Sir Alex Ferguson was reluctant to name Cristiano Ronaldo as Manchester United captain because he didn't want to damage the squad's morale, according to Gary Neville.
Neville enjoyed a glittering five-year spell as Red Devils skipper but became disillusioned in his role due to a string of injury concerns.
But, when the right-back pitched the idea of handing the armband to one of the club's big-name stars - including Portuguese superstar Ronaldo - Neville was met with a firm response from Ferguson.
And the former England defender has lifted the lid on the legendary Scot's stance.
"I got injured a year after taking the captaincy and that became really difficult for me," Neville told Sky Sports.
"It felt as though I wasn’t contributing like a captain should be for my last four years. I actually went to see Sir Alex in pre-season about the third year I was captain.
"We had an amazing team: Ronaldo, Rooney, [Carlos] Tevez, [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, [Michael] Carrick, [Rio] Ferdinand, [Nemanja] Vidic, [Patrice] Evra, [Edwin] van der Sar… there were some great personalities and players in that group.
"I went over to Sir Alex walking onto the training pitch and said, 'I don’t feel worthy of keeping the captaincy anymore. This team is to a level I can’t compete at'.
"He said, 'You’ll keep that f-ing armband, son.' The reason he gave me: 'You and Giggs will rotate it. If I give it to Ronaldo, Rooney will kick off. If I give it to Rooney, Ronaldo will kick off. If I give it to Vidic, Ferdinand won’t be happy'.
"So literally I think me and Giggsy kept it for three or four years beyond that just purely because of the fact the camaraderie in the dressing room. We were the policemen if you like, the older statesmen.
"Sir Alex wanted to make sure the team came first. Even though I felt unworthy as a captain at that stage."
