Fergie went ‘absolutely mental’ at Beckham over agent in worst-ever hairdryer
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David Beckham says Sir Alex Ferguson went "absolutely mental" at him following a disagreement over agents.
The former England skipper was a talismanic figure at Manchester United, but his relationship with Fergie gradually deteriorated as his celebrity status exploded in the early 00s. Speaking on the upcoming Netflix docu-series about his career, Beckham says things got so bad that Ferguson stopped talking to him altogether.
"I knew my career was going to come to an end at some point and I wanted a career after football – and that ate away at the manager," the 48-year-old said. "He just wanted me to be the best footballer that I could be and be married to a local girl that wasn’t a superstar."
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The legendary midfielder was regularly on the receiving end of Ferguson's notorious hairdryers, and a particularly brutal one after a conversation about agents pushed him to the brink of an exit. He said: "He wanted me to go to a certain agent that he knew and I wanted to go to a different agent. He went absolutely mental at me. Mental. He wanted nothing to do with me, to the point where he wouldn’t even talk to me."
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Speaking on the same programme, Ferguson claims Beckham "changed" after his surge in fame and it became increasingly difficult to keep the player grounded. "He changed. There is no doubt about that," the former manager said. "That sort of media attention he was getting, becoming a celebrity, was different to what I wanted."Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult. He was a good looking boy and he was well cut, so it was a great attraction for the media."
Ferguson ran a very a tight ship at Old Trafford and typically got rid of players he didn't think he could control. Such was the fate of Beckham in 2003 when United agreed to sell him to Madrid for £25million.
Despite their differences, Beckham admitted Ferguson was "like a father figure" to him, having known him since he was a boy. "[He is] one of the most important people in my life from the day I met him aged about 12 or 13," Beckham said.
The London-born player made just shy of 400 appearances for United under Ferguson, scoring 85 goals. The pair won 10 major honours together including six Premier League titles and the Champions League in 1999.
- Sir Alex Ferguson
- David Beckham
- Manchester United FC
- Premier League
- Netflix
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