Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright has revealed that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his players were "f*****g s******g" themselves about the prospect of going up against him ahead of the 1990 FA Cup final replay against Crystal Palace at Wembley.
Back in the days when domestic cup finals went to replays if the scoreline was level after 120 minutes, Palace and United had met in the original fixture in May and played out a thrilling 3-3 draw, with United requiring a second half extra time equalsier from Mark Hughes to secure a replay.
United were leading 2-1 with 20 minutes of normal time remaining, but substitute Wright found the net within three minutes of his introduction for Palace to force the game to extra time.
Wright, who was returning after suffering a broken leg, then scored again two minutes into the start of the additional 30 minutes to put Steve Coppell's Palace 3-2 up.
Having made such a telling impact on the contest, Wright has now revealed that Ferguson recently admitted that he and his players were relieved when the former England international did not start the replay, which was subsequently won 1-0 by United thanks to a goal from Lee Martin.
Wright told the Wrighty's House podcast : "We went to Scotland the other day and played golf and Sir Alex was there, Walter Smith was there and Steve Coppell was there.
"I remember that Steve Coppell was playing with another group of people so we were in the lounge and it was me, Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand, Dean Saunders and Sir Alex Ferguson sitting there.
"Steve Coppell then came past and this, honestly, made me feel amazing. I love Steve Coppell, but Sir Alex Ferguson said: 'Thank f**k you didn't play him in the second game'! It was so amazing. We were with him for about an hour and a half at breakfast and he gave us gold.
"He said: 'We were f*****g s******g ourselves that second game'. I'd never heard that before. It was amazing. It made me feel so good inside."
Wright, despite scoring twice in the original tie, was unable to start the replay, but did step off the bench for the final 26 minutes but was unable to replicate his double that time around.
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