Fergie has no truck with revenge talk

For the boy who had grown up amid the Govan shipyards, playing for Rangers in Glasgow was the best of times and the worst. The mighty Gers were the club Sir Alex Ferguson supported and dreamed of joining, only for the dream eventually to turn vinegar-sour. He has been back to Ibrox many times before, of course, notably in eight triumphant years as manager of Aberdeen, but Wednesday's return with Manchester United represents a new departure.

Ferguson is keen that the two "Battle of Britain" matches - the first between reigning English and Scottish champions since Rangers beat Leeds 11 years ago, and only the fourth such occasion in history - should not assume undue importance in the context of the group; his team's 2-1 defeat by Stuttgart after the Germans had lost by the same score at Ibrox underlines the point.

"It's an absolute nuisance," he said at United's training ground on Friday. "The hype and the whole England-Scotland thing. We can handle it. It's just that it might overshadow what could be a really good game. The secret is making sure we focus. The players don't look upon Rangers the way I would. One Scottish paper even said it was my chance for revenge. I don't think I've ever sought revenge for anything in my life. It's not an issue."

The newspaper's understandable assumption was that Ferguson felt bitter about being forced out of the club he came to support as a schoolboy after a brief flirtation with his father's team, Celtic. Worse, Ferguson feels he was undermined by religious bigotry, which stemmed from the directors' knowledge that his wife was a Catholic.

On his first day there in 1967 - the summer of love was slow to reach Ibrox - he was asked whether they had married in a church (which would apparently have been beyond the pale) or a register office. Despite scoring 23 goals in his first season, the aggressive centre-forward never convinced the manager, Davie White, that his face fitted; made a scapegoat for a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Celtic in 1969, he turned down Nottingham Forest and went to Falkirk instead, only to learn within days that White had been sacked and the new man, Willie Waddell, would have wanted to keep him.

The chapter of his autobiography detailing all this is entitled "Shattered dreams" and includes words such as "humiliations" and "poisonous hostility". Little wonder it later provided such pleasure when in charge of Aberdeen to finish above Rangers in the table for an astonishing seven years running.

On Friday, however, anxious not to stoke already fierce fires surrounding the forthcoming double-header, he preferred to remember only the happier days: "It wasn't the best time to be there, because Celtic were the dominant team, but Rangers were a great club to play for. The supporters were great to me because I always tried. When I went back as manager of Aberdeen, that was different." He admits turning down the opportunity to take over as manager at Ibrox twice, first out of loyalty to Aberdeen, then "because I felt I had to come to England".

Now it is Alex McLeish, one of his most loyal lieutenants at Pittodrie, who will be in the opposite dug-out. "He used to come down to games here all the time and we keep in touch. I spoke to him last Monday - about tickets. I think he's done a great job bearing in mind he's not had any money to spend. To win the Treble last year was fantastic.

"This year, he's even had to sell players and take others on loan, which is not an easy situation, as a lot of managers are finding. I think it was a difficult time for him to go there, but he has done exceptionally well. He was always receptive, a good listener, and he had good experience as well at Motherwell and Hibs, which is important before you go to a big club."

There speaks the former manager of East Stirlingshire and St Mirren. And for nine months of Scotland. He believes that United's exciting midfield prospect Darren Fletcher might prove to be only one of a young crop to revive his country: "From a scouting perspective we detect there's some young talent coming through in Scotland. Maybe there's a turnaround."

There is suddenly a flash of the old Govan socialist: "Why did it go wrong? It started with the Scottish school-teachers' withdrawal of work when they used to take teams in the 1980s, under the Thatcher government. There was a void then."

A Rangers side almost devoid of Scots is one consequence. United have enough Englishmen in their ranks to understand the special pressure of these games, but their manager wants them to see the bigger picture: "It's an opportunity to get points and take us to the next stage. We know we threw it away in Stuttgart in the five minutes after half-time, got a lesson in concentration. I've said we need 10 points and you'd like to do it earlier, but if it goes to the final match so be it.

"Our European performances overall have been very good. Every year we think we've got a chance of getting there. We did it in '99 and can do it again. One year we missed 15 chances in the semi-final against Dortmund - Eric Cantona missed a hat-trick. And last year we scored four goals in the quarter-final [against Real Madrid] and didn't go through." That, clearly, still hurts.

