Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the very best players in the world during his first stint at Manchester United – but Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t want him to be captain for one specific reason
Sir Alex Ferguson once revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo was never handed the Manchester United captain’s armband for one key reason: Wayne Rooney. The two iconic forwards shared a dressing room at Old Trafford for five years, during which they won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the Champions League.
Their relationship was friendly but fiercely competitive – a dynamic that, behind the scenes, required careful management. According to Gary Neville, who skippered the club between 2005 and 2010, Ferguson refused to let either Ronaldo or Rooney wear the armband to avoid any dressing room friction.
The legendary Scot made his reasoning clear in 2007, when Neville asked to step down as captain after spending much of the previous year sidelined by injury. “I felt as though I wasn’t contributing like a captain should be for my last four years,” Neville said on Sky Sports in 2020.
“I actually went to see Sir Alex in pre-season about the third year I was captain. We had an amazing team: Ronaldo, Rooney, [Carlos] Tevez, [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, [Rio] Ferdinand, [Nemanja] Vidic, [Patrice] Evra, [Edwin] van der Sar… there were some great personalities and players in that group.
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“I went over to Sir Alex walking onto the training pitch and said, ‘I don’t feel worthy of keeping the captaincy anymore. This team is to a level I can’t compete at’.
“He said, ‘You’ll keep that f***ing armband, son.’ The reason he gave me: ‘You and Giggs will rotate it. If I give it to Ronaldo, Rooney will kick off. If I give it to Rooney, Ronaldo will kick off. If I give it to Vidic, Ferdinand won’t be happy’.
“So literally I think me and Giggsy kept it for three or four years beyond that just purely because of the fact the camaraderie in the dressing room. We were the policemen if you like, the older statesmen.”
Although Ferguson hesitated to name either Rooney or Ronaldo as permanent captains, both occasionally wore the armband when senior players were unavailable. Rooney was eventually appointed United’s official captain in 2014, a year after Ferguson’s retirement.
He succeeded Nemanja Vidic, who had taken the armband from Neville in 2010. Rooney held the role for three years until leaving Old Trafford in 2017, a period that coincided with his tenure as England captain.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, had to wait until the twilight of his career to become a club captain, receiving the armband after joining Al-Nassr in 2022. At international level, however, he has worn the Portugal captaincy for nearly two decades, having first been appointed in 2008.
Following Rooney’s departure, United went through four permanent captains in four years. Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young each served one-season stints before Harry Maguire brought a measure of continuity to the role in 2020.
Maguire’s tenure, though, was often clouded by controversy. A dip in form led some to question whether he was the right figure to lead the side. In 2023, he was stripped of the captaincy, which was subsequently handed to Bruno Fernandes.
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
