ferguson which led the Danish goalkeeper to almost being sacked in the aftermath of another highly-emotive match at Anfield, this time in a contest that ended 3-3.
Schmeichel explained: “I felt that he had picked on me after the game. The second half was so bad but I made a lot of saves and felt like I had kept the team in it but what he blamed me for was my goal kicks.
“They ended up with Razor Ruddock every time and I was like, ‘he’s 80 yards away, what the hell can I do’ so I felt hard done by.
“My head went, of course, and it’s probably my biggest regret in football. I won’t repeat what I said, it doesn’t matter.
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“It was a Saturday game and on Monday morning he called me into his office and said ‘I’m going to sack you, I can’t have a player doing that’ and I accepted that and apologised to him.
“Then he called a meeting in the dressing room and goes berserk – it’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen him – and I’ve never seen him do that in training before.
“So he leaves and I apologised to the team because certain things you can do and certain things you can’t do.
“In the 90 minutes I feel that you can say whatever because it’s all about winning, but before the game and after the game you can’t say ‘you played bad’ and I did that that day.
“But the story goes on that he stood outside the dressing room and listened in and didn’t think that I’d do that [apologise] and he never brought it up again. Never.”
Schmeichel goes down as one of Man United’s greatest-ever goalkeepers after a hugely successful eight years at the club.
He helped them to five Premier League titles, three FA Cup and a Champions League – famously being the man between the sticks during their treble-winning campaign in 1998-99.
