Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez at loggerheads over spending

Rafael Benítez has hit back at Sir Alex Ferguson and told him to “check his figures” after the Manchester United manager dismissed his Liverpool counterpart’s claims that the Merseyside club have spent less money than the Barclays Premier League champions over the past five years.
Ferguson claimed yesterday that Liverpool were “well ahead of us in spending in the last five years”, but the statistics appear to support Benítez. United’s gross spending since June 2004, when the Spaniard arrived at Anfield, totals £221.95 million compared with £212.6 million by Liverpool. Ferguson’s net spending over that period is £147.90 million compared with Benítez’s £111.39 million.
The row marks the latest chapter in the escalating tension between the pair, whose rivalry is fast becoming the fiercest in English football. Ferguson branded Benítez “disturbed” after the Liverpool manager accused him in January of wielding an unfair influence over referees during a calculated attack, and on the eve of United’s 4-1 defeat by Liverpool at Old Trafford a week ago Ferguson resumed the spat by claiming that he would need to “read up on Freud” to make sense of the Spaniard’s remarks.
“Check the figures,” Benítez said. “It doesn’t matter what Ferguson says about money. They [Liverpool] have more money and can spend more than us, so we have to manage and do our best in every single deal.” Ferguson had sparked the debate when he claimed that he had instructed United’s staff to survey the statistics after growing tired of listening to Benítez reiterating that Liverpool had spent less. “I was amazed when I saw that [],” Ferguson said. “I talked to some of the people in the sports technology department and said, ‘Check that out.’
“I am sure I have not spent that much money. I worked out in the last five years that Liverpool have spent £24 million more than Manchester United. The most amazing fact about them is that they have used 60 players in the reserves this season.”
Ferguson is under no illusions, though, that Benítez will spend big in the summer after signing a new five-year contract. As revealed by The Times yesterday, he is expected to have at least £30 million plus whatever he can recoup in sales to spend.
“You will see Rafa produce an incredible spending spree — that is an absolute certainty now he has signed a new contract,” the United manager said. “They talk of a recession, but there will not be one at Liverpool.”
Ferguson is more concerned about returning to winning ways away to Fulham in the league this afternoon, however, and believes that the embarrassing defeat by Liverpool last weekend could serve as a wake-up call to his players, whom he fears were becoming distracted by all the talk of an unprecedented quintuple.
Jonny Evans, the defender, will replace Nemanja Vidic, who is suspended after being sent off against Liverpool, and Gary Neville, the captain, is available after injury.
“The club has to recover from a defeat and travelling away to Fulham represents a good challenge,” Ferguson said. “It is hard to defend a 4-1 defeat. We suffered from self-inflicted wounds and mistakes you don’t expect. For weeks we had to listen to eulogies and compliments about how good this side of ours was. I kept deflecting that and saying how tough this league was and this \ was just a reminder to us. In a way, it will help us because we realise there is a lot of work to be done. You have to answer tough questions every time Manchester United lose a game. There were no lives lost last week.”
Facts in figures
£221.95m: Manchester United’s gross spend on transfers (£147.90 million net) since June 2004, when Rafael Benítez was appointed Liverpool manager, up to and including January 2009 transfer window
£212.60m: Liverpool’s spending (£111.39 million net) during same period
Source:the times