Patrice Evra Reveals How Sir Alex Ferguson Apologised to 2 Players After Announcing Retirement in 2013
By Dom Smith
Patrice Evra has revealed some dressing room details around Sir Alex Ferguson retirement as Manchester United manager back in 2013, even suggesting the legendary boss 'apologised' to a couple of his players.
Ferguson is the most successful manager in Premier League history, winning 13 titles, as well as two Champions League trophies and five FA Cups among many other honours. He left as a Premier League winner in 2013, replaced by then Everton manager David Moyes.
Former French international Evra was a regular under Ferguson from 2006 onwards, eventually leaving in 2014 to join Juventus, where he won Serie A twice.
He retired as a player in 2018, returning to United to earn his coaching badges.
Speaking on the club’s official UTD Podcast, Evra revealed that despite widespread rumours suggesting Ferguson would step down as manager, Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa were two of the most shocked at his decision when they finally heard of his retirement.
Evra said: “After two weeks, we were in the dressing room waiting. When we arrived at Carrington [United’s training ground], I saw all those cameras and I was like: ‘Wow, someone has done something wrong. Maybe a player is the story again! Someone has done something wrong; we are in trouble.’
“But we arrived, and people said, ‘Guys, you have to stay in the dressing room because the boss wants to have a chat.’ And when the boss came into the dressing room to talk to everyone, it was never good news.
“He came, and he said, ‘I'm really sorry. Some people have said that I’m going to retire even before I say it myself. That’s why you saw all those cameras. But I will retire because my wife needs me.’"
Evra added that two players even got a special apology from the departing boss.
He added: “He apologised to [Robin] van Persie, he apologised to Shinji [Kagawa], because he had just bought them. He apologised to them especially.”
Both had signed for the club the previous summer, and van Persie had only signed on the condition that Ferguson would remain in his role for a number of seasons.
In the end, just like Ferguson, Kagawa and van Persie were short-lived at Old Trafford. The Japan star returned to Borussia Dortmund the following summer (when Evra also departed the club), while van Persie left a season later to spend three seasons as a prolific scorer for Turkish outfit Fenerbahçe.