Cristiano Ronaldo Opens Up on Sir Alex Ferguson's Hairdryer Treatment

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has opened up about one of the most humbling experiences any footballer can endure: Sir Alex Ferguson’s hairdryer treatment.

The former Manchester United boss was renowned for his brutal rants at players and it seems as though even those as talented as Ronaldo weren’t immune from a verbal dressing down off the iconic coach.

“I remember sometimes when we did something bad or we lost some games,” said the Los Blancos star, per David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror. “He kicked the chairs, he kicked the boots, he kicked everything, the water, the drinks, and he was so red, saying ‘F--k, you should pass the ball,’ it was unbelievable, but it was good, because we learned.”

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Ronaldo was speaking as part of a BBC documentary in which Ferguson’s renowned style of leadership and how he remained such a consistent influence at United for so long is examined.

Rio Ferdinand also outlined what it was like to be on the wrong end of the Glaswegian, admitting he regrets answering back on one occasion, per McDonnell:

"

We played Benfica away and got beaten. We didn’t play well and he was shouting at me. I thought I was one of our best players on the day and thought ‘why are you shouting at me?’

So I started having a go, shouting back, but the problem is – which I failed to learn quickly – that the more you shout at him, the louder he gets and the more aggressive he gets and the closer he gets to you.

"

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Despite what sounded like ill-tempered flare-ups, Ronaldo and his manager actually enjoyed quite the affinity. Ronaldo has previously described the ex-United boss as his “father in football,” while Ferguson recently named the Portuguese as one of only four world-class players he worked with, labelling the forward as “a complete genius of a player.”

Ronaldo developed massively under the tutelage of Ferguson. He arrived at United as a scrawny player with a box of tricks and poor discipline. By the time he left the club, the Portuguese had become one of the best players in the world, had bulked up and was regularly turning in match-winning performances for the Red Devils.

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As was evident when Ronaldo recently slotted his 500th career goal, he’s still held in exceptional regard by his former employers:

It says a lot about Ronaldo that he didn’t react sourly to those rants. The Portuguese had a reputation of being a tempestuous, maybe even brattish, young footballer earlier in his career. But his thirst to learn from one of the all-time great managers has helped shape him as one of the best of all time.

Ferguson’s style of management is becoming less and less commonplace in the game, with players having a lot more power in modern-day football. Still, the development of Ronaldo is an emphatic indicator of the benefits of a stern word from an authority figure and is a lesson to young players who think they should be immune from criticism.