Van Nistelrooy, 'Two or three times every year, I
would think to myself what a shame it was that it ended like it did
with Ferguson' and wanted to apologise for what had
happened
RUUD van Nistelrooy has patched things up with Sir Alex
Ferguson.
The former Manchester United striker phoned his former manager
to end their five-year feud.
Van Nistelrooy left Old Trafford in 2006 after falling out
spectacularly with Fergie over tactics and team selection issues at
Old Trafford.
The former Dutch international - now with Hamburg in Germany -
is not the only player to leave United in unhappy
circumstances.
Others such as David Beckham, Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke were
ushered out of the door after relations with Fergie broke down.
But van Nistelrooy is perhaps the first player to try to make
peace with a manager for whom he scored more than 100 goals.
Van Nistelrooy said: 'I had been thinking about it for a while
and talking it through with my wife.
'She suggested I sent Fergie a text message to see if he was
willing to talk, so I sent him a message asking if I could call and
he replied to say, 'OK call me at this date and time'.
'I rang him and he answered and said, 'OK, go ahead'.
'I said I wanted to apologise for what had happened and he said,
'OK, I appreciate that, when we meet again it will be OK'.'
Van Nistelrooy was a huge success at United, winning the Premier
League, FA Cup and Carling Cup after joining from PSV Eindhoven in
2001.
Clash
But his relationship with Fergie deteriorated at the end as the
manager became disenchanted with his star striker's attitude.
Van Nistelrooy famously clashed with Cristiano Ronaldo in
training and was then left on the substitutes' bench as United beat
Wigan in the 2006 Carling Cup final.
'Two or three times every year, I would think to myself what a
shame it was that it ended like it did with Ferguson,' added van
Nistelrooy.
'I wanted to do something about it.
'I was really pleased with the phone call.
'I said to him: 'Those five years at United were fantastic
working with you, and it's unfortunate what happened'.
'If I encounter Fergie again - and I really hope that will
happen - I will embrace him and then it will all be finished.'
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