Sir Alex Told Lee Sharpe to Sell His Dog, Car and House at Man Utd

When Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge at Manchester United, it was a classic case of anything the Scot said was received, and accepted, with utter certainty. He had an uncanny knack of earning the respect of those who played under him between 1986 and 2013 players – hence why many of his former players refer to him as ‘boss’ more than a decade on from his retirement – and that explains some of his bizarre requests.

Ferguson’s time at Old Trafford, which helped them become one of the most successful clubs in the history of football, saw the likes of Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher and Eric Cantona become favourites of Ferguson’s in an instant, but others weren’t quite as fortunate.

Notorious for the ‘hairdryer treatment’ that was required when a player was performing to a substandard level, Lee Sharpe – who grappled with inconsistent form and injuries throughout his spell in Manchester – once found himself on the receiving end of one of the 84-year-old’s steely outbursts.

The former winger, who spent the majority of his career in England but also played for Sampdoria in Italy and Grindavik in Iceland, may not have possessed the same level of quality as the aforementioned triumvirate; but he is considered, by many members of the Old Trafford faithful, as a cult hero of sorts. He was not always in the good books of Ferguson, though, and he was once told to sell his dog, car and house after a poor display. A crazy story that epitomised the silverware-winning Fergie era.

Alex Ferguson Demanded Lee Sharpe to Sell His House, Car and Dog After Poor Display vs Liverpool

Sharpe, speaking on the Sacked in the Morning podcast, revealed that his poor performance, against Liverpool of all teams, led to him being forced to live separately from his then-girlfriend. Things became so dire in the world of Sharpe that he was made to reside in club-provided housing rather than live alone with someone who he intended on marrying in the future.

“From top to bottom, he [Ferguson] ran the club,” said Sharpe, who moved in with his girlfriend when he was 18 years of age after getting permission from Ferguson. “He said he’d allow it [moving in with his girlfriend] and asked if we were getting married. We’d been going out since I was 12, and that was the plan. But he said if my form suffered, I’d be going to go back into digs. I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s not a problem.’”

Ferguson’s unusual appeal came after Sharpe – and Ryan Giggs – struggled to perform against their fiercest rivals in Liverpool. “And then my form started to suffer. At Anfield, of all places, he decided to try to change our formation to match up with Liverpool and play three at the back and five in midfield.

“Me and Ryan Giggs were running around in circles not knowing who to mark. The game was passing us by. At half-time, he said, in not so many words, ‘You are absolutely useless.’”

Ferguson, who won a record 13 Premier League titles across his Old Trafford dynasty, went one step further. Adding further detail to the outlandish story, Sharpe added: “[Ferguson said] ‘Tomorrow, you’re going to sell your house, sell your dog, sell your car. You send your girlfriend back to Birmingham, you’re back in digs.’

Thanks to his influence and appeal on and off the pitch, Sharpe was one of the first poster boys of the 1990s, but it’s clear that Ferguson was not enamored by his presence. In an interview with a podcast called ‘Quickly Kevin; Will he score? The 90s Football Show‘, he claimed the legendary tactician blanked him when the two crossed paths.

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“I saw him a couple of years ago at the Manchester United golf day, and he didn’t want to look at me but sort of said hello as he was walking past. But the time before that he completely blanked me,” he said, before insisting they left things on decent terms when he moved to Leeds for a fee of £4.5 million.

Sharpe, who brandished his former boss a ‘bully’ in his 2005 book titled ‘My Idea of Fun’, believed that his comments were the reasoning behind why the Premier League icon gave him the cold shoulder. “And obviously, when I retired, I did a book and put in the book that he was a bully, and I’d heard he fell out with me because of that,” said the Englishman, a forgotten man of Ferguson’s reign.

Lee Sharpe: A Popular Terrace Hero at Old Trafford

Famously, Ferguson – widely regarded, and for good reason, as one of the best managers in football history – preferred his players to have a wife and children. A stable home life, in the eyes of the stubborn Scot, was crucial for his players’ on-the-pitch success and such stability was used as a way to keep them focused on football and, therefore, out of any sort of trouble.

Sharpe, famed for his eccentric celebrations after hitting the back of the net, eventually managed to get in Ferguson’s good books, going on to accrue 261 appearances for the Old Trafford club under the stewardship of the legendary boss. In that time, the eight-cap England international scored 36 goals and provided an additional 30 assists.

The 54-year-old, a three-time Premier League winner with United, left for pastures new in 1996 after eight years of service. He joined Leeds United but played just 35 times for the Yorkshire outfit and stints across England – at Bradford City, Portsmouth and Exeter City – followed before he hung up his boots in 2004.

During his eight-year tenure at United, Sharpe managed to get his hands on 10 pieces of silverware – including a tally of three Premier League titles. Named the PFA Young Player of the Year for the 1990/91 campaign, the tricky wide player was just 19 years of age at the time but was already turning heads.

By no means a bad player, it’s unfortunate for Sharpe, from Halesowen in the West Midlands, that his rise to prominence happened alongside that of Giggs, who established himself as one of the best footballers to ever don the United shirt. In the infancy of his career, the world appeared to be at the feet of a potential world-beater – but, instead, he managed to become a popular terrace hero at Old Trafford.

All statistics per Transfermarkt – correct as of 11/01/2026