Sir Alex Ferguson got a clause in his contract that ensured that no Manchester United player – not even their biggest star – would be paid more than him during his last few years as manager.
The story begins on October 20, 2010, when Wayne Rooney questioned United’s ambition and ability to attract the best players needed to win major trophies. Rooney had just expressed his desire to leave Old Trafford, which angered then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson. He accused the England international of a lack of respect towards the club.
“I’m disappointed, very disappointed, I can’t believe it,” Ferguson said at the time.
“He had told us that he loved the club, that he was at the best club in the world, so I have to say that it was terribly disappointing to get the news, because I can’t quite understand it.”
Two days later, Rooney made a surprising U-turn and signed a new five-year deal that made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history. The pay package was doubled to around £180,000 per week.
Around this period, however, Ferguson ensured that he had a higher salary than Rooney.
In his book Leading, the former United boss opened up about the contract situation.
He wrote, “I told them I didn’t think it was fair that Rooney should earn twice what I earned. Joel Glazer said: ‘I totally agree, but what are we going to do?’. It was easy. We just agreed that no player should be paid more than me.”
The Scotsman never let his players think they were bigger than the football club, so he made sure that no one – and I mean no one – was paid more than himself.
More than 13 years later, while there are rumours of a possible return for Rooney to Old Trafford, he admitted that his relationship with Ferguson was never the same after that moment.
“When I made the transfer request [to leave Manchester United], I was still talking to David Gill about where the club was going, how they were going to move forward,” he said on an episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
“Being a manager now myself, and looking back, it was probably the wrong thing to do. At the time, I felt that it was the right thing to do to really get insurance for my own career.
“Once David [Gill] had explained what the club does, I said: ‘Good – that’s all the manager had to say. That’s all the club had to tell me, and then I signed the new deal.”
Rooney added: “In terms of the relationship with the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson], of course it was never the same.
“After that, the big thing that probably hurt him was that they had just sold Carlos Tevez, they had just sold Cristiano Ronaldo, and probably couldn’t afford to let me go.”
