Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has recalled the time one Manchester United player was brave enough to refuse to come on as a sub for Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex Ferguson is widely regarded as one of the best managers in English football history.
He joined the club in 1986 and in his 27-year reign at the club, he turned Man United into one of the best teams in England and Europe, leading the club to 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, two Champions League trophies, and four League Cups.
One of the big reasons for his success was his no-nonsense authoritative style, an attitude that players both respected and feared.
Yet even under his strict leadership, a few players had the nerve to refuse his orders. Paul Scholes was one of them.
Ben Foster on how Man United legend Paul Scholes once refused to come on for Sir Alex Ferguson
Ben Foster was a Manchester United player for five years after moving from Stoke City in 2005, though much of that time was spent either out on loan or serving as a backup.
Foster was part of the team that beat Tottenham to win the League Cup in 2009 and played a key role for the club during Edwin van der Sar’s injury.
Having seen plenty of memorable moments during his time at United, Foster recently shared how Paul Scholes refused to come on as a sub for Sir Alex Ferguson.
Speaking on The Ben Foster podcast, he recalled: “I remember, right? When I was at United, I was on the bench quite a lot, right? And we were, I don’t know, five nil up or something in the game, right?
“And Sir Alex Ferguson turned around, Scholes had been on the bench all game. There was literally like two minutes left. And he went, Scholesy, do you want to come on?
“And Scholesy went, ‘No’.
“‘Really? No’.
“And he went, ‘All right, cool’. And just sort of turned around and carried the game on. And I was thinking, ‘oh, what a guy you are’.”
Paul Scholes admits his regret over refusing to play for Man United
After Cristiano Ronaldo refused to play for Erik ten Hag, Scholes was one of the players who sympathised with his former teammate.
However, he admitted that it was a moment that he regretted. Speaking on TNT Sports, he said: “This week I saw it’s been mentioned a few times what I did and it was a low point in my career. I look back and regret, it was so wrong to do.
“I sympathise with Cristiano. He did the wrong thing but my situation we was playing Liverpool on the Sunday and then playing Arsenal in the cup on the Monday which was unheard of. I was left out of the Liverpool (starting line-up) game and I was upset about it.
“Usually when I got left out I could understand but for some reason that day I was so upset. I wanted to be part of it. And as the game goes on. The team went 2-0 down, thought the manager would bring me on but he didn’t.
“It gets in your head, you get to an hour and still not on, your head goes and I think same thing has happened to Cristiano where he’s thinking he’s been left out.
“A biggish game, the year before he scored a hat-trick against Spurs, saw team miss a lot of chances and he would be thinking he could score goals against this team easily.
“Longer the game goes on the more you get upset, the red mist comes. You’re not thinking straight. To ask him to come on with two or three minutes, Cristiano would be thinking “is he taking the mickey out of me?”
Scholes and Ferguson shared a special relationship which is perhaps why the midfielder got away with it.
There have been many other instances of players refusing the manager’s orders in recent history.
During a Champions League match, former Man United star Carlos Tevez refused to come on as a substitute for Manchester City vs Bayern Munich. He was fined and given a gardening leave.
And then some refused to come off, with Kepa Arrizabalaga ignoring former Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri’s orders in the 2019 League Cup final, as he insisted on staying on for the penalty shootouts, which they eventually lost.
