SOCCER/Manchester Utd v Wigan Old Trafford, 8.0: Alex Ferguson yesterday sought to blame the press for the sense of crisis that is threatening to engulf Manchester United's season.

Echoing the thoughts of the former United manager Tommy Docherty, who once said there was a place for journalists "but they haven't dug it yet," Ferguson claimed there was a vendetta against the club and a deliberate campaign to force him out in the wake of their exit from the Champions League.

"I know exactly where it comes from," he said. "They have a hatred of Manchester United. It's always been there. It goes with the territory, I suppose, with us being such a high-profile club.

"I can understand it a little, but they go over the top. They are trying to fragment the club - the players from the supporters, and the supporters from the players."

His diatribe follows on from his comments at the weekend when he claimed that, "inevitably at moments like this the media seek to make it personal".

His position has come under intense scrutiny since the 2-1 defeat against Benfica in Lisbon, a result that saw United eliminated from the Champions League, without even the consolation of being diverted into the Uefa Cup.

United are 12 points behind Chelsea going into tonight's home match with Wigan Athletic, with only eight league victories at Old Trafford in the whole of 2005, and confronted by the possibility of a third successive year without the league title.

To Ferguson's intense irritation, there has been growing speculation about how United's notoriously ruthless new owner, Malcolm Glazer, might react at the end of the season.

Ferguson made his comments during an interview with local radio stations and agency reporters. When it came to speaking to national newspaper reporters it was an opportunity to score a few points. Usually his press conferences take the form of a 20-minute question-and-answer session.

But, yesterday, Ferguson made a couple of comments about Wigan's progress before banging his hand on the table and abandoning the conference, saying he was "busy" and "see ya later boys". In total, it lasted 74 seconds, without a single question allowed from the floor.

Creating a siege mentality at Old Trafford has long been part of Ferguson's modus operandi and he is entitled to believe the press has been more hostile this season than at any other time since his job was in danger in the 1989-90 season.

The flipside to that argument is that this has been the first time since then that Ferguson has been booed by the club's own supporters - the most vitriolic criticisms coming not in the newspapers, but in United's fanzines and on the supporters' websites.

Ferguson, in tonight's programme notes, acknowledges the scale of the task ahead when he describes United as "dependent on Chelsea dropping points" and admits the title is "out of our hands to a certain extent". It is doubtful, however, that many fans will concur with his post-Everton assessment that "more important than the result was the manner of the performance".

Ruud Van Nistelrooy returns from suspension for tonight's tie with Wigan. Mikael Silvestre is an injury doubt after picking up a knock against Everton, so Wes Brown may take his place.

Wigan's Arjan de Zeeuw could play at Old Trafford. The club captain missed last Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Chelsea with a knee injury, the first league game this season in which the centre back had sat on the sidelines.

With Wigan in a spell of four games in 11 days, manager Paul Jewell may again make other changes as he attempts to keep his team fresh.