Former Manchester United ace Andrei Kanchelskis has lifted the lid on an awkward meeting with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, in which he called the legendary boss “a Scottish b*****d”.
Kanchelskis spent four years at Old Trafford from 1991-95 and twice won the Premier League with the Red Devils, as well as the FA Cup and League Cup once each.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the former Russia international, who admitted that he had some language issues when he first arrived at the club from Shakhtar Donetsk.
His team-mates played upon his naivety to con him into abusing Ferguson, whose explosive temper was legendary.
“I came to England and I had never spoken English very well,” he admitted to the Daily Record. “Some guys said to me 'if the gaffer comes to the dressing room, say to him 'Scottish b*****d', you know like 'hello Scottish b*****d'.
“I said it and everybody was laughing. Fergie as well. He smiled because he understood I didn't speak English very well.
“He said: ‘Next time, not like this, don’t speak like that.’”
Nevertheless, it is an incident the former Everton and Fiorentina winger looks back with some humour.
“It's normal when any player comes to every country and they teach them only rubbish, you know?” he added.