Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville instantly reacted to Wayne Rooney’s pick for the “toughest team” that he played against while he was at Manchester United.
Wayne Rooney made his sensational move to Old Trafford in 2004 after former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson signed him from Everton in a deal worth £27m.
The 39-year-old England and United legend is widely regarded as one of the best Premier League strikers of all time after his stunning impact in football.
Rooney lifted five Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, a Europa League, an FA Cup and three League Cups with the Red Devils in his career.
During his time at Old Trafford, the former England and Red Devils skipper went on to eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton as United’s all-time leading scorer.
Rooney continued his career at United after Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and the former Red Devils star left Old Trafford in 2017 and returned to Everton.
Rooney and Neville on ‘toughest team’
Wayne Rooney shared the pitch with Gary Neville for both club and country and the pair enjoyed an incredible period at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The ex-Birmingham City boss linked up with Gary Neville on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show after he was sacked as manager of Plymouth Argyle in 2024.
Both Rooney and Neville appeared on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast alongside 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio.
Lawrence Dallaglio is a big admirer of Chelsea and Rooney admitted that the Blues were a difficult team to play under ex-Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
“They [Chelsea] were the toughest team I played against under Mourinho in his first couple years,” Rooney said.
Neville interjected and insisted that the Chelsea team that Jose Mourinho had in his first spell were “horrible” to play against, with Rooney in complete agreement.
“Yeah, horrible. The first few years,” Neville said.
Responding to Neville, Rooney added: “The first couple of years.”
Ferguson’s reaction to Mourinho’s arrival at Chelsea
Ferguson had already seen United’s dominance over English football challenged by legendary former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger before Jose Mourinho arrived.
Mourinho left Porto in 2004 after an impressive spell with the Portuguese side and he made his sensational move to England to become Chelsea manager.
The 62-year-old Portuguese manager enjoyed incredible success during his first reign, including lifting two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups.
Mourinho, much like Arsene Wenger, had a heated rivalry with Ferguson while he was at Chelsea and disrupted United’s dominance in the Premier League.
Ferguson has since admitted that the former Chelsea and United manager was “cocky” in his eyes after Mourinho famously labelled himself as the ‘Special One.’
Speaking on Mourinho, he said: “I remember his first press conference and I thought: ‘He’s a cocky b——!’
“He was telling the players: ‘Look, I’m the Special One, we don’t lose games.’”
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