Rio Ferdinand has confirmed Manchester United's 2008 Champions League-winning team keep in touch through a WhatsApp group.
Ferdinand, who captained United to victory against Chelsea in that final, has also revealed which player gets the most stick in the group. The unfortunate icon is Patrice Evra, who apparently comes "in and out" of the WhatsApp chat due to the brutal banter.
United achieved huge success under Sir Alex Ferguson, particularly between 2006 and 2013. That was the club's most recent golden era, as they won five Premier League titles and reached three Champions League finals, losing to Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.
Ferdinand revealed all during an appearance on The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan on Friday night. The defender-turned-pundit said: "You got like [Wayne] Rooney, [Patrice] Evra, [Darren] Fletcher, Nani… not [David] Beckham, he’s too old."
Beckham left United after their Premier League title win in 2003. Ferguson's side briefly struggled after that due to the rise of Chelsea under Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger's great Arsenal side, but the legendary United boss eventually built a new team.
That new team included some iconic players, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick and Carlos Tevez. It's unclear exactly which stars are in the WhatsApp group, although it's fair to assume quite a few of them are involved.
Who was your favourite member of Manchester United's 2008 Champions League-winning squad? Let us know in the comments below!
On Evra, Ferdinand added: "Evra just comes in and out because he gets bullied in there. He gets ripped and all you see is, 'Patrice has left the group'. And then you get a text a couple of hours later, ‘Can you let me back in please, add me, add me'."
The banter with Evra didn't stop there. Gilligan asked Ferdinand about the famous white suit he wore at his unveiling as a United player in July 2002. Ferguson signed the defender from Leeds for £29.1million to make him the most expensive British player of all time.
Ferdinand responded to Gilligan's question by dropping a voice note in the group chat, asking his former United colleagues whether he should bring the style back. Evra replied: "Bro, this is fire, you have to wear it!"
Yet Evra's reply was a direct message, as he avoided making the plea in the group chat. Ferdinand explained: "So, he's come outside of the group because he knows if he says that inside of the group, they'll kill him. He'll be told to get out of the group."
Ferdinand has previously lifted the lid on how Ferguson reacted to that white suit.
As quoted by The Sun, he told 433: "The manager said to me on this day, he said, 'Rio, what the f*** are you wearing?' He said to my mum, 'What is he... what is this suit? Is he for real with this suit?' But I didn't care. I always wear what I want, I don't care anyway."
