Robin van Persie has revealed how legendary former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson called out two players for partying following a defeat to Manchester City in 2013.

United suffered a 2-1 loss at home to their rivals in April 2013 and saw their lead at the top of the Premier League reduced to ten points.

Two United players, who van Persie wouldn’t name, went out partying after the loss, which riled Ferguson

Ferguson put pictures up on the dressing room wall that had been taken of the two players on their night out and referred to them as ‘holes’.

Ferguson warned that the players in question could end up costing United the title and also stated that anybody else who was involved in such activity would be sold.

Van Persie told SoFoot: ‘The day after the game Sir Alex had photos put up on the dressing room wall of the two players taken during their night out.

‘He told the entire squad: “Boys, if we don’t win the league it’s because of these two holes who opted to go out”.

‘I know the names, but can’t reveal them. The manager slaughtered them. It was amazing. He’d put up photos documenting where they were, at 2am, 3am, 4am etc, to underline just how stupid they had been.

‘He didn’t stop there, but warned us that if he heard of any of us going out before we’d won the league we’d be out of the team.

‘He was merciless, saying: “I don’t care who you are or how many trophies you’ve won – if you go out before the end of the season I’ll sell you”.

‘After that speech I had the two hardest training sessions I’ve ever had in my life. We went on to win the title. A manager has to know when to be tough, and when to take the pressure off.’

Ferguson’s speech certainly had the desired effect, with United proceeding to win the title in what proved to be his final season in management.

Van Persie played a prominent part for United that season – his first campaign at the club – as he scored 26 goals in 38 league games.

Marcus Rashford, meanwhile, missed training last week due to his hectic partying schedule in Belfast, thus he was benched for Sunday’s trip to Newport.

Rashford was already under fire from Erik ten Hag for his partying following the October Manchester Derby loss.

But on this occasion he said the England star’s absence was an “internal matter”, and that he would “deal with it”.

That is a far cry from how Ferguson responded when two players had the audacity to hit the town following a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in 2013.

Both clubs were challenging for the title with United 15 points ahead in early April, meaning the Premier League was all but won.