Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker has revealed the time he called Sir Alex Ferguson ‘Taggart’ and immediately feared for his career at the club.
On this week’s Talking Devils podcast, Parker was asked, as it’s Halloween, to remember the scariest moment he can recall under the infamously indomitable figurehead. And the former full-back’s mind went back to a training session in his first season, where he recounted this hilarious story – accidentally calling Ferguson ‘Taggart’, due to his similarity in appearance to Mark McManus, who played the fictional character. (It was a popular nickname for the United manager particularly in the early 90s.)
“I thought my time was going to be up,” Parker confessed. “We used to do boxes at the Cliff, the senior players and the younger ones. The boss used to join in. It was in my first season. He had his big coat on because it was cold, and he was holding a bib. The boss came in close to me and I think I did him with a trick. Something had been said earlier by Steve Bruce and it had stuck in my head. I can’t remember if I nutmegged him or knocked it around him, but anything like that, I’m going to celebrate, because it wasn’t really in my locker.”
“I done it and I made a fatal mistake. I called him something. I said ‘come on’, laughing to myself because I’d done him, but then I called him a Scottish TV detective… I didn’t say it at him, but I sort of said it, and you know when you try and drag what you said back? I couldn’t. It was out there.
“Everyone around the box stared at me. He said things to me that I can’t repeat. For the next hour and a half I felt like I couldn’t run properly because someone had nicked my heart. I was gone. I kept looking at him hoping that he might smile or something to break the ice.”
“It took until the next day when I went in. I almost didn’t – like when you’re being bullied at school, I was going to say I was ill or something. But I went in and he was there. “You were worried yesterday weren’t you?” He said. I think I looked anaemic. I nodded. I couldn’t speak. “Do you think you’re going to call me that again?” “No,” I said sheepishly. And he just started laughing.”
Also on the podcast, Parker was full of praise for the improvement of Diogo Dalot, following a question from former United full-back Lee Lawrence.
“With Dalot, it’s been incredible,” insists Parker. “I’d say it’s about the managers who came before who perhaps didn’t trust him. Ten Hag’s come in and made the change straight away. Full-backs now play higher, Dalot even now sometimes pops up in central midfield.”
Paul was speaking on the Talking Devils podcast as he does every Monday morning. It is the number one independent Manchester United podcast and you can watch it below on YouTube or subscribe to the audio podcast on Spotify here, and Apple Podcasts here.