Ferguson has long been renowned for dishing out the hairdryer
treatment when riled but, while Phelan was on the wrong end of it
himself during five years as a player at Old Trafford, his approach
as assistant is a little different.
“I certainly had it, he had his moments!” recalls Phelan of his
playing days to the Lancashire Telegraph.
“Usually when either the team wasn’t playing well or you were
having a nightmare individually, he’d let you know.
“Sometimes it could be the last kick of the game and if it
happened to be you, you’d just be on the end of it.
“But he never went over the top. He always said what he had to
say and that was the end of it, it was never an ongoing issue.
“I can know now when it’s coming and when it’s not coming. I
have a different style. I don’t think you can have two people of
the same ilk in the same room with a group of football players. You
have to feed off each other.“
