Former Manchester United assistant Archie Knox says there was no way Liverpool could stop Manchester United overtaking them as the most successful club in England.

Knox arrived at Old Trafford alongside Ferguson in 1986 when the club were in the middle of a 19 year title drought.

Contrastingly, Liverpool had just won their 16th title, a league record at the time. By 2013, under Ferguson, United would surpass Liverpool to become the most successful First Division/Premier League club.

And Knox, who left the Red Devils in 1991 to join Rangers, believes that Ferguson was always destined to lead United past their fierce rivals.

In an exclusive interview with Tribal Football, Knox said: "They had their success in the 80's. Certainly not as much success, apart from the Champions League. It's a phenomenal achievement for Liverpool to win five European Cups.

"And you know its a bit of a surprise [with their recent history], but once Alex Ferguson got Manchester United moving, that was a roller coaster that wasn't going to be stopped.

"There was still the case of bringing the young players through, but then they could attract top players in the world to come to the club so that makes a big difference, that gives the support, the hope and now they're probably the biggest club in the world."

Asked if taking over from Liverpool was a specific goal of Ferguson's, Knox replied: "Oh yes 100%. There's not question about that. There was never any doubt in his head; first of all, you know, the youth thing with Manchester City taking all the young players at that time and managing to recruit them.

"It was a case of saying right, we've got to put a stop to that, we've got to get that side of it right and along with that, we improved the first team as much as we possibly could."