Patrice Evra has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson once gave him the famous hairdryer treatment in order to send a message to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Evra enjoyed seven years under the title-winning Scot and admitted he only received a trademark Ferguson dressing down on one occasion, during a win over Tottenham in 2007.
Ronaldo opened the scoring on that day at White Hart Lane before the break with three second-half goals from Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs completing the rout against Martin Jol's side as United went on to be crowned Premier League champions that season.
Ferguson welcomed the-now 40-year-old to Manchester United, ending his four-year stint with Monaco, when he signed a three-year deal for a fee in the region of £5.5m, in 2006.
Surprisingly for Evra, the feedback from Sir Alex - in no uncertain terms - came during one of his best displays against Spurs in that February meeting.
But only later, the former United left-back - after speaking to the manager - found out he was on the wrong end of the criticism for good reason.
“When we were playing Tottenham [in 2007], we were winning 2-0, I was playing one of the best games since I joined United,” he told talkSPORT.
“At half-time, we came back in the dressing room, Ferguson didn’t speak for four or five minutes. When he doesn’t speak straight away, you know someone is in trouble.
“Everyone is saying, ‘Patrice – you’re on fire’, but Ferguson looked at me and he said, ‘Patrice – are you OK? I say, ‘Yeah’.
"He said, ‘Are you tired?’ I said, ‘What?’
“He said, ‘Why did you pass the ball back to Edwin van der Sar?’
“I said, ‘Because I didn’t have any solutions, I just passed one ball to the goalkeeper’, and he gave me the most unbelievable hairdryer.
“He said, ‘If you do that again, you’re going to watch the rest of the game next to me, this is the worst you’ve ever played since you’ve been with United!’
“I stood up and he was in my face spitting. His face was there, with his vein. I would argue injustice but I would never answer back in front of my teammates because I respect the authority."
The 'hairdryer' treatment became a widely known phrase synonymous with Ferguson after a number of dressing room bust-ups with his players. Arguably one of the most famous cases was when David Beckham was on the receiving end of the appliance after the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal in 2003.
Evra continued: “We beat Tottenham 4-0 and I couldn’t wait, his door is always open, so the next day I go straight to his office, I knock on the door.
“He said, ‘Hello? Who is it? I said, ‘It’s Patrice.’
“He said, ‘Oh, son! How are you?’ He was really happy. I said to him, ‘Boss – what happened yesterday?’
“He said, ‘Patrice – you were the best player on the pitch, but Cristiano Ronaldo was starting to do his skill other players were missing chances when you play for United and you score one, you have to score the second, the third, the fourth’.
“I said, ‘But boss – why me? Be careful, boss, because this time it was a really close one’. And he said, ‘Get out of my office’ – I won’t say the words he used. I was like, ‘wow’.
“But when I closed the door, I realised he just used me to send a message to the team, to make sure we respect Tottenham and make sure we scored goals.
“That’s the kind of relationship I had with Sir Alex, he knew I could take the fire. That was the only moment I got the hairdryer, and I couldn’t understand why. He gave the hairdryer to so many people, even some players, some big players and they cried. I won’t mention any names.”
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