RUUD RETRACTION

United statement:

Manchester United and Ruud van Nistelrooy would like to point out that several quotes attributed in recent days to him are inaccurate.

The quotes reportedly came from an interview Ruud gave to Voetbal International, the weekly Dutch football magazine. We would like to point out that the article published in Voetbal International was a totally fair and accurate representation of the interview Ruud conducted with the magazine’s journalist.

However, when this interview was reproduced in a Sunday newspaper, several additional quotes appear to have been added to the translation of the article which were never part of the original article or indeed the original interview. Those additional quotes were subsequently assumed to be accurate and were reproduced throughout the media.

Ruud is wrongly reported to have described the wages of Manchester United players as “obscene” and “astronomical”. He said no such thing. Ruud is also reported to have said that Manchester United players play card games for money because “they can afford it” and that the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, “is fine as long as he is winning.” These words were not said by Ruud in his interview with Voetbal International, or on any other occasion. Nor did he ever say that the club’s manager had been nicknamed “the Hawk” by the players.