Pallister survived row with manager

UK - Former Manchester United defender Gary Pallister has won his fair share of league titles and FA Cups, but there is one rare accolade which he can proudly lay claim to.

The 48-year-old is one of a few men to have got on the wrong side of Alex Ferguson - and survived.

The fall-out happened one year after he joined the Red Devils, when both men got into a heated argument at half time.

"It was quite a feisty one. I thought my career was maybe coming to an end. There were a lot of things said," recalled Pallister, who played under Ferguson for nine years.

"He brought me into his office two days later, I thought I was going to get sacked, and he actually apologised."

Last week, Ferguson released his new autobiography, in which he criticised former Man United players like Roy Keane, David Beckham, and Mark Bosnich.

Keane, whom the Scot said "overstepped the mark" when he criticised his team-mates on the club's television channel, retorted that Ferguson did not know the meaning of loyalty.

It is evident from Pallister's tone, however, that he still has immense respect for the man who guided United to English football dominance.

"I thought (apologising) was a mark of great man. It tells you a great deal about the man that he could actually admit he was wrong, even though he was in a position of power," said Pallister, who was signed for a then British record of £2.3 million from Middlesbrough in 1989.

Pallister, who formed a solid defensive partnership with Steve Bruce, also had kind words for United's ageing defensive duo of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.

He said: "I still think there's plenty of life left in Rio and Nemanja. They're got a big role to play, they're got the experience in the dressing room, which counts for so much especially away in Europe.

"You can't be too quick to discard the senior players."

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