Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that he has apologised to Sir Alex Ferguson for the way he behaved after not playing in the League Cup final of 2006.
Louis Saha was in the in form striker and the highest scorer in the League Cup that season, meaning Ruud started the game from the bench. Sir Alex opted to bring on new signings Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic to give them a taste of success so early in their United careers, as well as youngster Kieran Richardson, so he could win his first trophy with the club.
From that point on, it seemed certain that Ruud was on his way out. He was sulky on the pitch and went on to score just two goals in the ten games he played in after missing out on the final, including a missed penalty in his last game in our 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough.
Real Madrid signed him at the end of that season and Ruud has repeatedly spoken of his regret.
In an interview with a Dutch publication, Voetbal Magazine, Ruud has revealed his wife encouraged him to call up Sir Alex and apologise.
“I said ‘I want to apologise.’ He said ‘I appreciate it. Next time we see each other, everything will be okay.’ It was great. I told him the five years I had at Manchester United with him were fantastic. Unfortunately, they’re gone. When I encounter Ferguson, and I really hope that this happens again, I will embrace him. Then it will be case closed.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Well that’s nice.
I get the impression it will take more than that for Fergie to warm to Beckham again, though.
one of the best signings we ever made.. miss him a lot..
RUUUUUUUUUD!!!!
Good to know they’ve made up. Ruud was a brilliant player for us.
RVNs a legend. Sad day when we left. How we could do with his goals now.
One of the most lethal finishers ever….The dippers rave on about that ladyboy Torres…well they cant have seen too much of Ruud’s performances for United then….Outstanding footballer…a shame it had to end the way it did for him at United…
Its good they’ve made up…maybe he can teach some finishing skills to Rooney yet…
Legend.
Great player he was for us YES, his goals record speaks for it self but I would not go as far as calling him a United legend…. Just my opinion
Well done Ruud! Wesley Brown are you listening?
Trouble in paradise? RVN, tra la la la la laaaaa
Its unfortunate he acted like this in the first place else he COULD have been a united legend! Only one striker is a LEGEND at old trafford in the last 15 yrs we all know that Ole
Great player for us pity he forgot about our managers faith in him when he told him he would be back for him after the transfer broke down due to his cruciate injury.
@Cedars
He is a legend when it comes to goalscoring.
Whats with labelling every good player as a legend. He was an amazing player.. Superb striker…
But legend??? No way….
Costas
I guess we would have to agree to disagree my friend….. I would never use the term legend on RVN as I would on players such as Scholes, Giggs, Cantona, Robson, Best, Charlton, Law etc
His wife said, he had a huge legend.
I stand by what I said above. Just look at Ruud’s goalscoring stats all throughout his career. Never called him a “United Legend”.
@Cedars
Agreed mate. I wouldn’t put him in the same class either. Simply because he was only here for 5 years. But he was/is an awesome striker, hence football legend in my eyes.
Legend.
Ruud 150 goals 219 appearances
Ole 126 goals 366 appearances
Cole 121 goals 275 appearances
Rooney 133 goals 295 appearances
Van Nistelrooy in the blue kit at highbury
WHAT A FUCKING GOAL
And 375 goals in 614 games all throughout his career.
Couldn’t let smartalex outshine me.
Costas & smartalex
I am in no way doubting his record please do not misunderstand me, a great lethal finisher he was and I loved having him at United…Even if he did out score Ole I will in NO way put him in the same legendary status as our baby faced assassin…….. Please do not go there smartalex mate
Shine acolyte on me!
Acted like a prat near the end and the thing he said about Ronaldo’s father, left a sour taste in the mouth, like a couple of raw eggs. No United legend, but a world class striker.
What an illuminating thread.
@Cedars
Of course not mate. When it comes to United Ole is more of a legend. I think it was clear what I meant. Looking at world football over the last 15-20 years, I haven’t seen many better strikers.
Only Henry at the time was up there with him, can’t think of too many more.
Costas
All sorted buddy, now we agree to agree!
CedarsDevil
Ha ha ha ha ha. I love my memories, legends, heros, moments; my life as a United lover. I am unable and unwilling to rank their status. Instead, I’d rather say:
United 9053 goals 5199 matches.
Brilliant striker “ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud!”
And the final stat completely dwafed anything I can offer.
@Cedars
As if there was another option. We usually disagree when you are hammered, lol.
@willie
And even though he peaked earlier than Ruud, Ronaldo(the Brazilian) was quite phenomenal too.
