Legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ignored former Liverpool and Leeds hero Gary McAllister for 20 years after overhearing a rude joke from the ex-midfielder at his expense.
McAllister spent more than two decades playing professional football, moving to England from his native Scotland in 1985 to join Leicester City. After five seasons with the Foxes, the midfielder would enjoy lengthy spells at Leeds United and Coventry City while also spending two seasons at Anfield.
Though he was only a Liverpool player for two years and joined them in his mid-30s, Gerard Houllier, who was manager at the time, referred to him as his “most inspirational signing.” Prior to that, however, during his time at Leeds, McAllister made a rude joke that, unbeknownst to him, meant Ferguson would spend almost 20 years ignoring him.
‘Fergie Can Hear You’
McAllister relives blunderous comment
The incident occurred during the 1991/92 season that saw McAllister help Leeds win the last-ever First Division title before the birth of the Premier League. Leeds secured the title in their penultimate game of the campaign, soon before Liverpool beat Man United 2-0 on the same day.
McAllister went to the house of Lee Chapman, his teammate at the time, alongside Eric Cantona and David Batty, with a camera crew in attendance to capture the Leeds players’ reaction to winning the league. It was these cameras that caught McAllister making his joke. McAllister told Sport & Fitness Middle East in 2017, per the Mirror:
“We all went back to Chappy’s house after the game in Sheffield to watch Man United play Liverpool at Anfield.
“Because I’d done some TV work, I was tuned in to the director at Anfield, so I could hear the director and all his comments, talking to the presenter, talking to the cameramen. I could hear everything that was going on in the studio.
“Liverpool win 2-0 and Leeds United win the league. After the game, we’re watching the pictures coming across and the interviews after the game and I can hear in my ear the director saying, ‘Get to the tunnel, we’ve got Fergie.’
“Nose very red, he (Ferguson) says (on TV), ‘Make no mistake, Leeds have not won the league. Manchester United have lost the league. We’ve thrown the league away.’
“So, flippantly in Lee Chapman’s living room, I say, ‘Big red-face as gracious as ever in defeat.’ Then Denis Law came behind my ear and said, ‘Gary, Fergie can hear you.’
“Alex Ferguson has walked past me in Lithuanian airports and Albanian hotels for 20 years and never looked in my direction!”
The two would, in time, patch up their relationship. McAllister has said that Ferguson was the first person to call him in 2006 after the tragic passing of his wife and from there, the two have not returned to tension. Per SPORTbible, McAllister told Sport & Fitness Middle East:
“This is the measure of the man. When you’re competing against him, you’re the enemy, but when I went through this tragic experience with cancer, who was the first person to call me? Alex Ferguson.
“He was the first person to make a phone call. He invited me to the training ground at Carrington. He said, “You can come to training any day. You can come to Old Trafford to any game.”
“The first mass card I got through the post was from his wife. You see this figure, when you’re competing against him, he’ll do anything to beat you.
“There’s a gentle side to Alex Ferguson and that’s something I learned down the line. For 20 years, I did not exist!”