Soccer: Vidic tells of harsh words at Man U

Nemanja Vidic, left, is leaving after eight years with Manchester United, four of them as captain. Photo / AP

Pain of failure wipes away the glory as defender leaves club struggling to recover from its management crisis.

As Nemanja Vidic reflected on his final season at Manchester United, the glory he was accustomed to was washed away by pain, frustration and memories of teammates turning on each other as the club lurched into crisis under David Moyes.

"We argued amongst ourselves," Vidic said. "This year more than any other, because when you have bad times, people show they care. We are still friends, but we were arguing to get better. We wanted to improve.

"We could say those things to each other because we have been together for so long, but it hurt. If you didn't argue, it would not be right. We had some hard moments in the dressing room between ourselves."

With Vidic leaving for a two-year contract at Inter Milan, Rio Ferdinand following him out of the exit door and Patrice Evra also about to end his association with the club, an era is coming to a close at United.

For it to end as it has done, with United about to appoint a second new manager in 12 months after finishing seventh in the Premier League, obviously causes anguish for Vidic, the club captain for the past four years.

Moyes paid the price for failure by losing his job as manager last month, and Vidic believes the Scot suffered for trying to impose his personality on a club that already had a fierce identity.

"You get someone who sees football in a different way and he will want to put his stamp on the team and the way he wants to play," Vidic said.

"Ryan [Giggs] shares the same ideas as Sir Alex Ferguson and ... the players are more used to it and felt more comfortable with it.

"I am not saying the David Moyes way was bad, but these players feel more comfortable playing a certain way of football. You have to respect where you are and what you represent, though, and there is no point speaking about someone who was here, who everyone knows lost his job because he did not succeed in doing what he wanted to achieve.

"The best answer I can say is that he [Moyes] tried really hard, he was professional. He was really committed to the job and desperately wanted to do well. But unfortunately, it didn't happen and we are all sad."

Having declared Vidic to be the "best defender I have ever worked with" last September and suggesting a new contract for the centre half would be a formality, Moyes was unable or unwilling to sanction the new deal which would have secured his services beyond the end of the season.

The two men were not close, but Vidic says any 'issues' between them were aired "face-to-face".

During Moyes's 51 games in charge, United stumbled from one crisis to another as humiliating defeats - many endured by Vidic - became an almost fortnightly occurrence.

"It has been hard," Vidic said. "We thought it might be difficult to win the title this year, but we still thought we would challenge for the trophies.

"We ended up losing the chance to win the title very early, though, and then we lost the chance to win the cups as well.

"We are used to fighting until the last day of the season for the title. That has happened for the last seven years and this year was the first year we have not done that, so it is hard to cope."

Tactics and team selection caused confusion, with players used out of position or not selected at all.

"Sometimes you have players playing on the wing and if it is a midfield player, he might not be able to perform," Vidic said.

"You need time to adapt to a certain style and we didn't adapt quickly enough. After the results started to be a bit bad, everyone started to get more nervous, then we lost confidence. That is why it was going wrong, and it rolls up and you can't stop it."

As Moyes began to resemble a man fighting fires all around him, stories emerged of senior players losing faith in his methods and wanting to leave.

And there was another story, seemingly nonsensical, that Moyes took Vidic and Ferdinand aside in training to tell them how to defend like Phil Jagielka, the Everton centre half he turned into an England player.

When asked whether that episode took place, Vidic was diplomatically non-committal. "It doesn't matter. What happens between the players and us stays between the players and us."

Vidic's departure will be a blow to United and incoming manager Louis van Gaal. With Ferdinand's exit, it breaks up possibly the best defensive pairing of the Premier League era.

"I have played with some great players, but Rio deserves a special mention because he has been my partner and the best I have ever played with," Vidic said.

The question among the supporters, however, is whether Vidic would have remained at the club had he known the Moyes era would be cut short before the summer.

"It is not an easy question to answer," Vidic says.

So that is a 'yes,' then?

"It is not a yes," Vidic replied. "Sometimes you don't make a decision instantly, especially one like this. You have to think about it. Is it the right thing to do? Sometimes there are many reasons."

But he insists he is leaving a club with a future as bright as its past.

"I think now it is a happier place because change is coming again and everything is going to be new. The club has to believe that. You feel that atmosphere ... It is like resetting a computer and starting again."