All the talk about Dalglish knowing the European market, first player he goes for? Charlie Adam. 4 million offer turned down. @parryheid Not the reported 46 million lol.
Interesting
Yet another player that acknowledges leaving United was the wrong decision
Yet another player that acknowledges that leaving United for anyone else isn’t the same
Yet another player that acknowledges that SAF is the best manager in world football.
Other managers may come close but at United we don’t buy success – we build it.
Than-you gaffer.
Thank – bloody typos – don’t ask
devil nani @ 18:29: “Whats with labelling every good player as a legend. He was an amazing player.. Superb striker…
But legend??? No way….”
I totally agree. Let’s keep “legend” for all-time greats like Charlton, Best, Law, Keane, Duncan Edwards, Robbo and, soon Paul Scholes and Giggs,
Costas – He was still good mate, but he wasn’t the same Ronaldo at Barca. He still showed signs of genius, against us in that quarter final. He scored 40 goals for Barcelona in one season ffs.
Aahh… Those goals. :’-)
‘And it’s Ruud van Nistelrooy’ encore. Ruud or Berba? Hmmm…
Costas
We hardly ever disagree mate, even when I am hammered (Which I am not! lol)
smartalex
Touche for playing the emotional card on me you Devil loving buddy!
So often on RoM there will be an infestation of blabbering idiots from city or arsenal.
The rest of the time they huddle like emaciated P.O.W.s in a pit watching us living the
incredible wondrous daydream that is the life of a Manchester United Supporter.
CedarsDevil . In the immortal words of The GodFerguson
“Next time we see each other, everything will be okay.”
smartelex post at 19:12
Pure genius mate. loved it
glad RUUD apologised. has his pompus attitude towards united after going to the fascist really did make him a real twat, looks like van nistlerooy has not joined the league of twats that ronaldo rooney tevez heinze ince had joined.
the best goal scorer we have in the last 40 years.
Fair play to him but is he heckers like a legend.
daz bomber ….you obviously aint old enough to remember Dennis Law at his prime……
His record says it all..World Class Striker..
he’s a legend because he is are leading champions league scorer summit like 10 more then giggs, scored a stupid amount of goals. playing a massive role in us winning titles. and he celebrated a goal against the rent boys by pretending to shoot the thee fans
Well that confirms everything we understood happened,so he admits it,no more excuses.
Takes a big man to own up and make things right. Good for u RvN.
Wonder if hes coming back to us.
What do u guys make of this liverpool commoli? openly tapping players up, ,got rejected by blackpool on adam ,thot of signing bent.
Well harry moved to spurs and they got rid of commoli,and started doing better. I wonder if liverpool have got themselves a dud?
love him!
Holy commoli where’s my cannoli? Better check under the sauce!
Leave the gun, grab the connolis.
@smartalex n willirednut : whadya talking abouts,dont mess with da bosses cannolis!!!!
Can we also include VDS amongst our legends? 3 back to back titles with him between the post, and that save from Anelka (and reaction afterwards
) qualifies him as one in my eyes.
Ruud boy apologizing?? The power of the Gaffer is too much…Ferguson, the White Wizard.
A true goal scoring phenomenon…in the last 2 decades for me it’s Ronaldo (the fat one), Rudd then Henry…
well done, ruud. takes a real man to admit when he was wrong….
Dave Malaysia
If anyone can,Oli can.
Swap Rooney for Ruud lol
Quality statements above, agree with most. As I said on a previous thread, I am very pleased about this turn of events. Hats off to Ruud for growing up a bit.
Ruud was one of my favorite players on that team and I was completely gutted when he left. More so than when Beckham left to be honest because it seemed so sudden. Ruud just had a certain magic, you knew he was going to score. The goals per game stat on that man is incredible. Something like .68, Better than a goal every 2 games and over several years. Only Tommy Taylor was better of those who played more than 50 games for us. As a marksman, over a run of games, Ruud beats out some fan favorites like Viollet and Dennis Law on his return for games played. In front of goal, Rudd was magic.
Agree that Ruud doesn’t approach legend for me. Ruud was a prick, didn’t stick around to win much and he just didn’t have so many of those qualities that make a legend at this storied club. But in front of goal, I tell you what, he was surely something. He left as our 8th best scorer ever and still comes in at number 10 all time.
Was always one of my favorite players to play for United….was gutted when he left especially in the manner he did.
