Sir Alex Ferguson has already put Piers Morgan to shame over his comments on David Beckham.
In an astonishing series of tweets arguing with Gary Lineker, the broadcaster kicked off the row while watching the Super Bowl where Odell Beckham Jr grabbed the first touchdown as the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a pulsating finale.
“Great to watch a Beckham who can actually play football,” Morgan tweeted, probably aware that he was ready to cause absolute chaos on the social media site.
Lineker rose up to defend his old England captain and replied: “You might dislike him, for whatever reason, but David Beckham was a great footballer. One of our finest.”
It led to a rally of argumentative tweets, including one from Piers calling Beckham a “fame-hungry snail” while also insisting that he would not get into Manchester United’s best XI.
However, Ferguson - a man who knows a thing or two about United - would beg to differ.
While picking his best XI of United players, Fergie insisted it was “easy” putting Beckham in his midfield, though he did struggle to decide on his strikers.
When asked who to name a line-up, he said: "It is absolutely impossible.
“You look at the strikers I had, going back to [Brian] McClair, [Mark] Hughes, [Andy] Cole, [Eric] Cantona, [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Louis] Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, [Dwight] Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
"Then to the present players - Wayne Rooney, [Robin] van Persie, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez]. How do you pick out of that? Cantona and somebody else maybe?
"The midfield was probably a bit easier because you have [Roy] Keane, [Bryan] Robson and [Paul] Scholes - they were fantastic players - and [David] Beckham, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Ryan] Giggs.”
While Fergie’s words here were more positive, the relationship between the two was actually extremely fractured that culminated in the Scotsman kicking a boot off Beckham’s head.
However, some years back Becks has admitted that his celebrity status might have affected his coming and goings with the United legend.
In 2017, the Inter Miami owner said: “At 41 I’d like to think that I’m more grown up and a little wiser than when I was 21. There were certain decisions I made back then that were wrong and I can see why the manager got so frustrated.
“There was one occasion when Victoria was in Ireland. I had a day off so I flew over to Ireland.
“I didn’t feel I needed to tell the manager what I was doing. As I was coming back at 6am for training, I was sat in the lounge and the manager walked in. He didn’t talk to me. I knew I was in a little bit of trouble.
“I can understand the manager then thinking, ‘OK, he’s not looking after his body,’ or ‘He’s not resting as he should do’.
“All the manager ever wanted was the best for the team, the best for the club and the best for the individual.”
