Same story for Foxes

Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to Dave Bassett

Leicester boss Dave Bassett said his side's 1-0 defeat by Manchester United told the story of their season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the only goal of the game to relegate the Foxes.

Bassett felt his side had enough chances to take something from the game, but that they lacked the class to take them.

"I think this performance was the story of our season and we've not been good enough in both penalty areas," he said.

If we had their strikers we would have won the game

Dave Bassett

"What we should have done was make sure we ended up with a 0-0 at least.

"We created some chances, but didn't score and that was not bad luck, but poor ability.

"We've also made some errors defensively and that's down to poor ability as well.

"If we had their strikers we would have won the game."

Bassett officially becomes Leicester's director of football on Monday, with assistant Micky Adams stepping up to become manager.

Ferguson admiration

Bassett said: "I felt I could turn it round, but the quality has not been good enough on a consistent basis.

"The players felt there was a little bit of inevitability that it would be too much for us to stay up.

"Now under Micky they've got to make sure they get something out of the last four games."

He (Bassett) is a straight shooter and everyone admires him for that

Sir Alex Ferguson

At the start of the game, Bassett was presented with a cut glass vase on behalf of the League Managers Association to mark 1,000 games as a manager.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Leicester are a great club. I've always had a great admiration for them and they've got a great manager and a great guy in Dave Bassett.

"One thousand games is a fantastic achievement and he's been a wonderful ambassador to the game.

"He's a straight shooter and everyone admires him for that.

"I hope he enjoys his new role at the club and I'm sorry it's ended this way for him."

Ferguson admitted that his side had not played particularly well.

"It was a difficult game and in the first half we were a bit lethargic," he said.

"You always suffer when you get back from Europe and you have to be patient until you get your legs going.

"I don't think we particularly deserved to win the game, but in the title race you always have scrappy results away from home."

Nicky Butt took a kick in the head near the end of the game but should be fit for Wednesday's Champions League game against Deportivo La Coruna.