Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he was stunned to discover Wayne Rooney was being paid twice his salary as Manchester United manager.
Ferguson protested to United's ruling Glazer dynasty that it was not “fair” - and reached an agreement with the club owners that no player should be paid more than him.
Rooney doubled his salary at Old Trafford to around £200,000-a-week five years ago, and Fergie felt undermined by foot soldiers on substantially higher wages than the architect of United's golden era.
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In his new book Leading, published today, Ferguson reveals: “When the Glazers and David Gill agreed to a big increase in Wayne Rooney's salary in 2010, they wanted to know how I felt.
“I told them I did not think it fair that Rooney should earn twice what I made and Joel Glazer immediately said, 'I totally agree with you, but what should we do?'
“It was simple. We just agreed that no player should be paid more than me'.”
Ferguson took to the stage last night to launch his handbook on executive success at London's Royal Festival Hall.
He had fewer reservations about the largesse of United's potentially monster £58m transfer fee for deadline day punt Anthony Martial.
Three goals in his first two appearances have given 19-year-old Martial a flying start and, when asked if the fee was exorbitant, Ferguson chortled: “Not at the moment, it's not!”
Ferguson was more defensive about the “perfect” recruitment process that led to David Moyes' appointment as his successor.
Moyes was handed a six-year contract but lasted only 10 months before he paid the price for United's slump from champions to seventh in April 2014.
But on stage Fergie was adamant: “We chose Moyes because he was consistent in his job for 11 years at Everton and he showed a real appetite for it.
“When we appointed David Moyes there was universal praise: unfortunately, somehow it didn't work out for David – but it was the perfect process, we looked at all the alternatives.”
In his book, Ferguson reveals Moyes had frozen when he was interviewed for the job as United's assistant manager in 1999 – a post he handed to Steve McClaren.
He said: “In my 26 years at United, the most important interviews I ever did were for the role of my assistant.
“At United I had seven assistant managers – Archie Knox, Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Jim Ryan, Carlos Queiroz, Walter Smith and Mick Phelan.
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“After Brian Kidd left in 1998 I got more serious about interviewing, and the process became more meticulous. We looked at several people but narrowed it down to Steve McClaren and David Moyes.
“David was about 35 at the time and was managing Preston North End. He was very tense when I interviewed him and that showed in the seriousness of his face. Steve was the opposite – bright, breezy and enthusiastic.
“At that point Steve had a lot more experience in the top flight than David, and that swung my decision.”
*Leading by Sir Alex Ferguson with Michael Moritz, published by Hodder & Stroughton, £25.00 hardback