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11th Oct 2016

Former Manchester United youth player recalls the time Alex Ferguson called him a “f**king idiot”

"'I'm not your friend. I'm your f**king boss,' he screamed at me."

Robert Redmond

Mads Timm isn’t a name that will be familiar to most Manchester United fans, and for good reason.

The Dane made one appearance for the first-team as a substitute in the Champions League against Maccabi Haifa back in 2002, and his career at Old Trafford never took off.

Timm left the club in 20o6, a year after being convicted of dangerous driving after being involved in a high-speed chase.

The 31-year-old bounced around clubs in his native Denmark, before retiring in 2009 when he was just 24.

However, the six years he spent at Old Trafford has clearly given him enough material to write a book, and one story from the autobiography offers insight into what it’s like to get on the wrong side of former United manager Alex Ferguson.

“‘Brian McClair got hold of me and said Ferguson wanted to see me in his office,” Timm writes in Red Devil.

‘I had a Porsche and I was well aware the boss cared very little about that if you played well. For the same reason I had parked at the entrance where the ordinary workers usually were.

‘Around the same time, David Beckham had a downturn in form, and had looked for permission to arrive for training in a helicopter. Ferguson flipped out. Now he had discovered my Porsche.

‘He called me a fucking idiot on that occasion. Then I took a taxi to training.”

Arsenal v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Semi Final

Judging by another run-in Timm had with Ferguson, it shouldn’t come as any surprise to learn the former forward only made one appearance in the first-team.

“After my debut in the Champions League, I thought my football situation was better than ever. But maybe I should have just kept my head down.”

‘He (Ferguson) went crazy on me because one day I called him ‘Alex’ in front of some of the other young players. “I’m not your friend. I’m your fucking boss,” he screamed at me.’

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