Sports

“He annoyed me” – Sir Alex Ferguson speaks on ex Chelsea player with ‘beautiful balance’

Published

1 year ago

October 29, 2022

It’s not often that we hear from former Manchester United boss and legend of the game Sir Alex Ferguson these days..

But it was refreshing to hear his latest quotes via The Daily Mirror, specifically speaking on a former Chelsea player who used to annoy him!.

Ferguson is one of football’s greatest ever characters, and greatest ever managers, so when he speaks, we listen.

As a Chelsea fan, we used to have some huge battles with Fergie’s United, and there were times I used to hate him! But that’s what the sport is all about. There were times he used to hate us, and he got especially annoyed by Gianfranco Zola, for playing with a smile on his face, and seemingly just being so damn good at football, especially against United!

Ferugson had some words of praise for the man he refers to as ‘little Zola’ in his great quotes below.

He said: “Now little Zola, he annoyed me. He was one of those players who was unperturbed about who he was playing against.

“He always seemed to have a smile on his face and that annoyed me. I said ‘how can he be enjoying himself playing against United? Nobody else does.’

“He was fantastic. Talented. Beautiful balance. Brave. I remember we played Chelsea in the FA Cup a couple of years ago in the treble. We got them in the early rounds and we drew 0-0 at Old Trafford and I man-marked him. That’s how much respect I had for him.

“But he was a fantastic player. I loved watching him. He was enjoyable. That was the thing, for me to say that of an opponent tells you how much I admire them.”