Anyone wondering if Sir Alex Ferguson had lost any of his legendary fire as he prepares for another Premiership season should think again.

There is not a mellow bone in his 66-year-old body if his attitude to the close season's most controversial potential transfers is anything to go by.

So determined is Ferguson to land Carlos Tevez that United have been prepared to embroil themselves in the middle of arguably the most bitter and tangled deal in British football, one bound for the High Court where there is no guarantee the judgement will come before the transfer window closes.

So ruthless is he in pursuit of a 10th Premiership crown that he is prepared for more legal wrangling over his decision not to let full-back Gabriel Heinze go to Liverpool, despite the Anfield club matching United's £6.8m valuation.

"I can assure you, Liverpool will not be getting Gabriel Heinze," Ferguson has said. "We can put that to bed right now."

None of the 'dirty linen' involving Tevez and Heinze, which continues to be washed most publicly, has covered football in a favourable light.

With Tevez, Ferguson and United are simply acting in the predatory fashion which has become the norm for the rich in football.

They have no concern with who owns Tevez right now, a question which has shamed English football for the past year, but merely care desperately that they will own him in the future.

The stand over Heinze is different.

It goes to the heart of English football at its most tribal.

The fact is that Manchester United and Liverpool, despite the Anfield club not having won the league in 17 years, remain the fiercest rivals in English football, quite possibly in Europe.

While a whole screed of players, from Kevin Sheedy to Gary Ablett, Abel Xavier, Nicky Barmby and Peter Beardsley, have crossed the Anfield-Goodison divide in the past and while Sol Campbell went from Tottenham to Arsenal in recent times, the only player since the Second World War to head down the East Lancs Road to Liverpool was Phil Chisnall in 1962.

That's 45 years of hate and counting for the club who once allowed Denis Law to move to neighbours Manchester City, a move which sealed United's relegation in 1974.

On the continent the heart does not so readily interfere with business.

Alessandro Nesta happily moved from Lazio to Milan, Fabio Cannavaro from Inter to Juventus and many players have travelled the route from Barcelona to Real Madrid, most famously Luis Figo who had a pig's head thrown at him on his return to the Nou Camp.

The head is currently exhibited in Kultort Museum in Essen as a symbol of football fanaticism.

Ferguson's fanatacism, however, has little to do with hate. It is rooted mostly in keeping United top of the Premiership pile.

In that respect it illustrates how dangerous Ferguson believes Liverpool's challenge might be this coming season.

United so far have spent close on £50m but Liverpool are not far behind with the capture of Fernando Torres, in particular, setting them back £21.5m.

They have wealthy American backers in Tom Hicks and George Gillett and plans for the new £300m ground in Stanley Park have been unveiled.

All the signs are that the Merseyside club are awakening from almost two decades of domestic under-achievment.

A full-back such as Heinze might not score crucial goals against United, but he would significantly strenthen Benitez's defence.

And so the claims and counter-claims continue. Liverpool's lawyers try to extricate Heinze from his contract. Ferguson accuses the player's representatives of going behind the champions' back to try to force the deal through.

And 'Over the moon' is replaced as the phrase most commonplace in football by 'See you in court'.