Ex-Man United midfielder ‘grateful’ to Sir Alex Ferguson for calling journalists ‘f*cking idiots’

Ex-Manchester United midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron has explained his gratitude to Sir Alex Ferguson for defending him in the media during his time at Old Trafford.

Veron, 48, joined United from Lazio in 2001 and was a highly rated central midfielder during his time in Italy.

However, his time in Manchester was not as successful. He played 82 games across two years before being sold to Chelsea, where he also struggled and appeared only 14 times before exiting permanently in 2006.

Sir Alex Ferguson, despite selling the Argentine on relatively quickly, defending Veron against the media, who were targeting the £28 million player – which was the English transfer record at the time – for his performances.

Famously, when pressed on the performances of Veron, the Scottish manager replied: “On you go. I’m not f*cking talking to you. He’s a f*cking great player. Yous are f*cking idiots.”

Now, Veron has explained how that public support from the United boss was much appreciated, whilst he acknowledged his lack of form when playing in England.

“I was just very grateful for that, I always respected his defence of me,” the former United player explained when talking to Gambling Zone. “I know my English past isn’t so great – lots of ups and downs – I never had regularity in my football career over there.

“I don’t like this because in my seven years in Italy, I played a consistent level of football. In England there were so many ups and downs, so I am forever grateful to Sir Alex for defending me from the media.

“But my football, at that moment, was not that good.”

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Going further, Veron described playing under Ferguson as ‘one of the best experiences’ of his life despite his time at the club being underwhelming.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life, for every single reason, not just for training reasons or coaching reasons,” added Veron. “He has everything as a manager and he is the reason why Manchester United were so brilliant.”