Dalglish ready for Fergie games

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish will be ready and waiting for any of Sir Alex Ferguson's mind games ahead of Manchester United's trip to Anfield.

Ferguson has already cancelled his pre-match press conference in the wake of his comments about Stamford Bridge referee Martin Atkinson which earned him an improper conduct charge from the Football Association.

But should he elect to share his thoughts prior to the fixture, Dalglish will not allow any comments from the rival camp to distract his players.

"He has used psychology before in the pre-amble to matches, but he will only get sparring practice if he tries to use it on ourselves," he said.

"We've both been a long time out of short trousers. It will have to be a good one to catch us out."

Dalglish, who celebrates his 60th birthday on Friday, and Ferguson have a long history in the game, having faced each other as young players on either side of Glasgow's great football divide.

And the Reds boss recalled one of their first encounters when he was playing in defence for Celtic's reserves with Ferguson in action for Rangers.

"I think he'd better come out of here," Dalglish joked, after looking in his pocket. "It was 40 years ago, and I was marking him in a reserve game!

"I was a big, bruising centre-back and he was up front. I read somewhere that he said he'd scored, but I thought we won 2-0. I'm probably wrong about that one as well. We definitely beat them, though.

"I was only 18 and in defence because of my height and aggression...! No, it was for educational purposes, that's all.

"Fergie had gone for a lot of money to Rangers and they'd lost the Cup final to Celtic the year before. He might have been on the way out at Ibrox at the time.

"The first team played their game at Ibrox and the reserves were at Celtic Park, and he was up against us. I have to say he never gave me a problem!"