Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has lifted the lid on his explosive and expletive-laden bust-up with Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson over Wayne Rooney's involvement in the 2006 World Cup.
That the pair argued has been common knowledge for some years, though Eriksson has now revealed in detail to The Times exactly what was said in the infamous exchange.
Ferguson was concerned that Rooney wasn't ready to compete in Germany after the United striker broke a metatarsal in a 3-0 loss away to Chelsea towards the end of the 2005-06 season.
But Eriksson stood his ground and picked Rooney, though the United star endured a difficult tournament that was compounded when he was sent off against Portugal in the quarter-final.
The Swede said: "With Alex, the amazing thing was it was seven o’clock in the morning or earlier. Always. When he was angry.
"And never 'Hello Sven, how are you?' It was 'whuurssshhhh' [straight into yelling]. I thought he should kill me.
"He said, 'I will kill you. You are finished.' But I represented England and you have to stand up.
"What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong and when you say 'Don’t pick Rooney because I’m going to kill you' ... I said, 'f*** off, what’s going on with you?'
"And he was screaming. Whenever he got like that... it has no meaning. That’s why I was, 'Alex, I will pick Rooney. Now, have a nice holiday. Ciao, bye'."
