I cannot see any court in the land upholding this ridiculous and draconian nonsense from Ferguson and Gill. I would be embarrassed if I was a United supporter. Perhaps it is time for Ferguson to take his well earned retirement.

John, Hove,

Liverpool want United's 30 year old, second choice left back. A player who since coming back from long term injury just hasn't been the same.

You want him that badly? Have him - and give us £7mill in the process.

The only reason we wont sell him to you in the rivalry between the two clubs and rightly so, but Liverpool fans are acting as though they're about to sign Rooney or Ronaldo!!!

jai mehta, london, Middlesex

"liverpool dont even need heinze because steve finnans just signed a new contract for 3 years and + heinze has already said he wants to move to real madrid.... its reported that heinze is going to go to real madrid on his way back from the tour..

pritpal, coventry, west midlands ( UK)"

problem is finnan's a right back and heinze is a left back

Jon, London,

Jeremy, is this Salford by the Sea you are on about?

I remember Ordsall bay being lovely in the summer.

Ian Brown, Manchester,

Rooney (once a blue always a blue) was winkled out of Everton even before he'd matured as a player. United Liverpool and Chelsea (The Money men) are ruining our game.Let them split off and have their super league..see how long it takes for them to come crying back to be reinstated into our inferior Premiership.
The premiership has become a playground for the rich it will be owned by the USA and Russia before long

Tom, Liverpool, UK

United went to Bayern and West Ham first. That is the point. I for one can't see the problem, Heinze never really recovered from his year out. If Liverpool want a squad player then so be it. There is only Gerrard that United would be interested in from their team, they have a way to go yet

Rob Smyth, Westhoughton, UK

If Gabby does join the Bin Dippers from the CHAMPS then it wil make little difference to there chances on winning the EPL.
It will be UTD or chelski with the gooners and bin dippers still 20 points behind.

John , oliva, Spain

The fact that Manchester United are claiming that the letter is “meaningless” is clear proof that it exists. Presumably, Manchester United cannot ban a player from signing for a particular club if the release clause has been activated – it would be a fairly clear restriction of trade.
The question is: why do clubs allow players to install release clauses into the contracts? Without this, United could have just kept turning down whatever Liverpool offered and there wouldn’t be an issue. It would be wholly fair for United to say that they would only accept a significantly higher fee from Liverpool (as opposed to a club overseas) as they represent a direct challenge, so more compensation would be required. But with the clause, Ferguson only has himself to blame.

Matt Pomroy, Dubai,

Lot of bitter Liverpool fans posting on this story. I'm guessing you realise, deep down, that you would much rather be watching the sort of fare served up to us United fans than the defensive dross so beloved by Benitez.

You're welcome to Heinze, by the way, he remains very much second-choice at United. Evra has the pace, flair and attacking ability needed to fit into the system of total football that won us the league last season. Heinze, on the other hand does not have any of these qualties.

Which is why, come to think of it, he might fit in quite well at Liverpool, hence Fergie's reluctance to allow the transfer to go ahead.

Mick, Dublin,

Never mind the playground tiff over Heinze (even though it will be really funny if the scousers get him and he is rubbish lol) The juicy part here is when the FA finds out that MSI actually still owns Tevez legally. What will they do then? Restore Sheff U. to the premiership and send the hammers to the conference? lol
Oh and as for the scousers pretending to be honest(if there ever was an oxymoron!) how "legal" and clear was Mascherano's move? Tevez and him both belonged to MSI but I suppose once a top club owns the player all is forgotten eh?
Keep tuned for the next episode in the soap that is called the premiership hehehe

Alex Krondiras, Manchester, UK

What;s the problem? Let him go to Liverpool and Heinze will score an own goal ala that Everton captain. That's the only way they'll beat Liverpool next season anyway!

Almaz, Swansea, Wales

Typical double standards, it didn't seem to bother Ferguson when he was announcing "Tevez is ours" to anyone who would listen without even talking to the club that held his registration and had a 4 year contract with the player.

Stuart Greig, London, London

Did Liverpool not play the same game when United tried to sign Gerrard last season? Short memories.

Robert Leonard, Ayr, UK,

If Ferguson is talking about illegal approach , then what is he doing in the case of Tevez????? Clearly its time for him to retire!! He getting old and his mind has stop working now.

Go on rafa and make him see who is the greatest manager of all time..

YNWA

Avi, Phoenix, Mauritius

Haven't Manky Urinals been guilty of tapping up several players in the past, here's just a couple to add to Tévez and Hargreaves as discussed above.

Roy Keane - Whilst at Nottingham Forest their board wanted to accept Arsenal's offer as it was £250K more , but due to player pressure and pressure from Lord Ferg the deal went through.

Eric Cantona - Fergusmoan did a good job of tapping him up whilst at Leeds United, having just won the League Championship for Leeds.

