IT HAS been another illuminating week in the two-faced logic of Manchester United and Surly Alex Ferguson.

(Yes, I am obsessed. And, no, I will not rest until the entire world shares my opinion.)

To counteract the season's fixture pile-up, Ferguson did two things.

Firstly, he destroyed the world's greatest competition, the FA Cup, by withdrawing his club so that they could pursue a fortune in Brazil.

Secondly, Ferguson organised another fixture at one of the busiest points of the season so that he could add to his personal fortune.

The timing was, of course, nothing to do with an available Monday night slot on Sky Sports.

Then, following his lucrative testimonial earlier in the week, Ferguson fielded a team in the Worthington Cup at Aston Villa last night that could barely do justice to his reserves.

Come on, it even included Mark Bosnich. That shows how badly Ferguson wanted to be knocked out.

But, refresh my memory here, wasn't the Worthington Cup semi-final date one of the games that was proving so difficult to accommodate in the Manchester United business plan - sorry, fixture schedule.

So, if this was the team he was to field in the early stages, wasn't it clear in Ferguson's mind all along that his side would not feature in that competition come February? Let's test Ferguson's logic.

"I picked a team of young players that I thought could have won the game," he said after last night's game.

Aston Villa are one of the Premiership's strongest sides so, presumably, Ferguson would have backed that same side against all but five or six teams remaining in the fourth round draw of the FA Cup while his superstars compete in the World Club Championship.

He went on to say: "I can't be risking players in a game like this."

I wonder how those same players feel, knowing that they can be risked for a pocket-lining exercise such as Monday night's extravaganza.

And, here's the real gem from last night: "All I am interested in is Manchester United."

Sadly, there are still about 54,000 who attended on Monday who believe that to be the case.

Neil Bramwell is the sports editor

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.