Moran served under Fergie in the final two years of his decade-long stint at Old Trafford but didn’t leave a favourable impression on the Scot by the time of his departure in 1988.

Known as a brave centre-back willing to put his head in where it hurt, Moran often required on-field running repairs to deal with his wounds.

Little sympathy is afforded to the Dubliner from Ferguson in his latest tome, rather the bad memories of his early spell in charge at United when they “didn’t have a prayer” in terms of centre-halves.

“Centre backs were the foundation of my Manchester United sides,” explained Ferguson. “Always centre backs. I looked for stability and consistency. Take Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister; until I found those two we were without a prayer.

“Paul McGrath was constantly injured; Kevin Moran always had split heads. He was like a punch-drunk boxer by the time I became his manager.”

Moran returned to England in 1990 with Blackburn Rovers after a stint in Spain for Sporting Gijon and Ferguson says the defender’s trademark style followed him. He recalls meeting Liverpool’s famous scout Ron Yeats on a trip to watch a game in Norway.

“Ron said to me, over a drink, ‘I saw your old player Kevin Moran at Blackburn last week’. And I asked him ‘How did he do?’ Ron’s answer was, ‘He lasted about 15 minutes. Got taken off with a split head’. Not unusual that, I said.”

His memoirs of a 71-times capped player long lauded for his selfless efforts on and off the pitch will hardly endear Ferguson to an Irish public already absorbing the withering attack on Keane.

Moran still has dealings at United as a player agent and has just completed, alongside former team-mate Bryan Robson, a charity mount of Kilimanjaro in aid of the Manchester United Foundation.

Meanwhile, his former assistant Mike Phelan yesterday defended Ferguson in the face of Keane’s assertion the Scot “doesn’t know the meaning of the word loyalty”.

While admitting the former allies are immersed in a “feud”, Phelan admitted the revelations in the book were bound to cause offence.

“I think it was a knee-jerk reaction to the article in the book which was probably a bit presumptuous. Roy has his moments, as does Sir Alex so I think there is a small little feud going on between the two of them.

“I think, though, you have to take it at face value. It’s his recollections, his history at Manchester United and, along the way after so long, you’re going to upset some football players and some people in the media as well. It’s par for the course when a book comes out.”

Eamon Dunphy, meanwhile, has jumped to Keane’s defence, claiming Ferguson’s attack will make it harder for the Corkman to get work in the future.

“It’s shabby what he’s done. Keane is struggling to get a job. He can’t get a job in England and he hasn’t worked for three years now. He said, ‘Ferguson doesn’t know the meaning of loyalty’ and I think there’s something in that,” he said on the Ray Darcy Show.

“Ferguson is a very powerful man in football. Even in the FAI, he’s very close to John Delaney, the chief executive of the FAI.”

Dunphy also accused Ferguson of portraying a one-sided view of the argument.

“If you write a book that purports to be your story and you leave out, and are selective to that extent, where you are wrong and where you embarrass yourself and you destabilise the club, which is what happened, and ultimately deliver the football club to the Glaziers then I think Roy is right and he had a point.

“If you’re going to write a book such as this and you’re going to be up front then you’ve got to look at yourself before looking at other people.

“I think he’s got to put the whole thing in context and pay tribute, like he did before, to Roy Keane.Roy Keane was one of the greatest players in the club.

“There comes a point when you want to write the story of your life. Where it goes wrong in my opinion is when you write yourself as the hero and everyone else are villains.”