Ferguson points finger at Irish duo

Soccer: Alex Ferguson has talked himself into another possible legal action with Manchester United's rebel shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus after appearing to accuse them of taking an increasingly acrimonious dispute beyond the realms of the law.

Ferguson cited a campaign of sustained harassment that has led to his son Jason, the football agent implicated in suspicious transfers at Old Trafford, making an official complaint.

"He's had to call in the police - they have been stealing his mail, his bin-bags, hiding in bushes outside his house," he said. "It's been a distressing week for the Ferguson family but Jason, in particular, has taken a real battering. The police have a registration number and they're investigating now."

At the same time gardaí in Cork are investigating a complaint from Magnier's brother, David, that vandals have spray-painted "Hands off Fergie" on the wall of his property.

Yet Magnier and his associates are understood to be appalled by Ferguson's allegations and the United manager might have opened himself to more legal proceedings if lawyers for the Irish billionaires consider his comments to be defamatory.

Though Magnier and McManus admit they have used the firm of investigators Kroll Associates to scrutinise Manchester United's finances they angrily reject Ferguson's implications and confidently expect the police investigation to prove as much.

"On January 20 we received a report about the theft of letters from a letterbox at an address in Goostrey the previous Wednesday," said a Cheshire police spokesman. "The owner of the house also told us about incidents over the previous few months such as waste-bins going missing and hearing prowlers."

It would not be unheard of for this to have been the underhand work of investigative reporters from tabloid newspapers but Ferguson clearly believes it is related to the bitter divisions within Old Trafford and that there are more sinister powers at work.

"It is all a result of what we are reading about in terms of the transfer stuff," he said. "It's very distressing when it starts affecting your family like this. This is the kind of thing we have had to put up with and it is not easy. You have to wonder why they're attacking my family."

This was the first time Ferguson has spoken out against Magnier and McManus but he may have succeeded only in further antagonising the club's majority shareholders. Inadvertently he has also made it clear the campaign being orchestrated by Magnier and McManus through their company Cubic Expression is having the desired effect. "Distressing" was the word he repeatedly used as he reflected on the repercussions for himself and his wife Cathy.

He admitted he "had no idea" his legal action against Magnier over the stud rights for Rock Of Gibraltar would spiral into such an acrimonious and potentially dangerous sequence of events. Yet, privately, he has made it clear there is no chance he will drop the litigation. He believes he is being bullied but insists he will pursue the multi-million-pound court case to the bitter end. He is adamant, too, the club's internal review into recent transfers will vindicate him and his son from any wrongdoing.

"It is inconceivable I would ever abuse my position - absolutely out of the question. I've been at this club for 17 years and I've never had anyone questioning my propriety. Then all of a sudden, because of a private issue regarding a racehorse, all these things are happening."