Sir Alex Ferguson has said that former Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish's mishandling of the Luis Suarez racism row cost him his job.

The Scot stood by the striker after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, a decision which Ferguson believes factored in his sacking.

"I wasn't surprised at Kenny leaving," The Mirror quotes Ferguson as saying. "I think John Henry [the Liverpool owner] has obviously looked at the Suarez incident and felt it wasn't handled in the right way.

"I think that must have been part of it. It certainly wasn't a nice thing to happen, you know."

Dalglish backed the Uruguayan throughout the incident, insisting the striker was the victim of a conspiracy, and ordering his squad to wear T-shirts bearing messages of support for him.

Suarez recently reopened the row in an interview in his native Uruguay, claiming that "political power" influenced the eight-match ban he received.