Sir Alex Ferguson shared many battles against Arsenal when Arsene Wenger was at the helm.
The legendary Manchester United manager had no love for the Gunners or for Wenger back in the day. There were several heated exchanges before, during and after the games, and that set up one of the greatest rivalries in English football history.
However, as the years went on, the respect between Wenger and Ferguson grew massively, so much so that the latter jumped to the Frenchman’s defence on a few occasions.
Here’s one such incident.
Why Sir Alex Ferguson told some Arsenal fans that they should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves?
Wenger is Arsenal’s greatest-ever manager, and that is unlikely to ever change.
The Frenchman was not known to many when he first arrived. ‘Arsene who?’ was the headline across the country, but everyone quickly found out what he was all about.
Wenger didn’t just change Arsenal, but he revolutionised the English game as well. He was a visionary and will always be regarded as one of the greats of the game.
However, towards the end of his career at Arsenal, some sections of the fan base turned on Wenger. They didn’t just criticise him but also hurled abuses at him at times.
That’s unacceptable to any human being, let alone someone who made Arsenal the huge club across the globe that they are today.
Ferguson, despite his fierce rivalry with Wenger in the past, jumped to the Frenchman’s defence and said that those disrespectful Arsenal fans should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves.
Speaking in the Arsene Wenger: Invincible film, Wenger said: “He kept them in Europe every year and yet he was criticised. The supporters should be ashamed.
“Arsene and myself are dinosaurs, but we didn’t do so badly.”
Ferguson was spot on but some Arsenal fans have not learnt their lesson
Constructive criticism is always fair, but the amount of abuse Wenger received in his final few years from a small-yet-loud minority of the Arsenal fan base was disgusting at times.
Ferguson was right – they should be ashamed of themselves.
However, the same set of supporters have often had a needless go at Mikel Arteta and some Arsenal players in recent times when results haven’t gone to plan.
That shows that they have not learnt their lesson yet, but the good thing is that the vast majority of the fan base is behind the players and Arteta because they can see how good a job he has done.
The troublemakers should just be ignored and not given any attention.
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