“Be quick, I’ve only got a few minutes,” Sir Alex Ferguson harked to a tight and tense press room at Carrington back in May 2002.

The  Manchester United manager’s relationship with the media was rarely affable, particularly at a time when press conferences were spiky and tense, confined to a claustrophobic media room and not streamed online to the masses. Journalists were often scolded or banned from future attendance if they rubbed the Scot up the wrong way.

Said journalists were on tenterhooks when coming together at United’s training ground for the penultimate game of the 2001/02 campaign. Arsenal were the visitors to Old Trafford that weekend, with Arsene Wenger’s side knowing victory against their fiercest rivals would secure the title.

It had been a disastrous six weeks for Ferguson and United, with defeat at home to Middlesbrough at the end of March seeing them lose their place at the table’s summit for the first time since January.

A month on from that, the Reds were dumped out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage by Bayer Leverkusen, having drawn both legs and losing on away goals.

Juan Sebastian Veron had been excellent for United during their European campaign, with the slower pace and more technical focus suiting his strengths. Ferguson brought the Argentinian across from Lazio the previous summer, sanctioning a then-British record £28.1million move and agreeing a lucrative five-year contract.

It was hoped Veron would lead the way in Ferguson’s latest squad evolution, and the United boss was at pains to accommodate his flashy new signing, often breaking up the tried and trusted midfield duo of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.

Four goals in his first eight games was about as close to a dream start as one could wish for and enough for Veron to claim the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for September. But as those goals dried up and the silky midfielder struggled with English physicality, so the media criticism inevitably followed.

The Argentinian was at the centre of media reports, with one in particular irking Ferguson. In the fallout from United’s Champions League exit, the Mirror ran a story alleging a row between Veron and some of his teammates which ended when the midfielder supposedly stormed out.

And so Ferguson entered his pre-game press conference – this time on a Monday, with the Arsenal game on Wednesday – with scores to settle and little tolerance of those reporters he was hosting. In a full transcript of the meeting with journalists, captured by the tape recorder of Telegraph reporter Sam Wallace, the fiery Scot took issue with the line of questioning.

The conversation initially drifted towards Ferguson suggesting Wenger had been arrogant in the build-up, but quickly spread to a more general back-and-forth in which the United boss brought up the Veron story.

With one reporter having already been labelled a ‘joke’ and a ‘disgrace to journalism’, they decided to press on and ask directly about the alleged row – and that was enough.

“That was answered with Paddy Harverson [United’s ex-director of communications],” Ferguson fumed before storming out of the packed media room.

 “It’s absolute nonsense! Absolute nonsense! You know it’s nonsense! Absolute lies! I don’t believe that you write these things.

“Anyway, that’s a finish, on you go. Get going. On you go! We’re no f****** talking! [Veron] is a f******* great player! You are f****** idiots!”

Veron started against Arsenal but lasted only 58 minutes, coming off shortly after Sylvain Wiltord scored what would be the title-clinching goal for Arsenal. It was fitting that in the first game after Ferguson’s impassioned defence, the midfielder’s weaknesses came to the fore against a physical and dynamic Gunners side.

The Argentinian’s status as a club-record signing ended in the summer of 2002, with Rio Ferdinand joining from Leeds United in a deal worth around £30million.

And after a dismal World Cup campaign with La Albiceleste – they left at the group stage despite entering the competition as joint favourites – Veron endured another underwhelming season at United. The Reds retained their place at the top of the Premier League that season but lost to Liverpool in the League Cup final and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal in February 2003.

The former Lazio man bagged six goals and nine assists from 40 appearances, a tally that was far from terrible but continued to warrant questions with the caveat of his price tag. Just over 14 months after exploding at the press for their criticism, Ferguson cut his losses on Veron and sold him to Chelsea for £15million.

The midfielder would later suggest his struggles in England were due in part to a less intense pre-season compared to Italy, while Ferguson would admit his record signing was not cut out for the Premier League: “Juan Veron was capable of exceptional football and was talented. But at times, he found the Premiership a bit difficult. He was a European player and that was where we got our best form from him.”

Veron would spend four years at Chelsea, although three of those were on loan to Inter Milan and then Estudiantes in his home country – a side he would eventually join permanently in 2006 to wind down his career. He would never mirror his form for Parma and Lazio during his spell in England, but remained grateful to Ferguson for defending him.

“I was just very grateful for that, I always respected his defence of me,” Veron told Gambling Zone of Ferguson’s fiery press conference. “I know my English past isn’t so great – lots of ups and downs – I never had regularity in my football career over there.

“I don’t like this because in my seven years in Italy, I played a consistent level of football. In England there were so many ups and downs, so I am forever grateful to Sir Alex for defending me from the media. But my football, at that moment, was not that good.”

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