As the table below shows, Scottish clubs have had the upper hand in the most recent meetings with representatives of the oldest enemy, remaining unbeaten in eight matches since United edged out Dundee United at Tannadice with Arnold Muhren's late header 19 years ago. This time, unlike the previous 52 games, there will be no aggregate score to decide matters. But the aggregate of points, if not goals, over the two games in three weeks could have a decisive bearing on which of the respective champions are still standing come the knockout stage of the competition in February.

Anglo-Scottish Battles in Europe

1960-61 CWC semi-final: Rangers 2 Wolves 0; Wolves 1 Rangers 1 (agg: Eng 1 Scot 3).

1962-63 CWC 2nd round: Tottenham 5 Rangers 2; Rangers 2 Tottenham 3 (agg: E8 S4).

1962-63 ICFC 1st round: Everton 1 Dunfermline 0; Dunfermline 2 Everton 0 (agg: E1 S2).

1964-65 ICFC 2nd round: Kilmarnock 0 Everton 2; Everton 4 Kilmarnock 1 (agg: E6 S1).

1965-66 CWC semi-final: Celtic 1 Liverpool 0; Liverpool 2 Celtic 0 (agg: E2 S1).

1966-67 ICFC semi-final: Leeds 4 Kilmarnock 2; Kilmarnock 0 Leeds 0 (agg: E4 S2).

1967-68 ICFC 3rd round: Leeds 1 Hibernian 0; Hibernian 1 Leeds 1 (agg: E2 S1).

1967-68 ICFC quarter-final: Rangers 0 Leeds 0; Leeds 2 Rangers 0 (agg: E2 S0).

1967-68 ICFC semi-final: Dundee 1 Leeds 1; Leeds 1 Dundee 0 (agg: E2 S1).

1968-69 CWC quarter-final: Dunfermline 0 West Brom 0; West Brom 0 Dunfermline 1 (agg: E0 S1).

1968-69 ICFC 1st round: Chelsea 5 Morton 0; Morton 3 Chelsea 4 (agg: E9 S3).

1968-69 ICFC semi-final: Rangers 0 Newcastle 0; Newcastle 2 Rangers 0 (agg: E2 S0).

1969-70 EC semi-final: Leeds 0 Celtic 1; Celtic 2 Leeds 1 (agg: E1 S3).

1969-70 ICFC 1st round: Dundee Utd 1 New-castle 2; Newcastle 1 Dundee Utd 0 (agg: E3 S1).

1970-71 ICFC 3rd: Hibernian 0 Liverpool 1; Liverpool 2 Hibernian 0 (agg: E3 S0).

1973-74 Uefa 2nd round: Aberdeen 1 Tottenham 1; Tottenham 4 Aberdeen 1 (agg: E5 S2).

1973-74 Uefa 2nd round: Leeds 0 Hibs 0; Hibs 0 Leeds 0 (agg: E0 S0, Leeds won on pens).

1975-76 Uefa 1st round: Hibernian 1 Liverpool 0; Liverpool 3 Hibernian 1 (agg: E3 S2).

1980-81 EC 2nd round: Aberdeen 0 Liverpool 1; Liverpool 4 Aberdeen 0 (agg: E5 S0).

1981-82 Uefa 1st round: Ipswich 1 Aberdeen 1; Aberdeen 3 Ipswich 1 (agg: E2 S4).

1983-84 Uefa 3rd round: Nottm Forest 0 Celtic 0; Celtic 1 Nottm Forest 2 (agg: E2 S1).

1984-85 Uefa 3rd round: Man Utd 2 Dundee Utd 2; Dundee Utd 2 Man Utd 3 (agg: E5 S4).

1992-93 EC 2nd round: Rangers 2 Leeds 1; Leeds 1 Rangers 2 (agg: E2 S4).

1997-98 Uefa 1st round: Celtic 2 Liverpool 2; Liverpool 0 Celtic 0 (agg: E2 S2; Liverpool won on away goals).

2002-03 Uefa 2nd round: Celtic 1 Blackburn 0. Blackburn 0 Celtic 2 (agg: E0 S3).

2002-03 Uefa quarter-final: Celtic 1 Liverpool 1; Liverpool 0 Celtic 2 (agg: E1 S3)

52 matches: English clubs won 23, Scottish clubs won 13, drawn 16. 26 ties: English clubs won 18, Scottish clubs won 8.

Abbreviations:

CWC = Cup-Winners' Cup. ICFC = Inter City Fairs Cup. Uefa = Uefa Cup. EC = European Cup