Alex Ferguson opened himself to accusations of defending the indefensible last night by giving Roy Keane's controversial autobiography his unequivocal backing and castigating the Football Association for launching a disciplinary inquiry into the Manchester United captain.

Ferguson broke off from his preparations for tonight's Champions League qualifier against Zalaegerszegi to offer Keane his total support, and refused to condemn the 30-year-old for stating he had deliberately set out to injure Alfie Haaland in a now-infamous Premiership match at Manchester City 16 months ago.

A knee injury has meant Haaland has not completed a game since Keane's career-threatening lunge and the Norwegian is taking professional advice about whether he has a case to sue.

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, said that Keane had "left himself open to legal action" and that "football is not an oasis from the law of the land".

Keane's admission that his foul, which saw him receive a red card and was later described by Haaland as "the worst tackle I have ever received", was a premeditated act of violence, may also result in an FA charge for bringing the game into disrepute.

Ferguson responded by claiming Keane had "told it like it was" and should be praised for his honesty. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it whatsoever," he added. "It's something the FA will look at, I'm sure of that. But as far as I'm concerned there's nothing to worry about. I don't think there's a case to answer."

Instead the United manager turned his anger on Haaland, accusing him of inflaming his feud with Keane by attacking him in the press. "There has been a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between the two players for the last three of four years, particularly from Haaland's side. He has had plenty to say. But we've never complained (to the FA) when Haaland has been making comments about Roy in the papers. Every week, it seemed, or at least every time we played City there was some comment."

Ferguson was referring to Haaland's sniping before the Maine Road derby in 2000. The midfielder accused Keane of hypocrisy, as United's highest earner, for criticising corporate fans for being "more interested in prawn sandwiches".

The ill feeling goes back to a league match in September 1997 when Keane fouled Haaland, then of Leeds, but ended up rupturing his own cruciate knee ligaments.

Over the past year, however, Haaland has tried, on several occasions, to defuse the situation. "I've had a lot of calls on this," he said yesterday. "But all that matters to me is getting fit."

Ferguson said that Keane's book had been given United's full authorisation, something the manager insisted upon after Jaap Stam's autobiography was released without their knowledge.

"We went through everything thoroughly before it went back to the publishers. If there was a problem, our lawyers would have brought it up."

Asked about Keane's criticism of his team-mates, Ferguson added: "He's having a go at everything, including himself. He's more open about himself than anyone; that's the great thing about him. It's a fantastic read, in terms of a man who can open himself up like that. Not many players can do that. They would prefer to fudge a lot of things, be nice for the sake of it. This is the truth."

Haaland's injured knee is not the one that Keane connected with, although the Norwegian believes that the collision and fall aggravated the injury. He flew to Norway yesterday for a consultation with one of the national team's former doctors and may need further surgery. "We will discuss the implications with Alfie, the various football authorities and our advisers before deciding on an appropriate response," said City's spokesman Chris Bird.

Guardian Service