Ruud van Nistelrooy says Sir Alex Ferguson purposely stopped him from winning the Golden Boot - because Manchester United had missed out on the Premier League title.
Van Nistelrooy joined United from PSV in the summer of 2001 - and scored 23 league goals in his first season at Old Trafford.
That put him in the mix for the top scorers' award along with Chelsea star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Newcastle icon Alan Shearer and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
In the end it was Henry who fired 24 goals to win the first of his four Golden Boot awards - with Hasselbaink, Shearer and Van Nistelrooy all finishing one goal behind.
And Van Nistelrooy has claimed that Ferguson dropped him for the final league game of the season so that he couldn't win the prize - because United had missed out to Arsene Wenger's Gunners in the title race.
"The gaffer left me out in the last game of the season," Van Nistelrooy told Rio Ferdinand’s Vibe with Five.
"He said, ‘You’re not challenging for the Golden Boot, we didn’t win the league son, you’re out’.
"He left me on the stands man, not even on the bench. I didn’t even have a hope!
"I was up there and was thinking that was a game I could get a few. One more goal!"
But Van Nistelrooy claims it was a masterstroke by arguably the greatest manager in modern football history.
If Ferguson's intention was to fire up his star striker, it certainly had the desired effect, as Van Nistelrooy scooped the Golden Boot award the following year with 25 goals as United reclaimed the title.
"He made me sharp, in that moment," said the former Dutch international, now 44.
"No trophies that year so that message, ‘your goals, fine, they help us but you need to connect it to titles’. That was the message.
"It was clear in my head when he left me in the stands that I was already starting the new season.
"When the manager said something it was clear. He just explained it to me like that."
"I was sitting there watching the game checking if Thierry scored. He wanted to get me fired up for the next season. I wanted to keep up with Thierry."
Van Nistelrooy said he was spurred on by watching Henry, having studied his game before joining United.
"I admired him from day one," he said. "I saw him play, I studied his game.
"I knew how good he was at the time I was like, I want to compete with him, I need to get my levels there.
"Thierry was doing stuff in the Premiership when I was at PSV. That was hard stuff! I want to compete with him to push myself."
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