Fergie’s only regret about THAT 21-man brawl... he was not in middle of it

STEVE BRUCE was all in at the start of modern-day Manchester United’s rise to success... in every sense.

The gritty defender will always be remembered for the pair of headers against Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993 which catapulted United to their first Premier League title of the Sir Alex Ferguson era, triggering over two decades of United glory.

Yet 30 months before that day Bruce, now manager at West Brom, was unwittingly involved in another ‘first’.

It was the infamous 1990 pitch brawl that started football’s most bitter on-pitch rivalry between United and Arsenal.

The fall-out from that day of Manchester mayhem cost both

clubs £50,000 each in fines and the FA took the unprecedented step of deducting points, two from Arsenal and one from United.

The teams meet at Old Trafford today, and fair to say that 32 years on, the fiery heat has left a contest once so toxic it should have come with an X-rating.

Battle

The Battle of Old Trafford, as it became known, spawned Pizza-gate, Martin Keown’s infamous taunting of Ruud van Nistelrooy after a missed penalty and the blockbuster of them all – a tunnel clash between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira which is as riveting to watch to this day. And that is before you get to Ferguson’s feud with Arsene Wenger, a conflict that made Antonio Conte’s recent spat with Thomas Tuchel as menacing as a kindergarten spat over crayons.

Mention of the 1990 tear-up brings a chuckle from Bruce.

He said: “I remember the incident, but I’d completely forgotten we both had points deducted so I suppose that shows how seriously the authorities took it. “I wasn’t in the thick of the initial action, but I’m not sure you’d call me a peacemaker either,” laughs Bruce as he recalls Nigel Winterburn’s reckless tackle on Denis Irwin sparking a violent 21-man free-for-all that got players and both clubs fined.

“There’s no doubt about it, though, it was the start of that great rivalry between the two teams that stretched through the 1990s and into the 2000s when both United and Arsenal were title contenders.

“Everyone knew we had to win the league at the start of the Fergie era and Arsenal were there to be beaten like Liverpool.

“The rivalry was stoked between Sir Alex (left) and Arsene and that continued things on and took it to an even higher level. Now, of course, they have huge mutual respect, but when they were fighting for titles they were both at each other.

“I enjoyed that day! Fergie certainly had no problem with us fighting Arsenal I can assure you.

“His only regret was that he probably wasn’t in the middle of it. I’m sure he wanted to be!

“No one wants to see things go too far, but if a team-mate is in trouble, you defend one another and you do that as a team.

Fiercely

“That was all to do with Fergie’s personality and probably George Graham too. Two fiercely competitive Scotsmen who wanted their teams to mirror them and that was pretty evident to see on that day.

“We’ve seen that recently with Conte and Tuchel, it’s great to watch it, of course it is. It makes the headlines for a start, but I think people like to see passion and that it means something to players and managers.

“Maybe it was a bit over the top. When everyone gets involved it’s usually handbags – no one usually throws punches. There might have been a few that day.

“Looking back it got out of hand, but it’s because the rivalry between both sets of players was so intense. We wanted to win, so did they, and it spilled over.

“There’s nothing wrong with that and we have to maintain that kind of passion.”