Sir Alex Ferguson's joke after Man Utd pipped Liverpool to title in 1997

Sir Alex Ferguson joked that Manchester United's players should be quiet and listen to the Liverpool manager going "ballistic" after their title-deciding win at Anfield in 1997.

That is according to Ronny Johnsen who played in the game, a 3-1 victory for United that wrapped up the Premier League title at the end of the 1996/97 campaign.

The game was sealed by a Gary Pallister double and an Andy Cole strike, with Johnsen — in his debut campaign that year — revealing to the UTD podcast one of his favourite Ferguson moments.

“We came into the changing room and the gaffer came in a little bit late,” Johnsen said.

“We were buzzing and he said: 'Quiet, quiet!' The changing rooms in that stadium are very close to each other and you can hear their manager go ballistic and [Ferguson] is like: 'Listen, you can hear them!'

“I loved it!”

Liverpool finished seven points behind United that year, the first of a number of times Ferguson pipped his biggest rivals to the title.

For Johnsen it was the completion of a dream campaign that had begun against Wimbledon in the opening game of the season.

"I was on the bench, but came on, I think, at the beginning of the second half [and played] in midfield,” he added.

“A long ball came from our back four. I was running, just turning around, running after it and [Vinnie] Jones came running the other way. He missed me by that much, with his elbow! And I was like, what is that?

“I met Vinnie some years later and he said: 'I was going to flatten you, stand over you and say 'welcome to English football!'

“Also in that game, David Beckham scored from the halfway line, and I never saw that before either. Two things in a game, I've never seen, even in training!”