Strong vote of confidence for Blanc

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has given strong support to his highly-criticised defender Laurent Blanc, adding he probably should have signed him five year ago.

Ferguson, in his last season at United after 15 years in charge, says the former French international cannot be blamed for any of the 28 goals which the club have conceded in this season's English premier league.

"They (his critics) will all say he's slow and all the rest of it, but there is not one goal he has been responsible for this season - not one," Ferguson told Manchester United's television network, MUTV, on Thursday.

"The press are not going to allow him to be successful. I think that's their intention and it's unfortunate because he is a fantastic character and he's added a lot to the team in terms of character and how he perceives the game.

"I should have got him five years ago.

"He talks such great sense about the game, and I think the players he is playing with will look back years from now and say 'He was a great player. He taught us this, he taught us that and we learned from him.'

"The French players all looked up to him as the man, and it's just unfortunate that he is getting the criticism that he is.

NOT QUICKEST

"He's not the quickest. He never was the quickest, but that is never going to be accepted."

Blanc, 36, replaced Jaap Stam at United in September after the Dutch international was sold to Italian side Lazio for 16 million pounds ($23.15 million).

Stam's departure followed the serialisation of his controversial autobiography by an English newspaper but Ferguson has always denied the book had anything to do with the transfer.

"People look at the Jaap thing in many ways and they'll always point to it being the book," Ferguson said.

"I read the book and there's nothing in the book. It's actually a bland book. I mean, there's nothing there controversial at all.

"It was nothing to do with the book - absolutely nothing to do with it. Nobody will ever believe that, I suppose, but that doesn't matter to me.

"I know the facts, and it was a football matter, and I just didn't think Jaap was the same player."