Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen revealed the Manchester United dressing room didn't give him any hassle over his allegiances with their arch-rivals.
Owen made the switch to Old Trafford from Newcastle United in 2009 after making 71 Premier League appearances for the Magpies across his four-year period at St James' Park. The 43-year-old burst onto the scene at Anfield and became the club's youngest goalscorer at 17 years and 143 days.
During his time with Liverpool, he won the FA Cup, two League Cup's as well as the UEFA Cup plus a number of individual accolades including the Ballon d'Or in 2001. He left the Reds for the Spanish capital and the Galacticos, Real Madrid, but almost returned to L4 after a year in La Liga but the Toon Army swooped in to acquire the striker.
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Famously, Owen scored a late goal in the Manchester derby to hand Sir Alex Ferguson's side an important three points in their race for the Premier League title. Although he had ties with Merseyside, he has revealed to AceOdds that he didn't face scrutiny from his Red Devils teammates.
"Not really, no is the honest answer," he said. "I think things like that are what fans do in terms of when you're a professional, it's part and parcel of the game, moving clubs and moving here and there and everything else.
"It's almost unspeakable for a fan to ever contemplate support in another team but in the game with managers, with players, that's just what happens. And that's why fans will always get annoyed and point fingers and say that players have got no loyalty and all the rest of it.
"But players would be exactly the same as fans if they weren't good at kicking the ball around. They'd only have one team and they'd support them through thick and thin and everything else.
"Going into a dressing room coming from a club, I'd been to Real Madrid, I'd then gone to Newcastle and then came to Manchester United. So it's not like I left Liverpool and went to the arch-rivals straight away. Everybody knows that I was desperate to go back to Liverpool at every opportunity.
"But when you've got a career, you have to look after it and try to play at the highest level for as long as you can, etc. I think players understand that."
He spent three years in Manchester with United under Sir Alex Ferguson and played under a number of managers, including Liverpool greats Gerard Houllier and Roy Evans but it is the Scot who stands out.
Owen added: "I mean, just looking from the outside, 26 years, was it, as Manchester United manager? And in that time, football has changed unbelievably. The way football clubs have run, the amount of staff now. The things you've got to manage in today's game are just totally, totally different to what they were 26 years ago. Or longer, actually, in his case.
"But I think being able to manage over that period of time and adapt with the change and adapt with the times, I think that's just unbelievable how he did that over such a long period of time.
"His knowledge about football. He rarely coached, I mean he never got onto the training ground. I was there for three years, and he rarely got onto the training ground and coached any of the players. But he managed and that's what it says on the tin.
"The first team coaches that's what they're there to do, to coach the first team and he manages everything, he looks over everything. Then on Saturday, he takes over and you absolutely know who the manager is at that point."
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