Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed just how difficult it was to make the decision to sell Paul Ince to Inter Milan, despite furious reaction from Manchester United supporters.
Paul Ince was an important player for Sir Alex Ferguson and had established himself as one of the outstanding midfielders at Old Trafford. His departure, therefore, did not go down well with supporters, who made their feelings perfectly clear.
One message left by a fan read: “Don’t sell Incey to Inter – or you’ll regret it.”
Another was even more direct: “Every Red is disgusted with you.”
Ferguson understood why the supporters were unhappy, but the Manchester United manager had already started thinking about the club’s next move.
Ferguson admits selling Ince was a hard decision
“Paul was a tremendous footballer, there’s no doubt about that,” Ferguson said on BBC Breakfast.
“He had incredible ability, but I just had that feeling that he just got carried away a bit at the time.”
The midfielder had attracted a bid from Inter Milan, leaving Ferguson with a major decision to make. The offer eventually increased from £7million to £7.5million, and that was enough to convince the United boss to accept.
“I’m trying to weigh up one thing against the other. I’m looking at Paul Scholes and I said ‘should we?’ Milan’s offer went from £7m to £7.5m and I said ‘do it’.”
It was a decision Ferguson knew would upset people, but he believed making difficult calls was part of being Manchester United manager.
“That’s what your job is as a manager. You have to make hard decisions, and some decisions don’t suit everyone.”
