Sir Alex Ferguson did not hold back when it came to disciplining players at Manchester United.
The former Scotland coach managed the Reds side for 27 years, becoming an important face in and around Old Trafford. Somebody who is too familiar with that is former United defender Mikael Silvestre. The Frenchman represented United between 1999 and 2008, making over 360 appearances for the Reds.
Speaking on the UTD Podcast, the now 44-year-old reminisced about a time when the United boss gave him the complete "hairdryer [treatment] twice." Ferguson did not hold back in delivering an angry verbal reprimand to Silvestre after the his own post-match interviews in French were being picked up by the media.
"When it was translated then the boss could read it. In the beginning, we would do interviews after every game so, about I don’t know, 10 questions after every game," Silvestre recalled.
"On the phone, someone would write down and then we’d post it on the website the day after, probably. But then it started being picked up by the tabloids, you know the papers, and when it was translated then the boss could read it. And with some of them, he wasn’t happy at all.
"You know, when you say, ‘I don’t think we performed well,’ he thought that only he could say that. So for me, it was my interview on my website and then it was on the back page of the paper, so I got the hairdryer twice. So I shut down the website straight away after that!"
HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of Sir Alex Ferguson's actions? Have your say in the comment section below...
The former defender also went on to explain how social media affects the life of a footballer: "I think [social media] affects you," he added. "Everybody says I’m not reading it, but you have to, and you are just curious to know what people think about you.
"It’s important to not be obsessed by it, which is difficult to assess when you are a player when you are just turning 20, playing first-team football and you are under a lot of scrutiny. Yourself, your performance, [and] your private life is exposed, so I think it would have been tough [for me]."
He also added that Ferguson was important in that aspect of social media. "I think also the manager was a good policeman in that respect. In a good way. I use this word because at my time we just started the players to have our own website, so I was tempted to do it, so I did."
