Former Manchester United defender Gary Pallister has admitted that Sir Alex Ferguson would "drop you" from his team if he discovered that any of his players went to watch horse racing.
The former centre-back, who played for United between 1989 and 1998, has made the admission ahead of the Cheltenham Festival getting under way. It is the biggest horse-racing meeting on the calendar and attracts thousands of visitors.
However, United's players were banned from attending racing meetings while Ferguson occupied the managerial hot-seat at Old Trafford. The Scot was not a fan of horse racing back in the 1990s — although he now owns horses and has since become a lover of the sport.
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With this year's Cheltenham Festival now upon us, Pallister has admitted that Ferguson would dish out strict punishments if he discovered that anyone within his squad had attended the racing. But he has admitted that his outlook is now very different.
"My favourite memories of Fergie and horse racing is that if he found out you've been to the horse racing, he'd drop you," Pallister told BoyleSports Horse Racing Betting. "He wasn't into it.
"He didn’t play golf and he didn't like horse racing. Now he loves his golf and his horse racing and owns horses.
"Back in the day, he wasn't OK with the lads going off for a day at the races, but that's all changed. He's obviously been involved for quite a while now with his good friends from Manchester and had some good success there."
Asked if the players would be granted special permission to go to Cheltenham, because of the sheer size of the event, Pallister added: "God no! He wouldn't allow us to go to Cheltenham.
"That's right in the middle of the season when it's getting to the tickly bit. Cheltenham week, no chance.
"There was every chance we'd be playing in the middle of the week anyway so that was never on the agenda. The ones we used to go to were at the end of the season at Chester when the season was done. It was always a good day out for the lads if we'd won something that season."
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