“You could see his anger” – Scholes reveals appalling Ferguson decision that immediately backfired | OneFootball

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes reveals an interesting anecdote concerning Sir Alex Ferguson and Owen Hargreaves.

The iconic midfielder was hosting The Overlap Fan Debate alongside Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher. The episode focused on the importance of physiotherapy in football and injury treatment. Hence, the two former England internationals shared some of the experience from their playing days, when this field wasn’t quite as advanced as today.

Scholes even told a somewhat shocking start from 2010 when Ferguson insisted on playing Hargreaves despite the latter complaining of pain during warmups upon his long-awaited return from injury.

“I remember, we had Owen Hargreaves who was unfortunately injured a lot, and the manager eventually became frustrated because we couldn’t get him back.” explained the 50-year-old.

“I remember one game where we were playing Arsenal at home, Owen had been out for some time and was nearly back, and he went out for the warmup and came in feeling his hamstring and you could just see the anger and frustration in the manager’s face.

“He said, ‘You’re playing,’ and that was it. It didn’t end well – within 15 minutes, Owen had to come off and was out for a long time after that – there has to be frustration from managers as well.”

Sir Alex Ferguson forced Owen Hargreaves to play despite injury scare

Afterwards, Ferguson admitted he had taken a risk, suggesting the tense buildup as a possible reason behind Hargreaves’ setback at the time.

Sadly for the midfielder, this turned out to be his last Premier League appearance for the Red Devils. He ended his injury-plagued stint at Old Trafford in the summer of 2011 by joining crosstown rival Man City before calling it a day a year later after just four appearances in blue, announcing his retirement at the young age of 31.

Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that today’s advanced medical techniques haven’t been able to curb down the number of injuries, as evidenced by the Red Devils’ current woes.