While Ferguson dismissed the need for international friendlies, he echoed Hodgson's concerns over postseason tours by questioning City and Chelsea's motives for the trip. "I wouldn't ever do it, I must admit," Ferguson said. "I was surprised to see they were playing two games at the end of May, but that can only be because of whatever financial gains they're getting out of it, obviously. They're the two richest clubs too. They need the money!
"But if you look at the opposite side of it, international football interferes with a club's ambitions. Friendly games for a start.
"For the last decade they have been playing on the Wednesday before the season starts. Tell me the sense in that? It doesn't matter what way you look at it, club managers will always disagree with international football friendly matches. I have no issues with the competitive matches – World Cup qualifiers and European Championships players should always be available for that. But you can't tell me it should apply in friendly matches, no matter how you look at the importance of a friendly game."
With England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce keen to include United's Phil Jones and Wilfried Zaha in the squad for this summer's European Championships in Israel, however, Ferguson hinted at neither being allowed to participate.
"I always think, with young players, the best chance for them to develop physically is in the summer, when the sun comes out," Ferguson said. "It's an actual fact that the growth spurts of young people are always in the summer.
"A lot of these international tournaments, in terms of Under-17s and Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-21s, always seem to be in the summer, but the tournaments don't always fit in in terms of a player's development."
In a further swipe at the England set-up, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger rejected claims by Hodgson's coach, Gary Neville, that the number of foreign players in the top flight harms the progress of home-grown players.
"What Gary Neville is saying, I'm not completely convinced by it, because you can turn it the other way around as well," Wenger said.
"For young, English players to have the privilege to play in training every day with world-class players gives them an opportunity to improve much quicker than a guy who's isolated in the middle of Africa and has nobody to compare to. Jack Wilshere was good enough here and he played. You make room for them."
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