Sir Alex Ferguson admits hairdryer treatment could have cost Manchester United several titles

Disciplined: Ferguson believes his stern treatment could have cost United titles
John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images
Tom Dutton4 September 2015

Sir Alex Ferguson admits his tough approach to discipline could have cost him Premier League titles during his time at Manchester United.

Ferguson, who won 13 league titles at United, had a number of high-profile bust-ups with some of the best players in the world during his 27-year tenure at Old Trafford.

David Beckham, Roy Keane, Jaap Stam and Ruud Van Nistelrooy - among others - incurred the Scot's wrath during his trophy-laden spell at the club.

In a serialisation of his new book published on United’s Facebook page, Ferguson says he has no regrets about taking a hardline approach with his players, but admits the policy may have cost him silverware.

"People will give a manager plenty of opportunities to crack the whip so it's best to pick and choose your moments," the former United manager writes in his new book Leading, which is out on September 22.

"You don't have to dish out a punishment very often before everyone gets the message.

OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

"I place discipline above all else and it might have cost us several titles.

"But if I had to repeat things I'd do it precisely the same because discipline has to come before anything else."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in