Sir Alex rewrites history of that relegation clash SIR Alex Ferguson - then still plain Alex - stunned the watching football nation at Ewood last May when he claimed he did not know that Manchester United's 0-0 draw had just condemned Blackburn Rovers and his former assistant Brian Kidd to relegation.

In his newly-launched book 'Managing My Life', however, he tells, surprise, surprise, a rather different story. Rivals Arsenal lost 1-0 at Leeds on Tuesday, May 11, and Fergie recalls in his book: "We arrived at Blackburn on the following night aware that a victory at Ewood Park would put us three points in front of the reigning champions and send us into our final fixture against Tottenham on our own ground requiring nothing more than a draw to be assured of the title.

"It was strange to have my first manager-to-manager confrontation with Brian Kidd in a match that had such contrasting implications for the two of us.

"If Blackburn failed to win they would be relegated.

"I was astonished to find them playing with a lone striker, Ashley Ward, and deploying two wide players and three central midfielders in a formation that seemed designed to contain us rather than beat us.

"We had 90 per cent of the game but could not score and I was angry that we did not succeed in breaking them down.

"But if the goalless draw with Blackburn was awkward for us, it was fatal for them and I did not relish going into Brian's office afterwards.

"Fortunately he was in tremendous spirits happily trading banter with my staff and recalling the good times he had among us in the past.

"I could not help wondering if he regretted separating himself from all that."

The United boss also reveals that he felt it was worth a try at psychological warfare on Kenny Dalglish when Rovers were about to take the title away from Old Trafford.

"I discerned quite a change in Kenny Dalglish from earlier in the season," he says. "Kenny was singing all the right songs but he didn't seem to be enjoying them, so I felt a few comments wouldn't go amiss.

"My line was that Blackburn were so much in command that now they could only throw the championship away.

"I drew an analogy with Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's steeplechaser that collapsed on the Grand National run-in with the great race at its mercy.

"It may have been a pretty corny psychological tactic but it was worth a try."

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