“I got picked on a lot…” – Man United legend recalls when Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to sell him

Former Manchester United Peter Schmeichel has discussed the time Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to sell the keeper in 1994 after an argument in the dressing room.

Speaking on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, Schmeichel who would go on to be a key part of United’s treble-winning team captaining the side in the Champions League final in Roy Keane’s absence, recalls the story he first told in his autobiography.

The incident came after United let slip a three-goal lead away against arch-rivals Liverpool, with Schmeichel taking the blame from Sir Alex.

“I came off the pitch and we were 3-0 up and it should’ve been seven or eight – we ended up drawing 3-3,” Said Schmeichel.

“I felt like I kept us in it for one point, [because] for some reason we just stopped playing and you don’t do that at Anfield.”

“Then your temperament… feelings get mixed in without having time to cool off before you get into the dressing room, and then it was me who got picked on.

“I got picked on a lot by the manager. I understood that, I’d been there long enough by that point to understand that. But on that day, my brain was completely fried, and I just couldn’t take it, why me? I was thinking, ‘Look around, you could do that to literally anyone else in here, but not me, I kept us in it.’

“I said things to him I shouldn’t have done, but I’m one of those guys that thinks whatever happens in the dressing room should stay in the dressing room.

“Could you argue against him? All the time. Was he looking for it? All the time. In front of the dressing room? All the time. In a way, he respected you. It was just this one time that I was wrong and didn’t realise it.

“The reason I mentioned it in my book and put it out there was to take responsibility because that was very, very stupid! It was also a way to give an example of why this guy is so unique, why Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved what he has achieved.

“He called me into the office on the Monday morning the week after the game and said, ‘You were out of order and you know I have to let you go. But you’re still playing, but I don’t know when.’

“At that point I still didn’t understand that I was in the wrong, I still felt very hurt about being blamed for the game.

“We rarely had a meeting in the dressing room at the training ground, but it was the first day after the 3-3 against Liverpool and Sir Alex was angry. He said nothing about me and then told us, ‘I’ll see you on the pitch”, then he left.

“I then stood up and said, ‘Guys, I just want to say I really am sorry about what I did and said, I embarrassed you and I embarrassed the manager, I apologised to the manager, and I want to apologise to you guys, I was really out of order’.

“I never heard a thing about [my] sacking, but he told my agent that he was listening by the door thinking ‘I didn’t expect that, okay forget about it.’

“He is the best manager I could have ever wished to have worked with. He made me play 100% every time. That’s how he got the maximum out of everyone because he trusted every player.”

After the incident was settled, Schmeichel would remain at Manchester United for the majority of the 1990s, leaving at the age of 36 having made 398 appearances for the Red Devils.

The Danish keeper recently heaped praise on Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford for his reaction following his late substitution against Tottenham Hotspur.