“I can’t repeat what he called me” – Glen Hoddle opens up on row with “unprofessional” Sir Alex Ferguson

Former England manager Glen Hoddle has revealed details of his row with Sir Alex Ferguson due to his decision to pick two Manchester United players for a friendly.

Hoddle was appointed England manager after the team’s semi-final exit during the 1996 Euros, a game considered significant to current Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate’s journey as a football professional. The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was the English manager until 1999, when he was widely criticized for attempting to defend himself in an interview with Matt Dickinson of The Times.

In his new book titled "Playmaker: My Life and the love of Football," Hoddle revealed details about a phone call that he received from Sir Alex Ferguson. Back then, the Scot had just begun to reap rewards from his belief in the club’s academy in the form of domestic honors.

Ferguson’s Manchester United won the domestic title seven times in the 1990s, with Hoddle revealing just how furious the Scot could be when it came to his players:

“There were problems getting players to report for duty at times and I had a row with Ferguson over two of his players before one friendly. His conduct was unprofessional when we spoke on the phone.

"I wasn’t going to use the players but I wanted them to join up because we were preparing for the World Cup. But he wasn’t having it. He was ranting and raving, even when I said I would send them back once the meetings were out of the way.

"I can’t repeat what he called me. I just put the phone down.”

Considering Sir Alex Ferguson's fiery reputation, Hoddle can be forgiven for choosing not to repeat what he was told. Hoddle claimed that the Manchester United great called him back to apologize over his conduct. However, Ferguson later criticized him again when he put Gary Neville and David Beckham on media duties during the 1998 World Cup.

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Sir Alex Ferguson was unhappy with Glen Hoddle’s team selection during 1998 World Cup

Glen Hoddle also stated in his book that Sir Alex Ferguson called him again after England’s first match of the 1998 World Cup. Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes found the target against Tunisia to help England to a comfortable 2-0 victory. However, Sir Alex Ferguson had an issue with Hoddle’s decision to leave David Beckham on the bench:

"It certainly didn’t go down well with Alex Ferguson. And I wasn’t exactly flavour of the month at Old Trafford. I had left out Phil Neville and had issues with another United player when I had to discipline Teddy Sheringham after he was pictured on a night out in the build-up to the tournament."

Beckham had to wait for his first start of the tournament until the final group stage game against Colombia, where he scored a 30th minute trademark free-kick. Beckham was again part of the starting lineup in the round of 16 game against Argentina.

He was infamously sent off after lashing out against current Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone. Apart from David Beckham, Glen Hoddle left out Phil Neville from the starting lineup against Tunisia as well. The team were eventually knocked out after losing 4-3 on penalties. Both David Batty and Paul Ince missed their kicks.

England’s controversial exit from the 1998 World Cup eventually culminated in Glen Hoddle’s sacking in February 1999, the same season when Sir Alex Ferguson’s class of 92 found European glory.

Of course, this was just one of the innumerable clashes that Sir Alex Ferguson was involved in during his 26 year-reign as the manager of Manchester United.