Fergie given €120m Manchester United war chest

Alex Ferguson has been given the go ahead to spend €120 million on strengthening his squad.

According to reports in the Irish Sun, United's unpopular American owners the Glazers have approved the giant spend.

Since taking over the ownership at Old Trafford, the Glazers have only spent a net outlay of €5 million per year. This has mostly been due to the massive €885 million debt that the club has been saddled with.

Now, however, around €300 million of this has been paid off, allowing some cash to be given to their veteran gum-chewing manager to spend on shoring up his ageing team.

Until now, Fergie has been able to rely on veterans like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, but this is likely to be their last season in the top flight.

He aslo has to cope with injury-prone Michael Owen and the never-fit Owen Hargreaves.

In particular, Sir Alex will be keen to bolster his strike force, currently made up of Wayne Rooney and the patchy performances of Dimitar Berbatov.