Henning Berg was on the receiving end of a furious outburst from Sir Alex Ferguson in 2000, with the legendary Manchester United manager telling the defender to find a new club
Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson once told former player Henning Berg to find a new club in a fit of fury. Ferguson, renowned for his fiery temperament as much as his incredible success at Old Trafford, gave Berg a dressing down he’d never forget, telling him: “Don’t even bother turning up again, find yourself a new club when you are away with your national team.”
Berg was part of the Red Devils’ squad from 1997 to 2000 and experienced Ferguson’s wrath during his final year at the club. This came after United, then reigning European champions, were ousted from the competition by Real Madrid.
United had managed a 0-0 draw at the Santiago Bernabeau in the first leg, but lost the return tie 3-2. According to ex-United player and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ferguson blamed Berg for the role he played in United’s defeat.
Solskjaer, in Andy Mitten’s book Bring On United, said the Madrid incident marked the beginning of the end for Berg’s United career, with the Norwegian later falling foul of Ferguson’s temper once again, reports the Manchester Evening News.
“The home game [against Madrid] was where Redondo did the backheel past Henning,” Solskjaer said in the book. “Henning wasn’t a right-back but he was in the right-back position when that happened and this was his last full season at United. He had a tough time at that moment. Henning was a very good player and a good guy.
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“He was 100 per cent, he didn’t want headlines, but you could trust him, on and off the pitch. But the next season he came on at half-time at West Ham away when we were winning 2–0 but we drew 2–2 and got battered by the gaffer after that game.
“He said, ‘Don’t even bother turning up again, find your- self a new club when you are away with your national team.’ I was watching that thinking, ‘He doesn’t really mean that, he’s saying it in the heat of the moment,’ which I think it was.
“The next day, Steve McClaren [then-United assistant manager] rang our home phone at my mum and dad’s in Norway. I didn’t have a mobile phone, I wasn’t too bothered about people being able to get hold of me. Steve asked me to speak to Henning and say that the gaffer didn’t mean it and to calm the situation, which I did. But Henning never played another game for United.”
Recounting his experience on the UTD podcast in 2022, Berg, now 56, gave an insight into how he found himself on the receiving end of Ferguson’s infamous ‘hairdryer’ treatment.
“We played West Ham away. I think I came on at half-time,” Berg said. “Then, Joe Cole was a young up-and-coming star. We hadn’t seen too much of him. He was too good, technically, and I made a [foul for a] penalty, so West Ham got a goal from the penalty. Then I think Paolo Di Canio crossed it for them to score the equaliser.
“I cut out the pass on the inside, and then he faked, as he always did, then he turned and cut it back, and I got blamed for that as well [laughs]. He [Ferguson] was a little bit angry after the game – this is true.”
Despite Berg’s departure shortly afterwards, he disclosed that Sir Alex never expressed regret for his fiery outburst. “We did speak about it the week after,” Berg added.
“He called me into the office and said, ‘Listen, I know what I said’. And he explained why he said these things, but he also said, ‘Maybe it was also this and this…’ which was… okay. But he didn’t excuse himself for what he said. Because that’s how he is, and he should never do that anyway. So I think he handled it in a good way.”
Berg clinched two Premier League titles with United and was part of the legendary treble-winning team of 1999. He later returned to Blackburn Rovers before ending his career at Rangers in 2004.
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