Sir Alex Ferguson was notorious for keeping his players in check but would often have to tell his Manchester United players off for being too loud
Chris Burns Senior Sports Writer
12:33, 23 Sep 2025
Sir Alex Ferguson would tell Wayne Rooney and his team-mates to keep the noise down(Image: 2008 Manchester United)
Legendary Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson used to storm to the back of the club bus and lambaste members of his squad for being too loud while playing video games.
The revelation came courtesy of former United midfielder Paul Scholes, who was speaking on the The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast with Paddy McGuinness and former Red Devil Nicky Butt.
It began as McGuinness brought up a story told by Old Trafford legend Wayne Rooney. United’s all-time top scorer claimed part of the club’s astronomical success, during his time at United, was down to the relationships the players forged while playing video games on the team bus.
Several United players would get involved with the game, SOCOM on the PlayStation Portable, including Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea and Wes Brown. Despite Rooney’s claims, the gaming sessions didn’t go down well with Sir Alex, who was renowned for ruling with an iron fist.
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Asked about Rooney’s claims, Scholes explained: “I didn’t play those games, it was more the younger lads in the group.
“The PSP (the PlayStation Portable) and SOCOM, and I can hear them all f*****g shouting from the back of the bus, and it’s sort some of shooting game, a war game, and it’s all you could hear and it was f*****g annoying.”
Paul Scholes told the story on a podcast(Image: The Good, The Bad & The Football/YouTube)
After McGuinness interjected, claiming bus trips to and from games are typically were players engage in card games, and not video games, Scholes added: “I do remember the boss going down the back of the bus saying, ‘Shut the f**k up – because they’re all shouting at each other, ‘We’re on our way to Arsenal away here, what’s wrong with you?'”.
Although, he did concede that there may have been some benefit to the group gaming, adding: “Sometimes it’s quite funny as they are having a right go at each other at the back and there is a bit of camaraderie and it’s a team game as well.”
Rooney won five Premier League titles and a Champions League title during his time at United. Speaking on his self-titled podcast the ex-Everton star opened up on how playing the online shooting game helped to get his team-mates talking more.
“I really believe a big part of our success was playing on the PSP,” said Rooney. “It got us communicating more – we used to play it on the plane, on the team bus.
“It would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown. You have to talk, you have to tactically be right, go and revive people when they get killed and it was a massive part of our success – ask any of those players, it was brilliant.”
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