In light of recent media revelations regarding Marcus Rashford, Sir Alex Ferguson’s response to two Manchester United players partying after a loss to Manchester City has come to light again.
According to reports, Rashford was seen in Belfast nightclubs on Wednesday and Thursday night before missing training on Friday due to illness.
According to a story from The Athletic, the 26-year-old England international spent his Wednesday night at Lavery’s Bar before going to Thompsons Garage nightclub on Thursday.
Manchester United responded to the latest media claims with a statement on Monday night.
It read: “Marcus has taken responsibility for his actions. This has been dealt with as an internal disciplinary matter, which is now closed.”
A tale from a while back has surfaced, involving two former players and former manager Sir Alex Ferguson after the latest Rashford episode.
After defeating their local rivals 1-0, Manchester City cut United’s advantage at the top of the Premier League to 12 points back in April 2013.
Although it turned out to be a little setback in an otherwise stellar season for the Reds, Ferguson was not pleased with the outcome.
The manager was enraged when he learned that two United players had been seen out partying in the hours following City’s dramatic late victory at Old Trafford.
In an interview with SoFoot, Robin Van Persie, who netted 26 goals in 38 games that season, discussed Ferguson’s response to the late-night shenanigans.
He said: “In my first season, we were 15 points ahead in the league, and we welcomed Manchester City to win the title.
“If we won this match, it was 18 points ahead, but we had lost. This still left us 12 points ahead, most managers would not have dramatised the situation. The boss, on the other hand, he went up in the turns. It was really hot.
“Two guys from the team were out after this loss. The day after the match, he had pictures of the two players posted in the dressing room during their night out.
“He said to the whole team, ‘Ok guys if we don’t win the championship, know that it’s because of those two a**holes that chose to go out.”
Van Persie added: “Yeah, I have the names, but I really can’t give them. It was incredible, he had pasted lots of photos, we had limited the evening of the two players hour by hour: 2am, 3am, 4am, as if to emphasise the extent of their bulls**t.
“He didn’t stop there, he warned us all: ‘Guys, listen well if we don’t win the championship, it’s because these two have decided to go out to have fun. From now on, if I see a player come out before the trophy is lifted, that player is out.’
“He was ruthless. ‘I don’t care about who you are, how many trophies you’ve won so far. If you go out before the end of the season, you leave the team and I’ll sell you.’ After that speech, we went to train, and it was the two hardest workouts of my life. Twelve points ahead and that’s his reaction.”
