Sir Alex Ferguson gave me hairdryer treatment at Man Utd after breaking rule he ‘made up as he went along’
GARY PALLISTER has revealed that he was once the recipient of Sir Alex Ferguson’s infamous hairdryer treatment.
The former Manchester United star had his “dressing down” for breaking rules that he made “as he went along”.
Pallister, 58, spent nine years at Old Trafford during his playing days and won four Premier League titles under Ferguson.
The retired defender played 437 times for the club and was a staple of the backline alongside Steve Bruce.
However, it was not enough to escape the fury of Ferguson for going out after a win against rivals Liverpool.
Pallister was not even able to defend himself by using the rules put in place by the PFA.
He told The Winners Enclosure, who provide the latest Cheltenham tips: “It was after a Liverpool game where we went out and celebrated on a Wednesday night before we played on the Saturday.
“At half-time in the game on the Saturday, we were getting beat and he tore me and three of the lads apart, who had been out with me.
“The rules with the PFA were that you don’t go out two days before a game, which would have been the Thursday and that was the ground rules for everybody not to be out on a Thursday or Friday.
“He gave me a dressing down for it, I said ‘it wasn’t a Thursday’, but he said ‘I don’t care, they’re not my rules – these are my rules’. He made them up as he went along!
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“You know yourself as a professional, there’s certain limits you can go to and certain things you can’t do.
“I think I was with a very professional team and I don’t recall any of our boys at United going out two nights before a game, that’s for sure.”
“He would always keep a check on it, it wasn’t like we were doing stuff behind his back at all on a Tuesday.
“Bryan Robson would call him and say that we were going to go out and have a few beers to check it through with him.
“That’s the way it was, Liverpool and Arsenal sides of the past went down the same route and it wasn’t as frowned upon then as it is now.
“The money involved in football now, with professionalism where it is, footballers are not just that.
“They’re actual athletes, you wouldn’t have seen a six-pack in our dressing room back in the times I played.
“I think that’s the difference between players of my era and players now; I think they’re very finely tuned, so if they start going out drinking and things like that, it’s probably frowned upon more.”
Pallister has recently revealed that he believes that the club should be looking to build a new ground.
He thinks that “serious consideration” should be given to a move rather than a renovation of Old Trafford.
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