Paul Scholes says both Ryan Giggs and David Beckham would "love" to have arguments with Sir Alex Ferguson during Manchester United's heyday, whereas he and Gary Neville usually stayed quiet.
Fearsome Scot Ferguson presided over one of the most remarkable periods in English football history at Old Trafford, picking up 13 Premier League titles before his retirement in 2013.
His infamous "hairdryer treatment" of players was a feature of that time, and when chatting to Robbie Savage on the Savage Social podcast on BBC Sounds, Scholes recalled an incident when Ferguson singled him out for criticism after a 4-3 defeat at Newcastle in September 2001.
Scholes had come on as substitute in the game, and despite helping United mount a comeback, he gave the ball away before a Newcastle break led to Alan Shearer's winner.
Ferguson cornered him at full-time, but Scholes hit back.
"I just kept answering back to him," he said.
"I was wrong really. That was never me. Whenever I was getting a ‘b*****king, I just took it and took it and took it.
"But for this one occasion I thought it was merited, I thought I’d made a little bit of a difference to the team, got us back into the game really.
"Some people loved arguing with him.
"Giggsy is one. He can’t keep his mouth shut, whether he’s right or wrong it doesn’t matter. Beckham was the same. He’d always have a pop back but I’d never say a word."
When Savage questioned Scholes on what Neville was like, he said: "He just took it most of the time. I was the same.
"But this one time I didn’t agree with him. Alright I gave the ball away and they scored but they were 3-0 down at the time when I’d come on.
"On Monday morning at training, I thought I’m not playing again. He’s going to kill me. But he put his arm around me and said, 'Look I’m sorry about Saturday. I was wrong, you made a difference.'
"That was the measure of the man. He knew when he was wrong."
