The legendary manager has been on a publicity tour to lend some support to yet another new book, and he got plenty of headlines when he referred to the fact that he he'd only had four world class players in all his time at Manchester United.
He identified those players as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo, leaving a large number of notable former United stars off the list, including Ireland's own Roy Keane and David Beckham.
It seemed that the list had been based around those players who didn't fall out with the boss man during their time at the club, but speaking in a radio interview to Sirius XM FC, he attempted to clarify his comments.
"If you look at the time I was at for United for 27 years, I had some fantastic players, some great players. I never said those players were not great, they were fantastic. But in the context in my opinion, it was a qualified opinion, that some players make a difference, and that’s what I judged".
Image: Fiona Hanson / PA Archive/PA Images
The United boss named the four players again, saying that they had made a difference to the team during their time in the squad, and that he didn't meant that to be an insult to the others who had played at Old Trafford under his reign: "I never said any player was rubbish. I said they were all great players. And most importantly, those four players didn’t win the leagues alone, or the cups alone, It was the squad who won the cups, all the teams, they did that perfectly, and I was so proud of them".
He also highlighted that he didn't pick out defensive players for particular praise as a result of the fact that "I was always attracted by the attacking players, centre-forwards, wingers and creative players in the game. And that’s why in the book, I’ve stressed the importance of creative player...I think the general consensus of what great players are, usually falls on the mantle of the creative players who win games. And that’s where the take on those four players come into it, no criticism of any of my players, because you couldn’t criticise those players, they were fantastic".
We await Roy Keane's comments on the clarifying comments of the original comments with baited breath.
Via 101 Great Goals
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