Roy Keane cuttingly reminded Gary Neville that Sir Alex Ferguson made "mistakes" at Manchester United during a fractious live debate about their former club.
The pair of Red Devils legend were discussing the long-running issues at Old Trafford since Ferguson retired in 2013, with the in-studio discussion coming after United beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 on Saturday thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo 's triumphant hat-trick.
And it was hero Ronaldo that sparked the debate, as United interim boss Ralf Rangnick admitted post-match that managing the superstar was "challenging," having notably been back home in Portugal nursing an injury instead of being involved in the 4-1 humiliation at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester City last Sunday.
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On how Ronaldo's old boss dealt with the superstar and similar personalities during his first spell, former teammate Neville began to explain on Sky Sports : "Sir Alex Ferguson had control because of his success."
But Keane - who fell out with Ferguson which led to him leaving the club after 12 years in 2005 - quickly interrupted his former Old Trafford pal, snapping back: "Yeah, but Gary, it doesn't mean to say he didn't make mistakes."
"I didn't say he didn't," Neville quickly responded before Keane doubled down on his statement.
"I know you didn't but I just wanted to make that clear," he reaffirmed. "Everyone talks about ex-managers, saying, 'they had power and control' as if they never made mistakes. They made wrong decisions as well."
Neville then resumed his point and declared: "Sir Alex Ferguson could make decisions in the dressing room at Manchester United with control, backing from the club.
"Ralf Rangnick's in there for four or five months, he's got no strength of position beyond these next few months so players can, to be fair, take liberties with that side of things. If Cristiano Ronaldo gone back to Portugal because he wasn't selected - that's not good.
"But what can Ralf Rangnick do about it? He's got an impossible situation where he has to try and get in the top four.
"So he has to either put him in the team or leaves him out again and the situation exaggerates and gets even worse. He's in an impossible position because he hasn't got the strength or control.
"What he does have, if we believe what we were told when he came over, he had two-year consultancy where he could say to the next manager this is what I've seen and this is what I didn't like.
"So players will have to be careful if he has got any power in selecting the next manager."
Earlier, Keane had given his verdict on the situation by saying: "That's one of the challenges [dealing with Ronaldo], whatever he can do on the pitch, what he's been doing away from the pitch, obviously there was an incident last week where he was away for a few days.
"If he did do that without permission then he's out of order, the manager's gotta put a marker down and say that's unacceptable.
"I've heard one or two others players have done that over the past few months, so in terms the culture of the club that's unacceptable but you also have to manage the player and say when he's fit and available and in that form, he's gotta play for Manchester United because they need results and get in that top four, they need to look the bigger picture.
"The manager there is probably thinking about getting the next few months over, get in the top four, certainly try and win against Atletico [Madrid on Tuesday] and see what happens from there and not get bogged down with the bigger picture.
"Just get over the line in some of these matches because Ronaldo won't change, he'll challenge but that's what the good players do, but you've gotta stroke their ego a little but but you also have to tell them who the manager is but when you're only in there for a few months that's very, very difficult.
"I know it's easy for us to sit here and say, 'you've gotta sort that out' but when you've got big personalities your contract's only a few months, big players will take advantage of that."
