Sir Alex Ferguson made a phone call to Tony Blair as part of a desperate attempt to keep Manchester United in the 1999-2000 FA Cup, a man close to the talks has revealed.

But the then Prime Minister was about to go into a meeting with Yugoslavia president Slobodan Milosevic in a bid to bring an end to the raging war in Kosovo and could not speak.

As a result, Sir Alex admitted defeat and United ended up going to FIFA's inaugural Club World Championship in Brazil in an attempt to boost the FA's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win the right to host the 2006 World Cup, and pulling out of a competition they had won a year previously.

Sir Alex Ferguson (right) asked Tony Blair (left) if Manchester United could compete in the 1999-2000 FA Cup

Manchester United were asked by Blair's envoy to play at the inaugural Club World Championship in 2000

United withdrew from the 1999-2000 FA Cup in order to help the FA's bid to host the 2006 World Cup

Andy Walsh is now general manager at FC United, the club set up in protest at the Glazer family's takeover of United in 2005 who are set to move to a new home in April.

But in June of 1999 he was an member of the influential Independent Manchester United Supporters Association and in regular contact with the fiery Scotsman.

Andy, who made the revelation in an interview with the fanzine Red News, explained the unlikely story to Sportsmail.

'United came out as the villains in all of it,' Andy said.

'But both Sir Alex and then chairman Martin Edwards were under incredible pressure from Tony Banks, the Prime Minister's envoy for the World Cup bid, and from David Davies, the FA's acting chief executive to pull out of the FA Cup and go to Brazil for the Fifa tournament.

'As fans we wanted to find ways of keeping them in the FA Cup and we thought we had come up with a solution.

'It involved moving some of the fixtures to earlier in the season and creating a gap before United were due to go in January during which, if the FA would move the tie, they could play their third round cup match.'

Manchester United were under pressure to withdraw from the FA Cup, according to Andy Walsh (centre)

Andy explained that the plan had gathered momentum, but added that things took a turn for the worse at the Charity Shield.

'We were playing Arsenal and Martin Edwards was sat next to the new Minister for Sport, Kate Hoey. She made some remark along the lines of "I believe you're ruining this season's FA Cup" and when word of that got back to Fergie he was furious.

'I spoke to him over the phone and he said: "That's it, they're forcing us out. F*** them. We're going to Brazil and that's the end of it".

'Then he told me that he had tried to call Tony Blair and he couldn't sort it.

'I'd seen Blair on the news that morning going to Yugoslavia so I asked Fergie what had been said.

'He told me that Blair had told him he was about to go into a meeting with Milosevic and that was the end of it.'

Blair could not answer Ferguson's request as he was about to speak to Slobodan Milosevic (pictured)

The saga turned into a disaster all around, with England's World Cup bid failing and United drawing with Mexicans Necaxa (with David Beckham sent off and Ferguson sent to the stands for complaining about the decision) and defeated by Brazilians Vasco da Gama.

Sir Alex would have the last laugh, however, with his side returning to England to romp to the Premier League title, finishing 18 points ahead of Arsenal.

In the summer of 1999 peacekeepers entered Kosovo as Milosevic's forces withdrew.