Ahead of our game, Sir Alex Ferguson has explained why Patrice Evra has been wearing our captain’s armband for most of this season.
Nemanja Vidic is our captain but has spent most of the season injured, meaning Evra has filled in. Ferguson gave Evra the responsibility because of his fitness and his personality.
“Someone playing all the time should be in the forefront to be captain and that was the case with Patrice,” said Ferguson. “He’s a very popular player with a good personality, which is important if you’re captain of a club like ours. He’s very friendly and has a good sense of humour, but he’s also quite a determined lad. Rio Ferdinand would have been captain if he hadn’t had all those problems with injuries at the time. Patrice is not as voluble as Rio, but certainly influences a lot of things, and his own performances have been very good.”
Evra will wear the captain’s armband on Saturday against Liverpool in the FA Cup. The last time he was at Anfield, Evra was racially abused by Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. Liverpool responded to this by wearing t-shirts in support of their player and the manager, Kenny Dalglish, continued to insist his player was innocent, despite being found guilty by an independent commission. Given the club are in complete denial over what their player did, Evra is likely to be on the receiving end of some more abuse for Anfield crowd at the weekend.
