Sir Alex Ferguson was last night accused by Tottenham Hotspur of "sheer arrogance" and "hypocrisy" as the White Hart Lane club lodged a complaint with the Premier League over the conduct of Manchester United and Liverpool in their pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.
Spurs' chairman, Daniel Levy, launched a fierce attack on Ferguson for going public on his desire to sign Berbatov in a summer when the Manchester United manager had complained to Fifa about Real Madrid's public pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Levy conceded that Tottenham expect to start the coming season without both Berbatov and Keane, saying the strikers had made it clear they wanted to leave for Old Trafford and Anfield respectively. He claimed they had had their "heads turned" and become "a negative influence" in the dressing room as a result. He described the conduct of both Liverpool and United as "disgraceful", claiming they had "systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside the Premier League rules of conduct".
Ferguson confirmed on Thursday that United had made a bid for Berbatov and said he expected a deal to go through. Spurs have also been angered by the comments of the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, who said publicly this month that Keane was among his targets.
"[The] public comments by Manchester United's manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players," Levy said. "It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid."
Levy said United's pursuit of Berbatov had begun a year ago. "This comes after a series of events, dating back to last summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of Premier League rules," he said. "We have today made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Manchester United.
"Benítez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.
"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request.
"Our subsequent position has been severely compromised by both clubs making their intentions widely known and indeed making contact with the players and their agents. When a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent they become a negative influence in a dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. Both Dimitar and Robbie [have] made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester United and Liverpool."
Liverpool were unavailable for comment last night. A United spokesman said: "We are aware of the situation and we will cooperate with the Premier League as necessary." The league will convene a commission if it believes there is a case to be heard, and sanctions in the event of a guilty verdict would likely range from an admonishment to a hefty fine and suspended points deduction.
Spurs have accepted a £23m joint offer from Sunderland for Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda, Younes Kaboul and Teemu Tainio, although Kaboul's agent has indicated that his client would reject the move to Wearside.
