Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have revealed their picks for the most ruthless player axeing of the Sir Alex Ferguson era at Manchester United.
Ferguson led United to 13 titles in the first 21 seasons of the Premier League as he took the club back to the top of English football.
The legendary Scottish manager had to rebuild his team on multiple occasions during his 27-year-stay, and this meant moving players on to bring in fresh talent. He showed his ruthless streak in these moments, and Scholes and Butt have now named the one axeing that neither saw coming.
They both picked Jaap Stam, who was let go by Ferguson in 2001 shortly after the release of his autobiography in which he appeared to claim he had been tapped up by United prior to his move to the club from PSV Eindhoven three years earlier.
Speaking on the Football’s Greatest Eras podcast, Scholes asked Butt: ‘What do you think the most ruthless one was? I thought Jaap was a big one.’
Sir Alex Ferguson was not afraid to move players on to rebuild his team at Man United
Nicky Butt (left) and Paul Scholes (right) both felt the same player was harshly treated by Ferguson at United
Scholes and Butt both believe Jaap Stam (second left) was the most ruthless player axeing of the Ferguson era
Butt agreed, replying: ‘I thought Jaap was the biggest one. Only because Jaap was in his pomp and he still had many years to go. I don’t think Jaap was the kind of person to do the thing he was accused of doing.’
‘You shouldn’t really be writing a book when you’re still playing, should you? That was his mistake,’ Scholes responded.
‘No, I don’t think you should,’ Butt added. ‘But, how he said it about certain players, that wouldn’t verbally come out of Jaap’s mouth. You know Jaap better than anybody. He was a good lad.’
Scholes then pondered whether Ferguson actually may have had other reasons for selling Stam to Lazio, but the autobiography claims simply sped up the process.
‘I always wondered whether the manager, well, I might be speaking out of turn, whether he used that as a bit of excuse – the book thing – to get rid of Jaap to fast forward it a little bit…But he maybe felt that Jaap was going against team ethics and team principles,’ Scholes mused. ‘I don’t think any of the team ever thought that.’
Ferguson went on to admit that selling Stam – who played a crucial part in United’s Treble-winning team of 1998-1999 – was a ‘bad decision’ on his part.
Stam would go on to win silverware with Lazio and AC Milan, while also making the Champions League final with the latter club, only to end up on the losing side in a dramatic showdown with Liverpool in Istanbul in 2005.
Another player that was arguably harshly treated at Old Trafford was former captain Roy Keane.
Keane spent 12 years at United and is widely regarded as one of the best captains in Premier League history, but his time at the club came to a bitter end after a falling out with Ferguson in 2005.
Club legend Roy Keane (left) moved on from United in 2005 after falling out with Ferguson
Scholes and Butt agreed Keane was ‘too similar’ to Ferguson, which led to the pair clashing
Reflecting on where it went wrong between the pair, Scholes and Butt agreed that they were ultimately ‘too similar’.
Butt left United a year before Keane, but admitted he was not surprised to hear things ended the way they did between the Republic of Ireland midfielder and Ferguson, with the duo still not on speaking terms almost two decades later.
Butt explained: ‘We both know Roy really well and you can imagine them two going like that…[Nicky bumps his fists together]. That’s why I don’t think that’s as much of a shock as Jaap.
‘I reckon Jaap would have gone a bit more submissive with the manager and apologised and explained, whereas I know Roy would have gone bang, like two bulls at each other, banging heads. So I can see why that got to where it got to, but the Jaap one, that’s the biggest one for me.’
‘I also felt like Roy and the manager were almost like the same person,’ Scholes claimed. ‘Roy was like your manager on the football pitch, wasn’t he? And he had the same desire and hunger as the manager had.’
‘That’s why ultimately they clashed,’ Butt concluded.
Football’s Greatest Eras with Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. Episodes are available every Wednesday. You can watch the show on YouTube and Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.
