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Rio Ferdinand has revealed he felt the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson after defying his press conference claims before a game.
Ferdinand is one of the greatest defenders of his generation and spent 12 years at Manchester United between 2002 and 2014.
Ferguson decided to fork out £30 million to sign Ferdinand from Leeds United, a then-British transfer record.
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He ended up being one of the legendary Scot's most-used players at Old Trafford.
Ferdinand won six Premier League titles, two League Cups and the Champions League.
Most of those honours came alongside Nemanja Vidic, with the duo forming an excellent centre-back partnership.
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Despite his position as a trusted player under Ferguson, Ferdinand did defy his manager on occasion. His reasoning for this makes total sense, too.
Ferguson had told all media that his team would wear 'Kick-It-Out' t-shirts to support the fight against racism before a game against Stoke City in 2012.
Former England international Ferdinand refused to wear the t-shirt as he felt the organisation had not done enough to support his younger brother, Anton, throughout a legal battle against John Terry.
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Anton Ferdinand alleged Terry had racially abused him during a game between Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea in 2011.
Terry has always denied the allegations.
Rio didn't tell Ferguson he wouldn't be wearing the t-shirt, which cause a stir.
During an appearance on the 'Obi-One' podcast, Ferdinand explained: "I refused to wear a Kick-It-Out t-shirt because I didn’t believe they backed my brother in the situation with John Terry.
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"I said, 'I’m not wearing it'. My mistake was that I didn't tell the manager.
"The manager’s mistake was that he did a press conference saying all the team would wear it, but he knew the situation that revolved around my brother and didn’t ask me.
"When I said I'm not wearing it, he went crazy in the changing room before the game."
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United ended up winning the game 4-2 and Ferguson apologised to Ferdinand post-match.
He continued: "Luckily, we won and he didn't need to kill me anymore! But I went to see him the next day and we kind of just talked it out.
"He said maybe he should have come to see me before, because he’s an honest guy.
"That's what I liked about him. He wasn’t just wrong and strong. If he thought he could have done something differently, he would always own up to that which, as a player, you respect it even more.”
Ferguson retired in 2013 after winning the Premier League title. Ferdinand left United for QPR in 2014 before calling time on his own career in 2015.
Topics: Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, Sir Alex Ferguson
Daniel Marland