HENNING Berg revealed today that Blackburn Rovers had made him a major new contract offer in summer to try to persuade him to stay at Ewood Park.

And the Norwegian ace admitted he might have had second thoughts about his £5 million move to Manchester United if Roy Hodgson had been manager for longer.

He will be on the subs' bench for United against Southampton tonight while his ex-Rovers team-mates travel to Aston Villa for their first away game of the season.

Unlike Graeme Le Saux, he maintained a dignified silence about his desire to move to Old Trafford and concentrated on helping Rovers out of trouble.

But his urge to join United, knowing they had maintained their interest - and a massive cash offer to Rovers - finally got him the move.

But it was not quite as clear cut as it seemed.

"I was very tempted in January (when United inquired) but Blackburn said no and I didn't really expect anything else," he explained.

"Even though I wanted to go I played on because I knew the situation Blackburn were in.

"At the end of the season, they offered me a longer contract, but I knew Manchester United were still interested in me.

"There were so many good centre backs at the club and I thought they were going to sell one or two of them.

"I spoke to Roy about it and he tried to persuade me to stay. "It might have been different if Roy had been here a year or two rather than a month or so.

"He looks the best thing that's happened to Blackburn since Alan Shearer.

"I am happy I am going from a good club to a great club. The time I had at Blackburn was tremendous, it's been the best four and a half years of my life."

"The players, staff and fans have all been good to me. I really liked it there but I wanted to join United."

Hodgson will be looking to make a splash in the market but he said: "Having money to spend is of no value unless you can find the players.

"I could sell the whole team, clubs would even buy our reserves for big money. But piling up sums of money is no good to me.

"The fans want to see the best players and we will be determined to give them a good team but they have to understand it's a little bit easier for Manchester United to entice playuers than Blackburn Rovers.

"We live in the real world and we will not be on a par with Manchester United until we are in the Champions' League.

"We have discussed lots of players but I am a great believer in team spirit and people who fit in. "I don't think Berg was as disenchanted as Le Saux. Had it not been Manchester United and the Champions' League he would have been happy to stay here."

Hodgson will make signings but he will probably let others go, for he is determined that young players such as Marlon Broomes can also see a way to progress.

Rovers expect Chris Sutton to shake off an ankle injury to play at Villa tonight, Martin Dahlin is on stand-by and Per Pedersen has been added to the squad just in case.

They will choose from: Filan, Valery, Hendry, Henchoz, Kenna, Ripley, Flitcroft, McKinlay, Wilcox, Sutton, Gallacher, Dahlin, Andersson, Pearce, Bohinen, Pedersen, Watt.

Villa may make a tactical switch back to three central defenders but are set to play their main three strikers.

Their squad is: Oakes, Nelson, Southgate, Ehiogu, Scimeca, Wright, Taylor Townsend, Yorke, Milosevic, Collymore, Taylor, Joachim, Grayson, Charles, Crichton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.