Manchester United fans must be pining for the glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson. The sweet smell of success every season and a real pride, desire and understanding of what it meant to play for Manchester United.
On a podcast called ‘Quickly Kevin, Will He Score’ Gary Neville revealed that his former boss banned shirt swapping in domestic games after an incident with Ruud Van Nistelrooy following a Manchester Derby.
Neville told the podcast: “I always remember, after that game Ruud van Nistelrooy had swapped shirts with a City player. The City player had come up to him and swapped shirts.
“He said, 'You do not give away one of those shirts. They're my shirts. They're this club's shirts, they're not your shirts. You're just wearing them temporarily. That's not your possession to give away.'
"He stopped us swapping shirts in domestic games.
“I think he said after that game, 'I should let the fans in here. I should let the fans come in here and speak to you.'”
That is what made Sir Alex Ferguson one of the greatest managers of all time. He understood the fans more than any other manager in the Premier League era and he transmitted that passion into his players.
Although a top quality player, Fergie never quite saw eye-to-eye with Van Nistelrooy and he left the club in 2006 despite scoring a whopping 150 goals in 219 games for United. What the fans would give for that sort of passion in the dressing room nowadays.