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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Brutality and embarrassment of Sir Alex Ferguson's Man Utd hairdryers - "you feel so bad"

Former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre has explained how it feels to be on the receiving end of one of Sir Alex Ferguson 's furious 'hairdryer' rants.

The Man Utd boss spent 26 years in the Old Trafford hot-seat, his tenure not without a number of high-profile clashes between Ferguson and many of his players.

Silvestre spent nine years at the club under Ferguson after he was signed in September 1999, enjoying an illustrious career at the club.

The Frenchman won four league titles, one Champions League, one FA Cup and one League Cup as well as making 249 Premier League appearances for the Red Devils in just under a decade.

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Mikael Silvestre won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup and one Champions League under Sir Alex Ferguson ((Photo by John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images))

Though the memory of Silvestre has been tainted in the eyes of some United fans due to his departure to Arsenal in 2008, the defender was an integral part of a glory-laden era at the club.

Silvestre has since given an insight into what playing under Ferguson was like and how it felt to be on the wrong side of some infamous 'hairdryer treatment'.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Silvestre said: "People ask about that because I get that you wouldn't get that in a normal business.

"Coaches shout at you when you're young, but when you receive this, you're a grown-up.

"You feel miserable, you feel like you want to curl up and you feel like you want to leave the room as soon as possible!"

Silvestre went on to highlight how the presence of your teammates and backroom staff only heightens the misery.

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"The most annoying part is that everybody's watching. It's the fact that there's 20 plus staff watching, you know?

"It's the physio, the kit man and everybody's there, listening to what the manager is telling you - you feel so bad."

Ferguson is viewed by the overwhelming majority of United fans as the best manager in the club's history - securing an astonishing 13 league titles over the course of his reign.

Sir Alex Ferguson is widely regarded as the best manager in Manchester United's history (Getty Images)

The fierce Scot had quite the temper, as even the most high-profile of his players found out during their time at Old Trafford.

A dressing room fall-out with David Beckham which ultimately led to the former England captain being struck in the head by a stray boot one of the most famous fall-outs of Fergie's tenure.

Silvestre's dressing room tales are seemingly a world away from the kind of exchange between player and manager at Man Utd nowadays, for better or worse.

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