Lescott returns fire at Ferguson jibe

Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott believes Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson regrets describing them as ‘noisy neighbours’.

The England international revealed that City’s players felt disrespected by the Red Devils’ boss following his comments, but he now thinks they have proven their point as they lead the Premier League 20 games into the current campaign.

“We take the ‘noisy neighbours’ remark with a pinch of salt now. We took it a bit more disrespectfully at the start, but now they’ve started to regret saying it because we’ve proved we’re a good team and a consistent one,” he said.

“It’s an unfair label. We’re not just making noise, we’re top of the league and rightly so. We know now that wherever we go now we’re the team to beat.”

The former Everton man admitted the City players enjoyed the 6-1 thrashing of United at Old Trafford and the celebrations could have gone over the top if not for boss Roberto Mancini, who immediately calmed his team down.

“After that game we could have been really noisy. The dressing room would have been louder if the manager hadn’t come in so soon,” he said.

“The boys were hyped up but he came in and said, ‘It’s just three points, just like the week before and hopefully like next week’.”

“That settled us right down and we just got on with it.”

“If the game had been at home it would have been different. But when you’re away you have to respect the opposition. We just humbled ourselves, showed respect, got changed and went home.”

The teams face off on Sunday at Etihad Stadium in the third round of the FA Cup.