Ricky Nixon tells Open Mike he nearly came to blows with Wayne Carey

TODD Viney had to physically jump in to stop former superstar Wayne Carey thumping Ricky Nixon, the disgraced player manager has revealed.

TODD Viney had to physically jump in to stop former superstar Wayne Carey thumping Ricky Nixon in his Flying Start office, the disgraced player manager has revealed.

Carey acrimoniously dumped Nixon as his manager in 2002 after the pair engaged in a public slanging match following his infamous split with North Melbourne.

“We’ve punched on,’’ Nixon told Open Mike Part 2, which airs on Fox Footy tonight.

Asked if they literally came to blows, Nixon said: “nearly.”

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“I can’t remember what it was over but Wayne said ‘get stuffed’ basically. And I said ‘no, you’ll do what I tell you to do’, thinking, ‘Oh god I hope he doesn’t stand up’.

“And he stood up and basically leant across and I think he was about to go whack and Todd grabbed him and said, ‘Sit down, Wayne’.’’

Ricky Nixon and Wayne Carey in 2002.

Nixon said Viney, the current Melbourne player manager who was working for him at the time, joked afterwards they were lucky Carey didn’t swipe or they’d both be dead.

Nixon said he and Carey fell out when the dual premiership forward crossed to Adelaide, but added: “the Wayne Carey of late has been fantastic to me.’’

Nixon, who said his downward spiral had cost him $4 million and he was now broke, also confirmed Flying Start would “rise from the ashes’’ with his son Mitch set to become a sports agent.

Asked if there was one moment in his life he would change, Nixon said it would be pushing the lift button in the hotel as he went to see the St Kilda schoolgirl.