Four Manchester United players who fell out with Alex Ferguson

Bengaluru, Sep 9: Former Manchester United legend Roy Keane's recent statement about his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson has created quite a stir. The Irish footballer had to leave the club with much bitterness when the Scottish manager terminated his contract two months prior to a transfer window due to a big fallout.

Keane, however, was not the only big name to be booted out by the legendary manager. In his 27 years of service, Ferguson had always been a ruthless man in terms of managing players and that, at times, even spoiled personal relationships among some of them. But despite his customary temper, most of his players still hold him in the highest respect and even admire him.

Some of his disputes against his own players have become part of Manchester United folklore. Here we look back at the top four falling outs between Sir Alex and some of his own players.

1) Roy Keane

Arguably one of the best midfielders of his generation, Keane was the lieutenant of Ferguson's army during their initial glorious days. The pair won seven league titles, four FA Cups, a Champions, and several other minor trophies together. But at one point, at the downturn of Keane's career, their personalities clashed. He was bound to cause some trouble with his outspoken nature and he started doing the same 2005 when his form was down and United's performance was poor. Keane criticised training facilities during a pre-season tour before bashing his team-mates during an interview with MUTV after an infamous 4-1 loss to Middlesbrough. His such antics, however, did not go down well with the legendary gaffer who showed no mercy and stripped the Irishman of the captaincy and was even released to Celtic at the earliest possible date.

2) Jaap Stam

The transfer of Jaap Stam was probably one of Sir Alex Ferguson's biggest mistakes. In 2001, Jaap Stam was regarded as one of, if not the best defender in Europe. He even won the Premier League player of the season, first defender to win it in PL era, for Manchester United during their treble-winning season and seemed certain to become a long term club legend for the club. But it came as nothing less than an extreme shock when it was announced just two games into 2001 season that the Dutch defender had been sold to Italian giants Lazio. It is understood that Ferguson let go the player because of him mentioning the Gaffer in his autobiography where he stated that Ferguson had tapped him up before his move from PSV Eindhoven to Old Trafford and also mentioning certain teammates in unflattering terms. Later it was revealed that Ferguson even did not read the book and took the decision only by going through reports and rumours.

3) David Beckham

Ferguson moulded the young English footballer to one of the most popular performers in the world but soon his celebrity lifestyle started threatening to overshadow his job as a professional footballer. Ferguson felt the superstar had grown too big for his boots thus he decided to cut lose him from the side. In an injury in 2002 Beckham started to be on a downward spiral and his position was captured by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and later Nistelrooy. Although eventually, Beckham did earn his way back into the side in the meantime, tensions had risen between the England man and his manager. And after a loss against Arsenal in FA Cup, Beckham and Ferguson clashed with the latter accidentally kicking a boot in his face. Soon after two weeks, without the English footballer's knowledge, Ferguson accepted a bid from Real Madrid and he was gone in a whisker.

4) Carlos Tevez

The Argentinian forward's free transfer move from the red half of Manchester to the blue side is one of the most controversial switches in Premier League history. His falling out with Sir Alex happened much more after he left the club than when he was there. With Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov already at the club, Fergie saw no reason to keep the former West Ham player on board and in his last few days, he starter benching him. Tevez was not happy with the decision and after running down his deal, maybe just to show Ferguson his meriting, moved to the arch-rivals where he became a legend.