Ferguson: I've been set up

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has claimed he was “targeted” by people wanting to engulf him in a sex scandal as South African police today probed allegations that he indecently assaulted a 21-year-old woman.

Ferguson last night insisted claims that he assaulted Nadia Abrahams while being driven back to his hotel in Cape Town after an evening at a jazz club were “untrue and entirely without foundation”.

“Individuals in high-profile positions always run the risk of being targeted in this way,” the football boss said in a statement.

Officers are now compiling a dossier to present to the Director of Public Prosecutions who will decide if there is enough evidence to bring charges.

And last night South African police said Ferguson was free to fly back to Britain even though their investigation had not been concluded.

The Manchester United boss flew to South Africa on Wednesday with his wife Cathy for a series of official engagements on behalf of his club.

On Thursday evening he attended a function on behalf of Manchester United with Jim Ryan, a member of his coaching staff, and representatives of the South African Football Association.

“Following an enjoyable dinner the entire group went on to a nearby jazz club, which was owned by a member of the party.

“At the end of the evening, arrangements were made for lifts back to the hotel, at which time a young lady who had been talking to myself and members of our party suggested that she could drop me back at my hotel since it was on her way home.”

Ferguson said the claim it was his suggestion that he travel with the woman or had forced himself into the car was untrue and a member of the group, lawyer Alex Abercrombie, had made that clear in a police statement.

“In retrospect, clearly it would have been better if I had travelled back with members of the party who were already known to me, but I had no reason to expect that it would lead to her and her boyfriend making false claims to the police and then selling their story to British newspapers,” said Ferguson.

“There is, however, no story to tell beyond the fact that she gave me a lift back to my hotel, which was only 10 minutes away.”

He added it had been a “distressing” time for his family, who had been completely supportive.

“I believe that the British public, however, is fair-minded and will make their own judgement about a young woman and her boyfriend now trying to make huge sums by selling their story,” Ferguson added.

His lawyers appealed to the authorities to speed up his case, and were hopeful the matter could be resolved this weekend.

Ms Abrahams told the Mail on Sunday that during the drive to Ferguson’s hotel he “kept leaning across and grabbing my thigh”.

She described meeting the Old Trafford boss in the club and feeling uncomfortable when they were speaking.

“I felt uncomfortable, not what he was saying, but because he was giving me so much attention,” she said.

“I felt a bit boxed in by him. Also, I am a young woman and he is an old man, after all.”

Ms Abrahams also claimed Ferguson got into her car after phoning her and then pulling up in a Jeep next to her after she left the club and was taken to where she had parked.

“Alex got out of the Jeep and quickly got in the front of my car...I asked him, shouted at him, what he was doing and why the Jeep had dropped him and then sped off,” she added.

“He just asked for a lift to his hotel in Camps Bay about two minutes away.”

She said that during the trip she drove fast so she could get to his hotel sooner and hit the kerb, puncturing her tyres.

At the hotel, she claimed Ferguson had asked her to his room for coffee and asked if they could meet up again.

She said her boyfriend Brian Ebden, who works for an advertising company, phoned Ferguson to ask what had happened.

Ebden told the newspaper: “Ferguson just said it was rubbish and that I should speak to his lawyer, Alex. He sounded arrogant and accused Nadia of being drunk.”

He said after that conversation they called the police to report the incident.

But police said they had been unable to interview the woman who made the complaint and were still gathering witness statements.

Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said: “We are still trying to contact her (Ms Abrahams).

“We have an address and contact number but up until now we have been unsuccessful but have left messages for her to contact us.”

She added that officers were still trying to gather statements from possible witnesses to form a dossier to present to the DPP.

Following the submission of statements to the DPP, it will be decided whether there is enough evidence to press charges.

Taswell Papier, appointed to represent Ferguson this morning, said the Manchester United boss was “obviously perturbed at the result of these allegations” but was continuing his official duties in South Africa as normal.

Mr Papier said no travel restrictions had been placed on the 60-year-old, who is expected to leave South Africa in the next 24 hours.

Ferguson yesterday opened a football academy at Pretoria University, where a crowd of around 500 gathered to see him.