"He was merciless, He Calls two players A**holes" – Van Persie on Alex Ferguson

Robin van Persie has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson made an example of two Manchester United players in front of the whole squad after they were caught partying in the wake of their defeat to Manchester City in April 2013. James Milner’s deflected 51st-minute strike cancelled out Vincent Kompany’s own goal and it appeared United and City would have to settle for a draw at Old Trafford. But Sergio Aguero beat David de Gea at his near post with 12 minutes remaining to steal all three points for the visitors.

The result saw City closed the gap on top-of-the-table United to ten points and, speaking after the final whistle, Ferguson insisted his side were ‘unlucky’ to lose the match.

However, the iconic Scot was furious after two first-team stars were pictured on a night out following the defeat and called the duo ‘a***holes’ in front of the rest of United’s squad at the club’s Carrington training base. ‘The day after the game Sir Alex had photos put up on the dressing room wall of the two players taken during their night out,’ Van Persie told SoFoot. ‘He told the entire squad: “Boys, if we don’t win the league it’s because of these two a***holes who opted to go out”. ‘I know the names, but can’t reveal them. The manager slaughtered them. It was amazing. He’d put up photos documenting where they were, at 2am, 3am, 4am etc, to underline just how stupid they had been.’

Van Persie added: ‘He didn’t stop there, but warned us that if he heard of any of us going out before we’d won the league we’d be out of the team.

‘He was merciless, saying: “I don’t care who you are or how many trophies you’ve won – if you go out before the end of the season I’ll sell you”. ‘After that speech I had the two hardest training sessions I’ve ever had in my life. We went on to win the title. A manager has to know when to be tough, and when to take the pressure off.’

The Red Devils bounced back from the defeat to secure the trophy just two weeks later and Ferguson stepped down as manager that summer after winning his 13th league title with the club. Van Persie’s stunning first-half hat-trick against Aston Villa took United over the line and the Dutchman finished the campaign as top scorer in the English top flight with 26 goals.