Wayne Rooney suggests Sir Alex Ferguson’s biggest mistake at Man Utd

While podcast co-host David May, part of the Treble-winning squad, is happy that he and his team-mates can still boast about their unique season, Wayne remembers the cup defeat being a bone of contention in the dressing room at the time. The disappointment of defeat is felt even more sharply considering our path to cup success could have been relatively straightforward, at least compared to that marathon 1998/99 campaign.

In fact, he says that Sir Alex gave the players the silent treatment for at least a fortnight afterwards, although, in the end, claiming a 17th league title and the biggest club trophy of all, probably placated the great man.

“After that game, I think Portsmouth played Middlesbrough [actually West Brom] and Cardiff in the semi-final and final.

“I remember the boss, he didn’t speak a word for two weeks to us! He knew that was the chance of doing the Treble again [gone].”