Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that a four-letter blast at Sir Alex Ferguson during the Carling Cup final was the ultimate nail to his coffin at Manchester United.
The prolific Dutch striker left Old Trafford under a cloud in the summer when his extremely productive spell in Manchester United was brought to an end by Ferguson with a transfer to Real Madrid.
The two experienced a dramatic falling out which resulted in Louis Saha taking van Nistelrooy's first-team place, and the Real new-boy has now explained that his outburst during the 4-0 cup final win over Wigan sealed his departure.
"It started at the Carling Cup final, after an hour we were 4-0 ahead," van Nistelrooy told the News of the World.
"I could not wait to get on as a substitute, to play half an hour and maybe score a goal and then go and lift the cup.
"It's a big trophy after all, but first Kieran Richardson was put on.
"After that Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, and Evra had only been at the club a few weeks.
"I exploded and started swearing at Ferguson. That was the killing moment.
"It was both our faults but we never made up after that. The relationship fell apart."
Van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals in 219 games for United after the Premiership side stood by him to delay his signing from PSV Eindhoven for a year due to a serious knee injury.
Once the darling of Old Trafford, van Nistelrooy has now conceded that the manner of his eventual exit was 'tragic' as well as insisting that Ferguson should have treated him better.
"I do consider it kind of tragic," van Nistelrooy added.
"After all, Ferguson was the man who was there for me during my serious knee injury at PSV Eindhoven and even came to my sick bed.
"The way it all went down in the end does say something about the football world.
"But to me that does not permit you to treat people that way."
Ruud van Nistelrooy also dismissed suggestions that he had asked to leave Manchester United three times during his five-year stint at Old Trafford.
Reports have claimed that van Nistelrooy was unhappy at United for a very long time, but he maintains that he only asked to leave at the end of last season after his relationship with Ferguson had completely broken down.
"I never made any transfer requests before. I made one request and the result of that is that I am playing in Madrid now," he explained.
"I control my own career. My agent didn't talk to Barcelona in 2003 concerning my future.
"Every season clubs came in for me but I never wanted to leave. But one thing I learned in football is that you never know what can happen.
"I always gave everything for United. I hope the supporters will remember me like that.
"My proudest moment is still the day we won the league in 2003."
Source: SkySports
2 comments:
I feel that Ruud should not raise his voice at ferguson even when he was not placed in the team when they were 4 nil up as it is the manager prerogative on who should be brought on.
I could understand his feeling on not playing which led to his frustration but that does not give him the right to scold his manager in public.
In real life, no matter how frustrated you are, you do not scold your boss in public.
It is a pity that he left but I felt that Ferguson was thinking about building a manu team that is more reliant on pace and interchanging of position rather than a static type of manu with Ruud as the focal point of attack.
This is my opinion on this post.
Ruud is considered as one of the legends in Manchester United's football history. We all know his contributions and loyalty to the club which is not very common in today's football world. I just couldn't understand why Fergie has to treat him this way. It is NOT justifiable.
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