Sir Alex Ferguson turned down offer to publicly support Better Together campaign over fears of ‘dog’s abuse’ backlash

SIR Alex Ferguson turned down an offer to be the public face of the No campaign in the Scottish independence referendum because he feared being targeted for abuse.

Tony Blair’s former spin chief Alastair Campbell has revealed how he approached the football legend about helping out in the days leading up to the vote in September 2014.

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Sir Alex Ferguson turned down an offer to publicly support the Better Together campaignCredit: PA: Press Association

Mr Campbell was part of the Better Together campaign and said then Prime Minister David Cameron had been “badgering” him to get former Manchester United manager Sir Alex on board.

In the latest edition of his personal diaries, Mr Campbell said Sir Alex, 79, was worried about a backlash after seeing the abuse Harry Potter author JK Rowling had received when she donated £1 million to the No campaign.

In the diary extracts, he wrote: “Number 10 and others had been badgering me for ages about getting Alex Ferguson involved.

“I had really tried. He has seemed so chilly of late, though he had still been taking my calls, talking away, but definitely not as warm.

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Former spin doctor Alastair Campbell revealed Sir Alex’s snub in his personal diariesCredit: PA: Press Association

“He had been saying how desperate he was for No to win but when I said he could do something to help, he pulled back.

“He said he didn’t want to get involved because the people putting their heads above the parapet were getting shot at.

“He saw the abuse that JK Rowling and others had been getting, and he was not up for it. It was lose-lose. Unsure that an intervention would help, but sure that he would get dog’s abuse.”

Mr Campbell said Glasgow-born Sir Alex’s dislike of Tory Prime Minister Cameron may also have played a part in his reluctance to get involved.

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Mr Campbell also tried to get former Celtic manager Neil Lennon on board, but was also turned downCredit: AFP

He said he vetoed an idea by former Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood for Cameron to personally call the ex-Aberdeen and Scotland manager.

The political strategist, who was head of communications at Downing Street for Blair, said his partner Fiona Millar had eventually told him to leave Sir Alex alone.

In extracts published in The Courier, he said: “Jeremy Heywood asked if I thought a call from Cameron would help. I said definitely not.

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“He could not stand Cameron. In fact that might be the other thing holding him back.

“He had a couple of times asked me why I was helping Cameron. I said I wasn’t; I was helping the campaign to stop Salmond breaking up the UK.

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“When I discussed it with Fiona, she said just leave it, stop pushing him so hard. So I did, though I did point out the one thing everyone knew about Alex was that you pushed as hard as you had to get what you wanted.”

Mr Campbell revealed he also called on former Celtic manager Neil Lennon in an effort to appeal to “working-class Catholics”.

He said while Lennon was “friendly”, the Northern Irishman insisted he “got enough s*** in Glasgow without adding to it”.

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