Peter Schmeichel has revealed what he said to avoid getting sacked by Sir Alex Ferguson after facing Liverpool.
Peter Schmeichel has shed new light on one furious dressing room row he had with Sir Alex Ferguson at Anfield after facing Liverpool.
Manchester United were the reigning champions, having won the inaugural Premiership title in 1992/93, when they travelled to Anfield with the Dane in goal in January 1994. The Red Devils would race into a hefty 3-0 lead inside just 24 minutes, thanks to goals from Steve Bruce, Ryan Giggs and Denis Irwin.
However, any hope of inflicting further embarrassment on under-pressure Reds boss Graeme Souness, who would lose his job later that month, was sidestepped by an astonishing comeback. A Nigel Clough brace and late Neil Ruddock header would earn Liverpool a share of the spoils, in one of the Premier League’s early iconic encounters, to ensure their boss held onto his job for a few weeks longer.
But while Souness would avoid the sack on this occasion, it was nearly a very different story for Schmeichel after he clashed with Ferguson in the Anfield dressing room after the final whistle. The Dane wasn’t at fault for any of the Reds’ three goals, but that did not prevent his manager from fuming at his performance after the final whistle.
Launching into a lengthy dressing room inquest, the goalkeeper was unable to bite his tongue and bit back at Ferguson following the Scot’s accusations, tearing back into his manager and some of his team-mates as a result.
The exchange was enough to leave Schmeichel ordering his agent to find him a new club and his manager to tell him he would have to sack him after calling him into his office the next day. However, a grovelling dressing room apology, overheard by Ferguson, earned him the Dane an unlikely reprieve despite the Scot’s ‘take no prisoners’ reputation.
Schmeichel has spoken about the altercation at Anfield and subsequent training ground apology a number of times in the past.
But he has shed new light on the episode when appearing on William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, revealing what he said in his dressing room apology and why he decided to go public about the altercation that nearly earned him the sack.
“I came off the pitch and we were 3-0 up and although it should’ve been seven or eight – we ended up drawing 3-3,” he recalled. “I felt like I kept us in it for one point because for some reason we just stopped playing and you can’t do that at Anfield.
“Then your feelings get mixed around without having any time to cool-off before you get into the dressing room, and on that day it was me who got picked on. I got picked on a lot by the manager because I was one of the strongest characters in the dressing room and by that time I understood that.
“But on that particular day, my brain was completely fried, and I just couldn’t take it. ‘Why me?’ I was thinking. ‘Look around, you could do that to literally anyone else in here, but not me, I kept us in it.’ That was how I felt.
“I said things to him I shouldn’t have said, but I’m one of those guys that thinks whatever happens in the dressing room should stay in the dressing room.
“Could you argue against him? All the time. Was he looking for it? All the time. In front of the dressing room? All the time. In a way, it made him respect you. It was just this one time that I was wrong and didn’t realise it.
