Geoff Shreeves has revealed he and Sir Alex Ferguson nearly came to physical blows before a Manchester United staff member jumped between them.
The Sky Sports interviewer and the Scot came face-to-face on numerous occasions before the latter's retirement in 2013. Ferguson was not one to shy away from a verbal slanging match, often wanting to get a point across as he and his team dominated.
Post match interviews have become an increasingly influential part of a managers job and Ferguson knew he could motivate and protect his players - which is exactly what he did in 2007 when United saw off Middlesbrough 1-0 in an FA Cup replay.
Ronaldo won and scored the spot kick, but Shreeves quizzed Ferguson after the game on whether his No.7 had gone down far too easily - which the Scot didn't take kindly too as has been revealed, by The Sun, in an excerpt from the book 'Cheers, Geoff! Tales from the Touchline'.
It read: "He stood up for his players, as I discovered after an FA Cup win over Middlesbrough when Cristiano Ronaldo went tumbling to win a penalty. I asked Cristiano whether he went down easily. Ronaldo is pretty non-committal but says it was a penalty. I certainly wasn’t aware of the impending explosion.
"Sir Alex comes out of the dressing room and stalks straight towards me. 'You and your f***ing questions, you’re f***ing out of order,' he snarled. 'The boy hardly speaks English, you’re f***ing bang out of order', plus even more colourful language. 'Don’t talk to me like that,' I replied. 'I’m not one of your daft, young players'."
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"That saw the Ferguson red mist turn deep crimson. He launched himself at me physically, with only United’s head of communications, Di Law, who jumped between us, preventing a full confrontation.
"'Don’t even think about it,' I said to Fergie, which was met with an immediate, 'F*** off, you’re barred,' as he was hurried away from the scene. I thought I’d done a decent job but as soon as I got home, I stuck the tape on. Then I saw I had got it wrong. It was heavy-handed, piling into him, demanding to know if he was a cheat.
"I wrote Fergie an email, admitting I’d got it wrong. No response."
Shreeves has revealed that Ferguson had no problem whispering a topic in his ear which he wanted to discuss. Be it a player or a situation in a game that he looked to highlight which may advantage his outfit.
