SIR ALEX FERGUSON’S ‘hairdryer’ treatment is the stuff of dressing room legend.
But even though the Manchester United and Aberdeen icon trusted his goalkeeper Bryan Gunn with his SONS – it didn’t make him immune from the famous furious rants.
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Scotland cap Gunn was keeper at Pittodrie during Fergie’s famous spell and was alongside the boss on the bench in Gothenburg as the Dons won the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup.
He went on to become a legend in his own right at Norwich City where son Angus in now No1.
he’s also first choice for Scotland with eyes on a Euro place and proud dad Bruyan admits he shed a tear when his boy made his Hampden debut.
But an eye-watering rant still stands out from his playing days too – even though it came after a game where he WASN’T involved.
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Speaking to Sunsport’s A-Z the keeper recalled: “I once got it in the neck after a game I didn’t even play in.
“The team lost to Hibs and there was a crisis meeting in the board room at Pittodrie.
“We were all sitting around waiting on the boss to come in and when [Sir Alex] did he took one look at Neale Cooper and I and screamed “Gunn and Cooper, get your hair back to its original colour!”
But the relationship went beyond the average boss and player partnership at Pittodrie, with Gunn even allowed to stay over at the gaffer’s house to mind the kids.
And though he was a tough taskmaster, he turned a blind eye to misbehaviour.
He explained: “We’d play football and snooker but invariably the boys Darren, Jason and Mark would end up fighting with the cues.
“I’d give them press-ups as a punishment and they’d be packed off to bed. When the boss and Cathy came home I’d just say the boys were great.
“I’d stay overnight, have breakfast with the family and the boss would take me back to my digs and give me £20.
“He said at my testimonial I was a good lad who never went out on a Saturday because I was always baby-sitting.
“What he didn’t know was I went out on a Sunday night!”
Sir Alex also wrote the foreword to Gunn’s autobiography ‘In Where It Hurts’ which raised funds for the charity he set up in the name of two-year-old daughter Francesca, who tragically died from leukaemia in 1992.
He added: “That was a bad time in life. We’d a long battle for about a year but unfortunately we didn’t win it.
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“I played a week after her funeral and in many ways that gave me a release. I remember we won 2-1 and all the players clapped me off the pitch.
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“We still think about Francesca every day and visit her grave in Norwich every time we’re down there.”
*Taken from Bryan Gunn’s A-Z interview with Robert Grieve in The Scottish Sun on Sunday
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