Ashley Williams has revealed Robin van Persie blanked his apology after he infamously kicked the ball at the Manchester United hero’s head.
Back in 2012, Williams found himself the major talking point after a clash between Swansea and the Red Devils, when he launched his clearance into the back of Van Persie’s head.
The Dutchman was lying on the ground after being tripped outside the box, before Swans captain Williams blasted the ball at him from just yards away as referee Michael Oliver blew the whistle for a foul.
A furious row broke out with both players being booked, but that wasn’t the end of the matter.
Fergie’s fury
While the match ended 1-1, all the talk afterwards revolved around Williams, not least after a fiery post-match interview from Sri Alex Ferguson.
The legendary United boss famously said that the Welsh defender ‘could have killed’ Van Persie with his actions.
Ferguson fumed: “He could have been killed [Van Persie], I think the FA has got to look into it.
“I think irrespective of him having a yellow card, he should be banned for a long time because that was the most dangerous thing I’ve seen in a football field for many, many years.”
The Scot insisted Williams had acted deliberately, and continued to call on the FA to ban him retrospectively.
He added: “Absolutely deliberate. Absolutely no question. The whistle’s gone, the game has stopped, and he’s done that right in front of the referee. Two feet from the player.
“He could have really killed the lad. It was a disgraceful act by the player. He should be banned for a long, long time.”
Ultimately, Williams received no further punishment for the incident, while Ferguson’s comments have lived long in the memory of fans.
6
6
‘I did try and hit him’
14 years on from the infamous incident, Williams was given a chance to share his side of the story on Friday’s talkSPORT Drive.
And while the former Wales international revealed he had intentionally kicked the ball at Van Persie’s head, he insisted there had been a huge overreaction to this, especially from Ferugson.
On the incident, he told co-host Ade Oladipo: “[Ferguson] He said that’s the most dangerous thing he’s seen on a football pitch.
“Did he see the Eric Cantona thing [kung-fu kick]? He didn’t see that?”
Explaining his thought process at the time, Williams admitted he instantly regretted his split-second decision.
Asked if he felt bad at the time, he replied: “Yeah, I’ve spoken about this before. What happened was the ball came, and it was a little bit like when you’re a kid and you go, ‘Oh, should I?’
6
6
“And then I just hit it. And then once it hit him, instantly I was like, ‘hmm [that was a mistake]’.”
The 41-year-old added: “It wasn’t a full punt. And I did try and hit him – there’s no way around it.
“But I instantly regretted it and did apologise to him after that as well, so it was wrong.
“But I think it was just completely blown out of proportion. There were people on the news like the Monday, like neurologists and doctors saying how dangerous it was.
“I was like: ‘Hang on a second. I get paid to put my head in front of shots every single day, so it can’t be that bad’.
“But it was one time, it was out of order. It was wrong. And it was one of the things that I definitely did [wrong].”
6
Unforgivable?
Despite confessing to meaning to kick the ball at Van Persie, Williams then revealed he tried to make amends during their next encounter.
He shared that he had apologised to the 144-goal Premier League icon, but revealed that the Dutchman was having none of it.
Williams explained: “The next time I played against him, I apologised and he shrugged it off. He didn’t really accept it.”
It’s fair to say no lasting damage was done to Van Persie though, who went on to fire Man United to Premier League glory that year with 26 league goals, which also clinched him the Golden Boot that year.
