BRIAN Kidd today refused to lower himself into a slanging match with his old boss, following Sir Alex Ferguson's stinging attack on the Blackburn Rovers manager in the Sun newspaper.

Fergie accused Kidd of being insecure and questioned his management credentials.

In a bitter attack, the Old Trafford boss says that Kidd would not be capable of coping with the Manchester United manager's job and even questions whether he is capable of managing Blackburn Rovers.

But Kidd showed himself to be above such a personal attack after he read the extract from Ferguson's book 'Managing My Life' (published by Hodder and Stoughton).

The Rovers boss said: "After working closely with a person more than 10 years, you learn a lot about them, both personally and professionally.

"I have chosen to respect that relationship with Alex Ferguson and the one I continue to have with Manchester United.

"He obviously hasn't.

"Besides, I have more pressing things on my mind with Blackburn Rovers." Signs of Ferguson's feelings towards his former long-time assistant first emerged after United's draw at Ewood condemned Rovers to relegation last season.

Incredibly, Ferguson claimed he did not know Rovers needed to win to have a chance of survival - a comment which generally received deserved derision and can hardly have cemented the relationship of the two men.

But Kidd played a straight bat today, when asked if he had expected some stick in the book.

He added: "I never even thought about it. I believe Walt Disney is trying to buy the film rights of the book as a sequel to Fantasia!

"I have been brought up the right way from the streets of Collyhurst, thanks to my parents, and I was taught not to start bellyaching.

"You take your knocks and get on with it. It doesn't hurt me because I am at ease with myself. You can kid everybody else but you can't kid yourself."

The full Sun extract reads:

'Deep down inside, I would have had serious reservations about Brian Kidd ever becoming manager of Manchester United.

I suspect the constant demand for hard, often unpopular decisions would put an intolerable strain on his temperament.

Brian was a complex person, often quite insecure, particularly about his health. He also worried about how good he was at coaching and time and again I would have to encourage him.

When I first tried to sign Dwight Yorke last summer, the chairman told me: "One or two of the directors and Brian Kidd are not sure he's the right man."

"Brian Kidd?" I snapped "Who's the bloody manager."

"Brian has never said that to me, so why is he telling you?"

I wondered if he had expressed enthusiasm for any other forward and Martin told me: "He fancies John Hartson of West Ham."

"Hartson - are you serious?" I shouted. "Do you think of Hartson as a Manchester United player?"

Martin admitted the mention of the name had surprised him.

He said that my assistant had "been doing a bit of moaning" and apparently felt the team hadn't trained hard enough.

That was a peculiar complaint since Brian had a major share of responsibility for the team's training.

I had to analyse Brian's behaviour and work out what was going on in his mind.

A few years before, any hint that my assistant was grumbled to others would have brought a much stronger response from me.

But it was imperative to hear Brian's side of the story. When I put it to him, he chuntered on for ages in a manner which had become familiar to me before asking: "Why should I work for Manchester United and get a third of what Everton are prepared to pay me as manager?"

I decided to give Brian the benefit of the doubt and, at our next board meeting, I asked Martin Edwards if he thought my assistant was undermining me.

"I think Brian is insecure and likes to moan," he said.

"But he will have to stop going round the offices and dropping his little complaints."

Martin left it to me to decide whether Brian stayed or went.

Yet the last thing I wanted was to start looking for a new No 2 and I left it to the board to iron out an improved contract for him.

So, three months later, I was stunned to hear from the chairman that Brian's agent had been on requesting permission for him to talk to Blackburn.

Martin felt that every time a job came up they would have to give Brian a new contract and that was how it looked to me as well. Naturally, we were all sorry to see him go because he was an integral part of the success we have enjoyed in recent years.

Clearly he took a risk when he abandoned the comfortable niche he had at United to expose himself to the pressures of managing Blackburn.

My main reservation concerns his expectations of his new job and Jack Walker's expectations of him.

Jack is not a man known for his patience.

He may not take kindly to discovering that all his money cannot buy a repeat of Blackburn's Premiership title triumph of 1995." ' '" '

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