You'd have to be either very brave or very foolish to get on the wrong side of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Anyone who ever played under Ferguson knew all too well the wrath that he could unleash. Meanwhile, any Premier League player who hadn't had the pleasure of playing under the legendary former Manchester United boss had heard plenty of him - usually through dressing room walls - and knew just as well to stay on his good side.
As the curtain was drawn on the First Division and the Premier League was formed, Ferguson and United had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with but had yet to win the top flight during his tenure. 1991/1992 was the final campaign before English football changed forever and it represented Ferguson's best chance to date of guiding his side to English top-flight glory.
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Their main title rivals that season were Leeds United, who had only been promoted two seasons prior. Led by Howard Wilkinson, the West Yorkshire outfit were within touching distance of glory by April, with United drawing at Luton Town before defeats against Nottingham Forest and West Ham.
Playing for the Whites at that time before moving to Coventry City and then Liverpool, Scotland international Gary McAllister had scored a penalty to help his side beat Coventry before a massive game against Sheffield United. After the short trip south to Bramall Lane, Wilkinson's side came out 3-2 winners and only needed old foes United to drop points at Liverpool that evening.
“We all went back to Chappy’s (Lee Chapman) house after the game in Sheffield to watch Man United play Liverpool at Anfield," McAllister said back in 2017. "Because I’d done some TV work, I was tuned into 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!’”
McAllister continued: “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 Denis 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!”
Of course McAllister wasn't the only one to have felt Ferguson's fury, but the fiery Scot showed his true class in 2006 when McAllister's wife sadly passed away after a battle with breast cancer.
“This is the measure of the man. When you’re competing against him, you’re the enemy, but when I went through this tragic experience with cancer, who was the first person to call me? Alex Ferguson,” McAllister later revealed.
“He was the first person to make a phone call. He invited me to the training ground at Carrington. He said, 'you can come to training any day. You can come to Old Trafford to any game'.
“The first mass card I got through the post was from his wife. You see this figure when you’re competing against him, he’ll do anything to beat you. But there’s a gentle side to Alex Ferguson and that’s something I learned down the line. For 20 years, I did not exist!”
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