FORMER Manchester City star Micah Richards has admitted he gave Manuel Pellegrini a “rollicking” after being substituted early during a match.
Richards was analysing Fulham’s 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on a midweek edition of Match of the Day alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer when he confessed about the confrontation.
The trio were discussing Marco Silva’s triple substitution which saw Alex Iwobi, Sasa Lukic and Harry Wilson hauled off in the 33rd minute.
It prompted Lineker to ask: “Have any of you ever been subbed in the first half?”
With a wry smile, Richards replied: “Not in the Premier League but in the FA Cup. I was coming off at half-time. I was coming back from injury.”
Shearer chimed in to ask: “Were you bad?”
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And the ex-Man City star sheepishly responded: “Yeah I was bad. My confidence was low. I couldn’t get my game together.
“And then we come into the changing rooms after and I gave Pellegrini a rollicking. A proper rollicking!
“But after that he stopped putting me in squads. And then I wasn’t in the next squad and I wasn’t in the squad after that and I thought what’s going on here?
“You can air your frustration in the dressing room. And he said basically: ‘You’re not back in the squad until you apologise’.
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“So I went back into his room grovelling, tail between my legs.”
Man City went on to win 4-2 after Richards was substituted.
The former full-back then quietly admitted: “It was the right decision.”
Richards spent 10 years with City after signing his first professional contract in 2005.
He made 246 appearances for the club and won two Premier League titles and the FA Cup.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
