Sir Alex Ferguson names the most ‘annoying’ player he faced in 26 years as Man Utd boss

Over the course of his 26-year tenure as manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson once identified the opponent who he considered to be the most “annoying” during his time at Old Trafford.

Ferguson, who is 83 years old, witnessed his United team compete against some of the best teams that European football had to offer. Specifically, Lionel Messi’s Barcelona team, which defeated United in the Champions League finals in both 2009 and 2011, was one of those teams.

The Scot was the manager of the Red Devils for a total of 26 years, during which time he won 13 Premier League titles and competed primarily with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester City for recognition on the domestic front.

And it was a player from one of the aforementioned teams who got under Ferguson’s skin more than anyone else, but it might not be the person you would expect to be the one to do so.

Considering the intense competition that existed between Arsenal and United in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you might be under the impression that Ferguson was most irritated by players such as Martin Keown or Patrick Viera. However, the player in question was actually a much more calm and collected individual.

During an interview with Sky Sports, Ferguson stated, “Now little [Gianfranco] Zola, he annoyed me.”

“He was one of those players who did not allow himself to be bothered by the opponents he was competing against.

This irritated me because he appeared to have a smile on his face at all times without fail. My response was, “How could he possibly be having fun while playing against United?” There is no one else who does.

I thought he was amazing. Able to perform well. Such a lovely equilibrium. Courageous. A couple of years ago, when we were competing for the treble, we had a match against Chelsea in the FA Cup. We were able to secure them in the early rounds, and we played to a scoreless draw at Old Trafford as I man-marked him. The level of respect I had for him was exactly that.

Nevertheless, he was an outstanding player. Watching him was a lot of fun. What a pleasure he was. This was the thing, and the fact that I would say that about a competitor demonstrates how much respect I have for them.

Zola, who is now 58 years old, played for Chelsea for a total of 312 matches between the years 1996 and 2003. During that time, he was instrumental in Chelsea’s success, the Premier League club winning two FA Cups, one League Cup, a Cup Winners’ Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup.

Before beginning a career in management with West Ham United in 2008, he went back to his home country of Italy and joined Cagliari in 2003. Later, he moved to West Ham United.

After that, he went on to serve as the head coach of the Italy Under-16 team, Watford, Cagliari, Al-Arabi, and Birmingham City. This was followed by his return to Chelsea in 2018 as an assistant coach to Maurizio Sarri.

He resigned the following year, and ever since then, he has not been employed in a coaching capacity.