Barnsley boss Robins: Ferguson never thanked me for saving his Man Utd job

Barnsley boss Mark Robins admits Sir Alex Ferguson has never thanked him for saving his job at Manchester United.

Robins scored a crucial goal against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in 1990 when all signs were Ferguson would be shown the door.

He has lost count of how many times he has been asked the question, and it is an issue he tried to sidestep again yesterday.

But, addressing a Barnsley Supporters’ Club meeting last week, he offered a glimpse into his true feelings about a game and a goal that set Ferguson on the way to the first of 22 major trophies.

He said: "Sir Alex wrote a book and in it he was asked if the goal that Mark Robins scored at Forest had kept him in a job?

"He replied that if I’d had that chance in training I would have missed it. It was only because I was pushed in the back that I put the ball in the net. Excellent!

"So did I save his job? Yes, I bloody did!’ ‘It's nice that people think of the goal in that way and that I can have that claim, if you like."

It is clear that Robins, 39, is hurt by the suggestion Stuart Pearce’s shove more than his own predatory instinct led to the goal because he mentioned it again in passing yesterday. Perhaps that is why, unlike so many of Ferguson’s former players who have gone into management, he does not stay in contact with his old boss.

"I spoke to him on a couple of occasions but I’m not a man who picks the phone up on a regular basis," he said yesterday. "He has probably got enough on his plate without speaking to me.

"But did he ever thank me? No."

 
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