Rio Ferdinand told Phil Jones how Wayne Rooney responded to him on the phone after he wanted his former Manchester United teammate to call two players out.
Phil Jones was recently reunited with Rio Ferdinand on his former Manchester United teammate’s YouTube channel and opened up about his Old Trafford spell.
The 32-year-old former United defender shared the pitch with both Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney at the Red Devils, despite enduring an injury-hit spell at the club.
Jones lifted a Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson and played at Old Trafford long after the legendary former United manager retired in 2013.
United legend Sir Alex Ferguson had tipped Jones for a bright future, but the ex-Red Devils centre-back failed to hit the high expectations placed on his shoulders.
Jones, who made 229 appearances for United, announced his retirement from football back in August after injuries plagued his professional playing career.
Ferdinand talks Rooney phone call
Manchester United have struggled to return to the top of English football after Sir Alex Ferguson last led the Premier League club to the league title in the 2012-13 season.
Rio Ferdinand briefly played under David Moyes, who succeeded Ferguson in 2013, before he left Old Trafford in 2014 and signed for Queens Park Rangers.
Wayne Rooney, much like Phil Jones, carried on his career at United after Ferguson’s retirement and was later promoted to the captaincy under Louis van Gaal.
Speaking to Jones, Ferdinand recalled the moment he saw the culture at Old Trafford significantly shift from the outside and was far from impressed.
The United legend revealed he rang Rooney after he saw Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard “dancing on Instagram” amid the Red Devils’ poor league placement.
However, Ferdinand was in for a rude awakening after Rooney told him there was nothing he could do and he would be seen as “mad” if he said anything.
“I’ll tell you when it changed, from the outside at least,” Ferdinand told Jones.
“I rang Wazza [Wayne Rooney] when I saw Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard dancing on Instagram when we were sixth in the league.
“I rang Wazza and said, ‘What’s going on here? How are you allowing this?’ And he said you can’t say nothing, man, it’s not the same anymore.
“He said it’s not just those two, there would be a big group looking at me like I’m mad if I said anything.”
Jones on Man Utd dressing room under Ferguson
Jones admitted the United dressing room that he found himself in after his move from Blackburn Rovers in 2011 was far tougher and different under Ferguson.
“Back then, when you look at the dressing room, we had… we had so many incredible, powerful leaders that wouldn’t let anything get in the way of the team’s performance and the team winning,” he said.
“That winning mentality was so strong and powerful that no-one that came in could disrupt that.
“I think now players maybe don’t have the ability to call people out anymore and the power to tell them, ‘That’s not what we do at this football club… don’t come in here and start acting like that, that doesn’t work here.’
“I’m not saying that happens every single day at the club, but if we lost a game, we’d have a meeting the next day, not even with the coaches. The leaders would be saying, ‘This is not good enough’ after one loss.”
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