DOMINIC KING: Sympathy from Alex Ferguson is the last thing Liverpool FC need

IT'S easy to be magnanimous from a position of total power and speak compassionately about those who you know are never likely to cause you any trouble.With that in mind, then, Alex Ferguson's programme notes ahead of last Sunday's showdown between Manchester United and Liverpool made for interesting - and enlightening - reading.Having bared his teeth in a press conference 48 hours earlier, accusing the FA of being 'dysfunctional' and claiming Liverpool get away with controversial disciplinary incidents, United's manager showed his more considered side.For the record, Ferguson's programme notes are invariably the best in the Premier League; they are ghosted by David Meek, a vastly-experienced journalist who was the former Manchester United correspondent of the Manchester Evening News.They are free of glib statements like 'we will take every game as it comes' that are commonplace elsewhere and are genuinely entertaining and informative.Now Ferguson is never, ever going to enjoy any kind of popularity on the Red half of Merseyside but his achievements as a manager command the utmost respect and, clearly, the feelings are mutual.'Starting with Bill Shankly and carried on through Bob Paisley and a few more from the famed Anfield Boot Room, they had a grip on the English game (when he arrived from Aberdeen) and also flew the flag with great success in Europe,' said Ferguson.'I have never lost my respect for the Anfield club, all that they achieved and what I am sure they will achieve in the future. Liverpool are a big club and in football success usually comes in cycles.'Looking back, I suppose I put it rather bluntly, and perhaps crudely, when I said that my aim was to knock them off their perch!'And there was the giveaway; clearly Ferguson was in convivial mood when reflecting on that infamous quote but that should be a source of enormous frustration for every Liverpool fan in the country.

Source: Liverpool_Echo