Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he once played a trick on Sam Allardyce by replacing the contents of a bottle of red wine with Ribena.

The West Ham United manager gave the then Manchester United manager a bottle of Chateau Latour to mark his 25th anniversary at the club.

The Scot told The Telegraph: "My 25th year at United, Sam Allardyce bought me a 1986 Latour, the year I came to United. His kit manager gave it to me on the Saturday morning, and I said, 'I'm going to play a trick here', so I opened it up and put a bottle of Ribena in.

"So Sam comes in after the game and I say, 'Thanks very much for the wine, Sam, it's really very generous of you'. He said, 'Well, you go home and enjoy that'. I said, 'No, I want to share it with you'. So I open it up and I go, 'What's this, Sam?'

"He bolts out that door, honestly, like a wild man, screaming for his kit manager. And when he came back in I had the bottle opened and I was pouring the glasses. It was a fantastic moment. I had to get him."

Ferguson announced earlier this week that he is to auction off his collection of vintage wines.