Owen Hargreaves has revealed the man-management tactic Sir Alex Ferguson deployed at the start of Manchester United's 2007-08 Premier League and Champions League double season.

United regained the title for the first time in four years in 2007 and Ferguson swiftly reinforced the squad with the additions of Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani, while Carlos Tevez joined on a two-year loan. United were eliminated from the Champions League at the semi-final stage by AC Milan in May 2007 during a hectic run-in where their threadbare squad was exposed as they competed on three fronts.

Ferguson had previously adopted a mind game on the eve of the 1993-94 season by displaying three envelopes to his squad and claiming he had written down the names of players he feared would let him down inside each one. United had just secured their first championship in 26 years and Ferguson's motivational trick paid off as his squad clinched the club's first league and FA Cup double in 1994.

Hargreaves, who moved to United from Bayern Munich for £18million, recalled the team meeting where Ferguson reused the strategy which at the start of a campaign where United retained the championship and won their third European Cup.

"I remember when I first signed for United (in 2007), we were in Asia somewhere, pre-season," Hargreaves told BT Sport. "He [Ferguson] said we have all these players from all different countries, we should win the league and the Champions League. And he had an envelope and had some names in it.

"He said, 'There are some names in here of people I think are going to let us down. Make sure your name is not in here.' And everybody ran out of the room and basically tackled through the door not wanting to let the gaffer down.

"That’s what he did well, he made you want to not fail him because you didn’t want to disappoint him."

Brendan Rodgers was memorably filmed in the Being:Liverpool documentary attempting the same plan on the eve of Liverpool's 2012-13 Premier League season. The following day, they lost 3-0 at West Brom.

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