As much as I loved him and would love to be able to call him a legend (like if he’d stayed at the club for a few more years, better attitude towards the end etc.), we all know who the legends are, and I’d definately put him on the level below that (hard to think of a name… Hero? Great?) which we all know and love!
I still remember the day he left us. My dad (Not a big footie fan but supports us because I follow with a fierce passion) came to me and asked whether we would win the title the following season. We had just lost 3 in a row and sold our most prolific goal scorer in ages. I simply told him that I had no doubt that we would. That sound like dramatizing what happened but it exactly did and We did win, not one, but 3 titles (Ahem, and robbed of a fourth). Nothing too related with this topic but that pops into my head every time I read about Ruud and reminds me that this sort of pleasure can only be had by supporting Manchester United Football Club.
Also, Ruud rocks. He has always been one of my favorite players to wear the Red shirt. He, much like Ronaldo, could’ve attained legendary status had he stayed with us. But, alas, it was not be. Somebody mentioned the Highbury goal and I still remember it as if I have photographic memory. Giggs passes to Ruud who skips over the tackle and chips Seaman for the goal. At that moment, I knew we had our trophy back. Amazing, amazing player and that goal against Fulham will always be one of my favorites of all time. We love you too Ruud!
one of the best finishers i’ve ever seen guy was immense for utd i loved watching him,pleased its all sorted i was sad to see him go,i think the following year got a netfull for real aswell.
was wondering if this maybe doesnt open a way for rudd to do a similar sort of loan deal similar to the one we did with henrik larsson
ruud’s still got the goal-scoring instinct and it would be good for our younger strikers to learn a thing or two with ruud back in the training ground – just my 2 cents 
the best finisher iver ever seen, and a definate football Legend, really wished he couldve stayed a few more years to become a Utd legend and i wish he could come back before he retires and maybe pull a Larsson we could use the goals
He’s well up there in my list of players I’ve seen in the red. Real favourite of mine. He was just a goal machine. That rivalry with arsenal. Such a shame about the way it ended.
love ruud, and i should have loved him alot more…..his spat with ronaldo was just plain stupid
Great striker. Only one better than him was Tommy Taylor.
Awww.
I ve forgiven Ruud now..I hated him for “the leaving” and also the fuckall back heel he tried against Le Arse in the FA Cup final..where we mauled them without scoring !!
One of my all time great players. When he was with us, he played with a lot of passion for the RED shirt. In my eyes he is a legend. My favorite RVN moments:
1. Scoring that amazing goal against fulham…back home in Ethiopia we made a song for him in our local language on that day
2. scoring the penalty against LeArse to end their unbeaten run. What an amazing feeling that was because most people in my country support Arsenal and they had been going on and on about their unbeaten run.
3. That amazing header against Lyon after coming on as a sub
4. Scoring what looks an impossible goal against the Germans at Euro 2004
…..
Man he was fucking machine in front of goal, still miss him, he said once in interview that he’d like to end career with us, too bad it didn’t happen.
RUUUUD, RUUUUD, RUUUUD, RUUUUD!
LEGEND RUUD RUUD RUUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
someone said the only striker thats been a legend in the last 15 years is ole???? yeh along with andy cole id say aswel! but ruud was a sulk towards the end thinking he was to good to be dropped! i would of went with saha aswel because he was bang on form and carried us to that final almost by himself!! but i’ll never forget the look on rvn’s face when we were celebrating at the end it was almost the same as parks ji sung after moscow
What no character assassination Scott?
I thought it was customary to rip anyone who leaves United under any hint of controversy.
I would have thought Ruud would be a prime target for you given his “engineered” move to Real. No?
Just save that for Becks?
Or perhaps common sense has prevailed after all.
Ruud was a great player for us. Truly great. His goal record speaks for itself and he has scored some of my favourite united goals. Fulham and Juventus spring to mind. Sadly, the manner of his leaving ruined everything for me. Bascially the only word that springs to mind when I hear his name now is cunt. And he still tried to cause trouble while at the virus.
He can say sorry all he likes, I’ll not be forgiving him, and I’d expect Fergie to see it no differently.
Anyone who doesn’t know the ‘bust up’ story, can get the gist of it here:
http://www.soccer-weblog.com/50226711/van_nistelrooy_left_ronaldo_with_broken_face.php
How Ruud.
May ALL the players at present and those of the future will learn from Ruud’s experiance as a United player. When you are playing for United treasure the moment coz there is no place on earth that is better or on the same wavelength (at least ) likeOld Trafford!
GLORY,GLORY MAN UNITED !!!!
My role model.