Alex Ferguson

In an apparent veiled criticism of Manchester City , Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his astonishment at the big spending in football and says it could be dangerous for the game.

"Over the last two or three years we have seen very wealthy owners become part of clubs and therefore go on this kamikaze effort to spend their money," said Ferguson.

"It is amazing the amounts of money that are being bandied about in the present-day game. You may think it could be dangerous.

"But you think they have that kind of money and, if they have it, they are certainly using it. I don't see it abating.

"The kind of spending we are seeing at the moment will be here for two or three years, until such time as they understand you can't necessarily achieve all the time by spending.

"We could have bought one or two players for a lot of money in the summer but I didn't necessarily see that they were going to make much difference to us, or rather make the difference that makes us really so much better."

"Take away the money, the players we looked at maybe would not have done what Eric Cantona did for us for instance or Wayne Rooney or Ronaldo did for us. That is what I am talking about, making that quantum leap to another level."