"No one is safe at Manchester United": Rio Ferdinand shares incredible story about Sir Alex Ferguson

Rio Ferdinand played for Manchester United for 12 years.

Sir Alex Fergusson is one of the world’s most prolific football managers, he managed Manchester United from 1986-2013 for a record 27 years, retiring as their longest serving and most successful manager. Sir Alex is the most successful manager in the history of the game, he has won the most number of trophies in the history of the game as a manager, most of which came which Manchester United.

The Scottish Manager is largely responsible for making Manchester United the Premier League giant it is today. Under him, The Red Devils won 38 trophies with him at the helm, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA cups, and two UEFA Champions league titles. Sir Alex is credited with inculcating a strong team culture in Manchester United and promoting youth talent, some of which would go on to be some of the best players of their generation.

Stories of Sir Alex’s approach to team building and his sometimes ruthless way of dealing with factors which may affect team cohesion are a big part of Manchester United folklore. Now, former Manchester United ace Rio Ferdinand has come up with a story demonstrating Sir Alex’s management approach.

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Rio Ferdinand had joined Manchester United in 2002. By that time, United had already won the treble in 1999 and forward Dwight Yorke had been an important part of the United team since then and was highly rated during that time.

Ferdinand recalled that how one morning during training, Sir Alex called him and told him he should stop hanging out with Yorke if he wanted to stay at Old Trafford for long, When Ferdinand enquired further, Sir Alex told him that Dwight Yorke won’t be at United for long. Shocked, Ferdinand was lost for words as Dwight Yorke was one of United’s most potent players. Sir Alex added further:

Ferdinand said: “Dwight had won the treble a couple of years before and him and Andy Cole had been on fire up front. I was walking around the training ground with him and remember Alex Ferguson walking out of his office and saying, ‘Alright boys. Good morning!’

“We both said good morning back. I went and had breakfast with Yorkie and we headed out to training. As we were going out, Ferguson called me – ‘Rio. Rio! Come over here’.

“It’s Alex Ferguson so the respect levels are crazy high anyway. It’s like the head teacher at school calling you over on your first day.

“I walked over and he said, ‘Do you want to be here a long time?’ I said, ‘Yeah. I want to win everything and do as well as I can, boss.’

“Ferguson then said, ‘Well the first thing you should think about doing is not hanging around with him [Yorke] because he ain’t going to be here’. Wow. I said, ‘What?’ Ferguson says, ‘He was unbelievable. He won everything but he’s got complacent now’.

“When he said that, it really hit home to me that no one is safe at this club. Dwight Yorke was walking around as the king of Manchester as he’d won the treble and had been a big part of that. But if you start letting standards slip or if the intensity is not there at the training ground, you’ve got to go. That conversation stayed with me for the rest of my career at Man United. That fear of being pushed out the door because I wasn’t as intense as I was at the beginning.”

Rio Ferdinand said how it made him realise that no one was safe at the club, and that now matter how successful you were, if you start letting your standards slip and weren’t as intense at the training ground, you’ve got to go.

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