Rock affair escalates to the High Court

Soccer Manchester United power struggleAlex Ferguson will go on the offensive today by providing John Magnier with the precise details of his case for joint ownership of Rock Of Gibraltar's breeding rights.

A dossier outlining Ferguson's legal argument will be exchanged between the two sets of lawyers after Magnier's representatives went to the High Court in Dublin yesterday to find out why the United manager and his solicitors had missed three deadlines to supply them with the particulars of their case.

Despite Ferguson's initial willingness to initiate peace talks, Magnier's lawyers issued a "motion to comply", which effectively asks the High Court judge to enforce the release of the relevant documentation.

Ferguson's camp will contend there was nothing sinister about the delay, and by supplying the paperwork to Magnier's team today they will make it clear they are willing to see the matter through.

Although it has been reported that the case may take 18 months to come to court, Ferguson has been led to believe it could take half that time.

The latest developments in the bitter stand-off have increased the depth of hostility between Ferguson and Magnier and will dismay United's plc chairman, Roy Gardner, and the chief executive, David Gill.

The Old Trafford hierarchy has been discreetly pressing Ferguson to seek a swift conclusion to a dispute that, because of the 25.49 per cent stake held by Magnier and JP McManus through their company Cubic Expression, is threatening damaging repercussions for England's biggest club.

Any lingering hopes of "reaching a resolution quickly", as Gill had put it last Friday, have diminished because of the time it will take Magnier's representatives to wade through the paperwork that is due to arrive at their offices in Dublin today.

Before any settlement can be negotiated, he and McManus will want to know the precise details of Ferguson's case and take expert advice on their chances of overcoming the 62-year-old United manager and his barrister, Colm Allen.

Ideally, Ferguson would still like to reach a settlement rather than subject himself to more of the intense pressure he has been under since first submitting his claim in December.

However, the manager and his family have apparently been so badly affected by what he regards as an orchestrated campaign of harassment being waged against him that he and his lawyers believe Magnier might be unwilling, as yet, to enter into negotiations.

There has still been no approach from either side about preparing a settlement since last summer, when Ferguson indicated he would accept 15-20 per cent of Rock Of Gibraltar's stud fees, rather than the 50 per cent to which he believes he is entitled.

Earnings from the stallion could eventually exceed €250 million, but Magnier proposed one "nomination" - worth more than €60,000 - a year, which Ferguson considered unacceptable.

Ferguson outlined the position of the case during a breakfast meeting with Gill yesterday. Gill, in turn, informed him that he and Gardner had drafted a response to Cubic's recent letter to the club in which 99 questions had been posed about transfer dealings, payments to agents and other business practices at Old Trafford. But United's directors fully expect Magnier and McManus to continue making life difficult for them.

At the same time as Ferguson and Gill were deliberating, Magnier's legal team was heading to court in an aggressive response to the three-week delay in receiving the particulars of Ferguson's case.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's hopes of avoiding FA charges arising out of the melee at Highbury in their victory against Manchester City were given a boost yesterday when referee Alan Wiley confirmed he booked Edu following the incident in which Ashley Cole and Nicolas Anelka attempted to wrestle the ball from each other.

That means the FA will not be able to ask for an independent video panel to consider the referee's decision.

The FA must await Wiley's full official report before any final decision is taken.