Sir Alex Ferguson received a congratulatory text message from Jose Mourinho after Manchester United eliminated Roma to reach the Champions League semifinals, but it is unlikely that Ferguson would have sent Mourinho a note of condolence after Liverpool beat Chelsea this week.
Relations between the two have drastically deteriorated as the season has entered its closing stages and, no longer willing to go through the pretence of niceties, Ferguson made it clear that diplomatic relations had been called off with a man he described two weeks ago as ”having no respect for anyone but himself”.
The United manager said he felt compelled to speak out after Mourinho described Cristiano Ronaldo as having ”no education” and questioned the newly crowned PFA Player of the Year’s ”difficult childhood” in Madeira.
”That is below the belt,” Ferguson responded. ”In fact, it is very below the belt. Maybe it’s a tactic to unsettle the boy but, if so, he is barking up the wrong tree. To bring class into it is totally wrong.”
Brought up in the Govan district of Glasgow, Ferguson has particularly taken umbrage to Mourinho’s remarks because of his own working-class roots.
”Coming from a poor background does not mean you are uneducated and it does not mean you have no principles,” he said.
”Ronaldo has principles and that is why he has not responded to this. The difference is that there are people from very poor backgrounds who have principles, whereas there are some people who are educated, but have no principles at all — and that, without question, is the case here. — Â