Chris, Chester,

liverpool dont even need heinze because steve finnans just signed a new contract for 3 years and + heinze has already said he wants to move to real madrid.... its reported that heinze is going to go to real madrid on his way back from the tour..

pritpal, coventry, west midlands ( UK)

How do these people know United didn't ask West Ham to speak with Tevez? West Ham have said there is no deal, not that they didn't give United permission to speak with them. As for tapping up Owen Hargreaves, we were in discussions we Bayern before we spoke with Owen last year, Bayern themselves came out and said as much.

Perhaps some balance in the posted responses to the article wouldn't go amiss, or do the Time run scared of the merseyside moaning mafia like the rest of the media. I never thought I'd say this, but Borris Johnson was right.

Andreas, London,

No it's the same Man U that have entirely legally been dealing with the owners of Tevez's contract - if anybody has done anything illegal its West Ham by unilaterally ripping up an agreed contract with Joorabchian and the Premier League by allowing them.

John Newchurch, Manchester,

To form a binding agreement there must be an offer, acceptance and consideration.

What Utd did was make an offer to sell Heinze to any club meeting their valuation (by way of the letter).

The question from a legal point of view is: "Was this offer accepted by any club before there was a retraction of the offer?"

The fact there are lawyers working on this suggests it is arguable either way.

Glen, Salford,

Ferguson throwing his toys out of the pram again! What a suprise.
With all their new signings shouldn't he feel confident of retaining the title.
In this age of over inflated prices and dubious dealings shouldn't he move ourt of the stone age?

Arwyn Evans , Antibes, France

Brilliant, the desperation of the Scousers to bring in a United Player who cant secure a first team place. Anything to try and emulate thier far superior and greater opponents from the affluent, happening city of Manchester. It really is quite a compliment to Utd that they are even willing to go to court. Imagine Utd trying to beg them for Crouch. Maybe they should bid for Fletcher. Benitex hasnt forgiven Fergie for telling it how it was when they ridiculously embarrassed the Champions League by winning it by fluke with such a pathetic team. THe EPL doesn't lie though. Reminds me of the desperation Citeh showed when they bought anyone related to a Utd star ( Rodri Giggs, Joel Cantona and Lee Sharpe's brother). Great days indeed to true Red.

Only Treble winnder, Sale,

It says it all about how liverpool want to win the title this year. Looking for a player considered below the pecking in united says it all about how low liverpool want to fall. Benitez can continue dreaming the title will be manchester's again. May be next time the owner of liverpool can poach for ferguson to get the title back.

chan, united, manchester

Put the shoe on the other foot, if the scousers had a player good enough to join Man Utd would they let him go? Dont think so!

Nathan, Manchester,

So according the report David ill (no spelling mistake) has given Heinze's agent a letter saying he can find another club if a set fee is paid, now this letter is dismissed as meaningless - this says alot for the integrity of the man.

Its all hilarious tho, they really are gettin their knickers in a twist and the hypocrisy that screams from that club is taking things to a new level.

Anthony, Derry,

Pullin one of their best players from under their noses!
But seriuosly UTD have been doin this for years. Using their
status and power to force top players from lesser clubs.
Liverpool look set to make a real go of the title this year and everyone knows it. including Ferguson!

Jamie, Aberdeen, Scotland

It shows you how desperate United are to stop Heinze going that they are willing to 'float' the suggestion of imopropriety on Liverpools part. United claim to have a verbal agreement, Heinze has a document cementing his view on transfers away from OT. It would seem obvious that the court will be guided by the document and United's stance will proove to be nothing more than posturing for their fans. Who wants a player that doenst want to play for you anymore? The right approach for United would be to say bon voyage, your second choice LB, we are not bothered. 6.3Mil is good business for a 29 year old. Instead they are sending out all the wrong signals, namely that they are unduly concerned about Liverpool strenghting their squad.

Brian, Dublin,

It was only a matter of time before Sir Alex began throwing his toys out of the pram . Great manager , but he does hate it when it doesn't all go his own way .

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

Oh, so it's alright for united to go tapping up so called 'lesser' clubs for their top talent. One only has to think back a few months for the pressure they put onto Bayern to sell Hargreaves or the more recent arrogance of not including West Ham in the loop to woo Tevez.

Ferguson & Gill's front sometimes has to be heard to be believed. They obviously have deeper anger towards Liverpool at a footballing level, which in itself is fine,

I for one have no desire to go back to the 1980's when Liverpool (& visiting referees) deemed they had a divine right to win every game they played. Does anyone want one red dictatorship replaced with another one a little further up the coast though?

These Yankees haven't got the hang of all this yet have they!!

Jeremy, Farnham,

Come on Rafa Lad, throw a bid in for Tevez and give him a proper wobbler!!

Harry Charkey, Liverpool,

Is did the same Man U that has illegally approached Tevez against WHU's and the Premier Leagues demands?

John Keane, H, England