Ferguson has lost it, claims Man City’s Mark Hughes

Manchester City coach-cum-manager Mark Hughes has launched an amazing attack on Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sparky said Fergie's failure to replace Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinean forward Carlos Tevez has left rivals United 'below par.'

"You can't afford to lose players of that standard and not replace them - and I don't think they have replaced them," The Sun quoted Sparky, as saying.

Sparky’s outburst was apparently in response to Fergie launching another blast at Manchester City, branding them 'cocky' following their 120-million-pound summer spending spree.

He also slammed City over the controversial campaign, which marked the 25.5 million pound signing of Tevez with the words 'Welcome to Manchester'.

But Sparky laughed off the latest jibes from his old boss by saying they were a "form of flattery".

He said: "We're here, we're not going away any time soon. we're here to make a challenge. The poster does seem to have really upset Sir Alex for some reason. I'm sure Sir Alex is sick and tired of people sticking a microphone under his nose and asking him about us rather than United.