Rooney: I went too far with Fergie row

WAYNE Rooney admits he ‘went too far’ with Sir Alex Ferguson during a half-time confrontation in a game where he scored a hat-trick for United.

Rooney, 34, netted the third hat-trick of his career in United’s 4-1 victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park in November 2009, yet the teams were level at the interval.

Rooney – who put United ahead with a spotkick and struck twice within 10 minutes of the restart – has revealed his ruthlessness was fuelled by a dressing room row with Ferguson, who deliberately used to target Rooney and Ryan Giggs during half-time team talks in an effort to get a message across to other players.

“The best way to motivate me? Confrontation. I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been a bit angrier,” Rooney told The Sunday Times. “Fergie knew exactly what I needed. I’d say 90 per cent of the games I played under him we were arguing at half-time.

“I never got used to [Ferguson targeting him]. I used to think, ‘I’m playing well, he’ll have a go at someone else today.’ And it would be me again. Portsmouth was the worst one. It got really bad.

“This was at half-time. I went back out and scored a hat-trick. I remember sitting on the coach thinking, ‘I’ve gone too far there.’ But the good thing about him [is] he’d go to the toilet in the coach or to get a coffee and walk past you on the way back and just, like, slap you on the back of the head. That was his way of saying, ‘The argument is gone.’ He never carried grudges.”