Peter Schmeichel Details Explosive Argument With Alex Ferguson & His Manchester United Exit In New SkyShowtime Documentary

Stewart Clarke

4 February 2025 at 7:01 pm·4-min read

A force of nature as a player, legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel met an equally forceful character in his Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. One highlight of a new doc about Schmeichel is him and Ferguson weighing in on the time they had a full-blown stand-up row in the team changing rooms. It followed a disappointing draw with major rivals Liverpool in 1994, for which the manager held the goalie responsible.

In the film, former Man Utd player Gary Neville says the confrontation, which almost cost Schmeichel his Man Utd career, was “the most ferocious argument I have seen in my life between player and manager… I thought they were gonna fight.”

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“Gary is right, it was ferocious, it was bad,” Schmeichel tells Deadline. “That dressing room was full of characters, strong-minded people who didn’t take direction lightly, and knew when [things were] good and knew when it was bad, they didn’t need to be told, and we had a manager who was very much on board with that. At times, he needed to let off steam and would have an outburst.”

He continues: “Sometimes people step over a line. I did that day. It was bad and it had a consequence, that I was sacked, and then I wasn’t. I apologized to the team [for my outburst]. I didn’t know that the manager was listening at the door. He didn’t think that I was going to do that, and he told my agent that he changed his mind there [about the sacking].”

Fast forward a few decades and Ferguson is fulsome in his praise for his Danish keeper: “He was a great player for me, a great character, and a person I really admired,” he says in Schmeichel. “When you look at the 100-year history of Man United, Peter is right at the top of that.”

The two-part doc is an original for Comcast and Paramount Global’s European streamer SkyShowtime.

Schmeichel also digs into his exit from Man Utd, when he headed for sunnier climes and joined Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon in 1999. In the doc he says departing the club he had always dreamed of playing for was “a massive mistake.” Speaking to Deadline, he offers a more nuanced take.

“For someone who loves Man United like I do, it’s crazy when you’re there to leave on your own accord,” he says. “I was just mentally fatigued, and I was completely drained.”

Schmeichel adds: “It’s really difficult to talk about ‘regrets’, because I went to Portugal, and I had a fantastic time there, not so much on football side, but on a human basis. I met people there who are my friends today. So yes, I left Man United, but I gained something else.”

In an era of biographical docs in which the subject sometimes dictates the narrative, Schmeichel actively yielded control to the filmmakers. But that only happened once he’d been persuaded the film was a good idea, having already recently recounted his story in 2021 book ‘One: My Autobiography’.

“I wasn’t necessarily too keen on the idea because I’ve already done the book,” Schmeichel says. He was duly convinced, however, by Director Owen Davis and Producer Simon Lazenby from Sylver Entertainment. They made the doc in association with Dogwoof, which is handling sales outside of SkyShowtime territories. “I went along with it on the premise that it was their project. I would not have any input.”

Peter Schmeichel with son Kasper, Christmas 1987

Now in his sixties, the doc finds Schmeichel in reflective mood. He opens up on a turbulent relationship with his alcoholic father, a Polish-born musician and sometime spy, and how he felt he needed to create a win-at-all-costs persona to achieve his goals.

That persona worked for him professionally: over a trophy-laden 22-year career, he won the European Championship in 1992, numerous league titles and cups, and will be remembered as a lynchpin of one of the best Man Utd teams ever.

At a personal level, however, that drive didn’t always make him an easy person to live with. His daughter, Cecilie, recounts a hair-raising high-speed journey home with a furious dad at the wheel after Man Utd had lost. His son, Kasper, meanwhile, empathizes, understandably given he followed in his father’s footsteps to become a top-flight professional goalkeeper.

As the two-part doc draws to a close, we see Schmeichel joining a band and spending time wild swimming. The former footballer talks about being on “a personal journey” and “evolving as a human being,” and takes time to highlight some of the family contributions in the doc. “My daughter, my wife and my sister, they’re brilliant in the film,” he says. “I really love their input, and it gives good color to my understanding of myself.”

Both eps of Schmeichel bow on SkyShowtime on February 9.

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