Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was in awe after he was shown a photo of one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s four “world-class” Manchester United legends.
Sir Alex Ferguson is regarded as one of the best managers of all time after his legendary impact at Manchester United in England and with Aberdeen in Scotland.
Harry Redknapp crossed paths with Ferguson and witnessed first-hand the incredible star-studded talent the United legend assembled at Old Trafford.
Ferguson’s legendary reign at Old Trafford saw the Scotsman engineer all 13 of United’s Premier League title wins and a famous continental treble win in 1999.
The 82-year-old iconic Scot bowed out of United as manager in 2013 after the Red Devils’ last Premier League title win in the 2012-13 season.
Despite the plethora of United legends he managed, Ferguson famously claimed that he only managed four world-class players at Old Trafford.
“I don’t mean to demean or criticise any of the great or very good footballers who played for me during my 26-year career at United, but there were only four who were world class: [Eric] Cantona, [Ryan] Giggs, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Paul] Scholes,” he said in his 2015 autobiography ‘Leading.’
“And of the four Cristiano was like an ornament on the top of a Christmas tree.”
Redknapp on Ferguson’s world-class legend
Harry Redknapp appeared on Soccer PM and was asked which former Premier League stars he would be willing to take on in a boxing ring.
The 77-year-old former West Ham and Portsmouth manager hilariously suggested that he could fight Manchester United legend Paul Scholes in the squared circle.
However, Redknapp immediately switched to a more serious tone about Scholes after his playful response, with the United legend showered with glowing praise.
“I love him,” he simply said, before adding: “What a footballer.”
Scholes is widely considered one of the best midfielders of all time after his legendary run at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 49-year-old former United midfielder rose through the ranks of the club’s youth academy before establishing himself in the first team in the 1990s.
Scholes, who is one of the famed ‘Class of ‘92’ members, lifted a whopping 11 Premier Leagues, two Champions Leagues, three FA Cups and two League Cups.
The ex-England international spent his entire career at Old Trafford across two different spells and finally called it time on his career in 2013.
Redknapp’s deep-seated admiration for Scholes
Redknapp waxed lyrical about Scholes’ influence at United before after he included the Red Devils legend in his Premier League XI of the modern era.
“Scholes was playing tiki-taka football when nobody in England knew what it was,” he said in 2014, as per The Daily Mail.
“He was another of those players, like Denis Law or Bobby Moore, who at 15 probably looked as if he wouldn’t make it.
“Too small, you would think – can’t run, dumpy little ginger nut – but then the ball would come to him and he would dazzle you.
“He was the best footballer in that Manchester United midfield, better than Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane.”
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