Fergie: accusations incomprehensible

ALEX FERGUSON has condemned accusations that he has abused his position as manager of Manchester United as "incomprehensible".

Just two days after signing a one-year rolling contract extension that will keep him at Old Trafford beyond 2005, the furious United boss hit back at major shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus in the dispute that is threatening to rip the club apart.

For the last month, Ferguson has stood back as his integrity was questioned and his reputation dragged through the mud by a succession of allegations questioning the role of agents and associates of his son Jason in recent United transfers.

Now the fiery Scot has launched a blistering counter-offensive.

The true extent of the demands being placed on the Old Trafford board by Magnier and McManus came to light yesterday with publication of a covering letter to United chairman Sir Roy Gardner and all 99 questions the Irish duo want answers to as they try to establish why the club has paid vast sums to agents in 15 recent transfers.

While there are no specific allegations concerning Ferguson or his son, Magnier and McManus have requested the introduction of a code of practice that prohibits "payments for player transfers to agents or agencies whose members or directors have a close personal connection with the company or any officer or employee of the company".

For the United boss, who believed his own personal legal dispute with Magnier over record-breaking stallion Rock of Gibraltar could be kept separate from club business, it was clearly a step too far.

"This is distressing," said an emotional Ferguson.

"It is incomprehensible that I would abuse my position at this club. I have been here 17 and a half years and nobody has ever raised a doubt.

"All of a sudden, because of a private matter about a racehorse it is all coming out. My son has had a terrible time. People have been stealing his mail, going through his bin bags and hiding in bushes. In the end he has had to call the police in." With no sign that Ferguson is willing to back down on his claims over Rock of Gibraltar, the situation looks like getting worse before it improves, but the manager's conscience is clear.

"I have nothing to do with agents," he told MUTV. "I never speak to them on transfer deals, it is not my domain."

While both Gardner, chief executive David Gill and all the club's influential supporter groups have voiced their backing for Ferguson, Magnier, whose house in Cork was daubed with obscene slogans earlier in the week, and McManus seem hell-bent on exposing frailties in United's financial structures. Sources in Ireland claim the pair, who between them own over 25% of the club, have not even received an acknowledgement of their letter, let alone a reply.

The "thorough internal review" announced by Gardner on Monday has done little to ease the frustrations of the pair.

Suggestions that Magnier and McManus have already unearthed for themselves the answers they have demanded of the United board have been categorically dismissed by sources in Ireland yesterday.

However, the nightmare possibility of an emergency general meeting and a subsequent vote of no confidence in the United board and their manager remains a distinct possibility.

The attempt to clarify fees paid to agents would have been lauded as admirable had it been launched by the Premier League or Football Association but in this instance, senior figures at United believe it merely to be a vindictive act aimed at placing more pressure on Ferguson to drop his case.