Sir Alex Ferguson and Mark Hughes traded insults last night as the touchpaper was lit for potentially the most explosive Manchester derby in decades.
Once allies as manager and player, Ferguson and Hughes find themselves at each other’s throats as Manchester United, the Barclays Premier League champions, prepare to face Manchester City, the pretenders to their crown, at Old Trafford tomorrow in the most eagerly awaited match of the season so far.
Having spent much of the summer launching verbal hand grenades at his local rivals, Ferguson continued his offensive yesterday, taunting City by claiming that they would never be as big as Manchester United in his lifetime and insisting that his team’s real derby was against Liverpool.
“Not in my lifetime,” Ferguson said, a look of derision on his face, when asked if he could envisage a time a couple of years from now when United would go into a derby match as underdogs
“The system they had operating and started by Bill Shankly was phenomenally consistent. That was my aim, to do well against them, to try to turn that around, so it is hard for me to go against history. The history is there with Liverpool and therefore the challenge is there.”“I don’t think the derby [could be as big as games against Liverpool]. To me, Liverpool will always be the derby game [for United] because of the history. When I came down here they were the kingpins of England, they had won four European championships. They had won quite a few league titles, too, in that period from Bob Paisley right through to Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish.
Not to be outdone, Hughes responded by claiming that United were far weaker than last season after adequately failing to replace Carlos Tévez, who left for City, and Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
And he added that he was finding it “amusing” that his club had got under Ferguson’s skin, a claim echoed by his captain, Kolo Touré, who suggested the United manager’s persistent barbs at City were evidence that “he is just very worried about what is happening here”.
“I’m sure Sir Alex is sick and tired of people sticking a microphone under his nose and asking him about Manchester City,” Hughes said. “That’s quite amusing from my point of view but there you go.
“United have lost two significant players from last season. Any team would be affected by that. You can’t afford to lose players of that standard and not replace them, and I don’t think they’ve replaced them.
“I’ve watched a number of their games and I don’t think they’re playing as well as they did last season. They played well [in the 3-1 win] at Spurs last weekend, that was their stand-out performance, but prior to that I think they’ve been below par.”
Not that Ferguson — who hopes Rio Ferdinand, the defender, will have recovered from a thigh injury in time to play — looked like a man running scared yesterday.
Indeed, the United manager argued that if anyone should feel under pressure, it is Hughes, having spent in excess of £200 million on players since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour at City 12 months ago. “They’ve been given a chance to be better than Manchester United but when you spend that kind of money there is an expectation, an expectation to match their ambition, but along with that expectation comes a reality, too,” Ferguson said.
“They are talking about trying to get into the top four, but that’s not the question — it’s about who is No 1.
“You can talk about top fours but to us it has to be No 1. That’s my aim, that’s my challenge, that’s what I have to do.
“At this club you have to be No 1 and that won’t change whether Liverpool or City are there or not.”
Ferguson also reiterated his unhappiness at City’s decision to erect a billboard bearing Tévez’s picture above the words “Welcome to Manchester” during the summer.
“The only thing that upset us was when they came out with that stupid poster,” he said. “That was arrogance, they should have done without that. That was naughty. It showed a cockiness that wasn’t required. Other than that, anything else they are doing does not particularly worry me.
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