‘Just f**k off’: Wayne Bridge reveals all on bust-up that ended City career

Roberto Mancini will always be a Manchester City legend after leading the club to their first-ever Premier League title – although he won’t be remembered fondly by everyone.

For one former player has revealed how his City career was left in tatters following a stunning bust-up while the two were at the club – which ending when Mancini told him to ‘f**k off’.

Wayne Bridge was signed by Mark Hughes from Chelsea in 2009 and even featured from time to time after Mancini replaced him.

But things quickly turned sour for the former left-back, who had to spend half of the title-winning campaign watching from afar after Mancini shipped him out on loan to Sunderland.

Speaking to the Liquid Football Podcast, which is produced by JOE in partnership with Paddy Power, Bridge recalled their rocky relationship when asked about players being frozen out by their managers.

“There are managers like Mancini where I was training with the kids and the was no way back for me,” he said. “He was done with me.

“Basically, I had a few injuries and then I came back from a broken toe. He was shouting and screaming at me because after a training session I said my thigh feels tight and I was supposed to play [in the next game].

“He was shouting and screaming, saying I’m this, I’m that. So I told him that I’d play but I ended up ripping it in two places and he washed his hands with me.

“The following season, I was supposed to come back for pre-season training but when I got back they told me he didn’t want me around, to take another holiday and then come back and train with the kids once the first-team had left.

“From then on, I was just stuck with the kids. It came to Christmas time and he called me up and said ‘you’re training with us now’.

“All he was doing was making me come in because he didn’t want me to have any time off, treating me like a kid.

“We ended up having an argument and he said, ‘do you know what, just f**k off then’. I went home for Christmas in the end but I knew there was no way back for me after that.”

Bridge added: “He ended up trying to fine me two weeks wages and I was like, ‘no, you’re the one who told me to f**k off’. Every player heard it.”