A top, top book but will Sir Alex Ferguson regret making Anfield jibes?

Those of us who attempt punditry understand that it tends to evoke short-term irritation or, occasionally, approval.

Occasionally, though, a few words uttered by a notable exponent will acquire resonance, as in Alan Hansen’s verdict on Manchester United in the early days of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Butt and the Nevilles: “You’ll win nothing with kids.”

Did it help these kids to develop into the engine-room of a winning vessel? Or just seem to? It certainly did Sir Alex Ferguson (above) no harm as he built the teams in which they prospered. For it lodged in the game’s psyche. Every success emphasised the manager’s wisdom in trusting them, and increased, if anything, his already vast authority.

This came to mind during discussion of Ferguson’s observations in his new book about Liverpool and, in particular, Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson. These may or may not have constituted an own-goal to rival Hansen’s; we’ll see.

But Ferguson’s successor, David Moyes, could have done without them as evidence mounts that the club from the other end of the Manchester Ship Canal are about to resume contention for titles, including the one United regained in Ferguson’s final season.

For a team with a midfield featuring one player who is not “top, top” and another who apparently cannot run properly, Brendan Rodgers’s lot are doing all right. I’m being frivolous, of course, but for Ferguson to argue that his remarks were taken out of context — as, with every justification, he might — would be futile.