Man Utd: Rio Ferdinand reveals players were shy of celebrating success under Sir Alex

Manchester United’s dismal season continued on Sunday lunchtime as Ralf Rangnick’s men were beaten 1-0 by relegation-threatened Everton at Goodison Park.

The result was a further blow to the Red Devils’ dwindling hopes of securing Champions League football next season. Already out of contention for any piece of silverware this campaign, United’s sole remaining target was to squeeze into a top four spot in the Premier League.

Instead, United could be heading for a scenario where they even miss out on Europa League qualification – a state of affairs that would have been unthinkable back in August.

Club legend Rio Ferdinand recently told a story that illustrates just how badly the Old Trafford outfit has faded in recent years.

During Saturday’s loss on Merseyside, United’s players largely looked at a loss for both inspiration and focus, something that Ferdinand says would never have been tolerated during the iconic reign of Sir Alex Ferguson.

In fact, under Ferguson’s rule, his players didn’t like to celebrate success too heavily mid-season out of fear that it would distract them from the team’s overall targets for the season.

Ferdinand told William Hill recently:

“If we had celebrated too much and overindulged for too long you forget about the next target. I became obsessed with what was next.

“We would win and even that night sometimes I would be speaking to the CEO asking him who the targets were to get in next season because I was like a fan. He would tell me to enjoy the moment, but I could only enjoy it once I knew that we would go on to win.”

This mentality was completely foreign to fresh United recruit Ben Foster in 2006, who couldn’t understand why his new teammates didn’t seem bothered any winning that year’s