It emerged last night that Alex Ferguson was the only person at Old Trafford who saw Roy Keane's autobiography before it was printed, and had the opportunity to alter passages.

It could lead to some embarrassing questions from Manchester United's directors.

Keane gave Ferguson an advance copy of the book as a personal favour six weeks ago because he was aware of the embarrassment that Jaap Stam's autobiography had caused the United manager when it was released without his knowledge last year.

Ferguson gave Keane his personal seal of approval, saying it was a "fantastic read."

He did not apparently see anything wrong with the extracts about Alf Inge Haaland that have led to Manchester City and the Norwegian international beginning legal action against Keane and the club.

Neither did Ferguson pass the book to the club's lawyers who, despite what the manager stated last week, were refused any input by the publishers Penguin and, as such, did not see Keane's comments until they were published in the Sunday newspaper with serialisation rights.