While the footballing minnows of Sunderland, Reading and Birmingham City on Friday swung behind the Premier League’s plans to play extra competitive games abroad, Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s manager, struck a splenetic note.

“They can’t keep their mouth shut down there,” the notoriously gruff manager said of the Premier League hierarchy, which he tends to hold in contempt. “I think if they are going to do these things, they should have been inquiring and having discussions with managers and players before they come out with all this stuff and make an issue of it.”