Former Manchester United player and coach Mike Phelan has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson saw the funny side of his famous balloon-popping incident.
At the time, in 2008, Phelan felt his days were numbered as Ferguson’s assistant at United, due to the boss’ reaction, but it turns out there was no hairdryer used in the aftermath.
United were playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when Phelan was sat alongside Fergie, in the dugout.
It was midgame when Phelan got distracted by a balloon bouncing in front of him. Meanwhile, Fergie and the rest of the backroom staff watched on with complete focus on the game.
Phelan seized his moment to pop the balloon and the TV cameras captured the incident perfectly.
After the balloon popped, Fergie jumped out of his skin. The boss didn’t look very impressed.
“He had no sense of humour had he in that moment!” Phelan joked during an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.
“It was one of those moments where you’ve done everything, you’ve gone out on the field, and you know when something gets into your head. It wasn’t because the game is going on.
“I just picked it up and popped it, I never thought anything of it! But I started laughing. It thought it was funny!”
Phelan went on to add: “But when you look back afterwards, you could see the bench watching the game, you can see the manager, the intensity of the game he was into and I was just chilling out and just blew this balloon up.
“And he went ballistic! He went off his head! I thought that was the end of my job to be fair!”
Fergie had a reputation in the media for having a short fuse, especially after feuds with Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy being well-documented.
But it turns out the greatest manager of all-time was laughing the next day.
“He did get the fight of his life!” Phelan said.
“But he saw the funny side the next day because I think his grandchildren mentioned it or had seen it, so I think they were taking the mickey out of him for it!”
Phelan went on to become Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s assistant at United years later. He also played for the club in the 1990s .
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