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• Midfielder backs calls for release of documents into tragedy
• Urges Lady Gaga and Lord Sugar to also join online campaign

After using Twitter to quote Nietzsche and George Washington, and then to insult Alan Shearer’s dress sense, Joey Barton was back on the social networking site yesterday, but this time his comments were widely met by praise and respect as opposed to ridicule and rage.

The Newcastle midfielder sent over 40 tweets calling on his 420,464 followers, as well as celebrities ranging from Alan Sugar to Lady Gaga, to back an online petition demanding the government withdraw its opposition to the full disclosure of documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

The Cabinet Office said on Wednesday that it was appealing against the information commissioner Christopher Graham’s ruling calling for the documents to be made public on the grounds that such details should first be seen by the Hillsborough Independent Panel as part of its ongoing inquiry into the events that led to the death of 96 Liverpool supporters during an FA Cup semi-final tie against Nottingham Forest in Sheffield 22 years ago.

The Cabinet Office’s stance, which would protect withdrawn files including reports presented to then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and correspondents between her office and that of the home secretary at the time, Douglas Hurd, was met by the creation of an e-petition on the government’s website by the Liverpool supporter Brian Irvine calling for the “full disclosure of all government documents relating to 1989 Hillsborough disaster”. Should it receive 100,000 signatures, the motion would automatically have to be heard by parliament.

As of last night, it had 44,171 signatures and many could well have been instigated by Barton’s intervention, which began on Wednesday night before gathering pace yesterday.

“Everybody sign this petition, the truth about hillsborough must come out, all football fans should join together,” tweeted Barton before he began to send a host of similar appeals to high-profile figures, asking them to retweet the message.

Lady Gaga was the most high profile of those targeted by Barton but as yet, the outlandish pop star has not joined the cause. Among those who have, however, are Piers Morgan and the Manchester United and former Liverpool striker, Michael Owen.

Barton’s efforts were well received, particularly from Liverpool supporters. In response to the 28-year-old, who grew up on Merseyside, Graeme Hammond tweeted: “I lost my brother at hillsborough thankyou for all your doing getting the petition noticed.”

The praise represent something of a turnaround for Barton, who was vilified in many quarters for his perceived dive during Newcastle’s goalless draw with Arsenal at St James’ Park last Saturday. Before that, he had become something of a figure of fun for using pseudo-intellectual tweets to describe his frustration at having been made available for transfer by the north-east club.

Interesting, Barton also tweeted yesterday he would “make no comments about anything” until the e-petition had received 100,000 signatures.

It has already been publicly backed by the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, as well as a number of high-profile politicians, including the former culture secretary, Andy Burnham.

Joey BartonHillsborough disasterLiverpoolSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk

Liverpool’s manager is not as hostile towards his old adversary as many believe. In fact, he used to cadge a lift off him

Key chapters of Kenny Dalglish’s career have been devoted to crossing tactical and psychological swords with Sir Alex Ferguson, but their first clash proved by far the most bruising. The year was 1969, the location Glasgow and the occasion an Old Firm reserve game in which the 18-year-old Dalglish was deployed out of position at centre-half by Celtic. His task was to mark Ferguson, an expensive centre-forward suddenly surplus to Rangers’ requirements, yet possessing an uncompromisingly combative edge.

“My biggest memory is Fergie’s elbows, they were a real nuisance, but I have to say he never really gave me a problem,” says a smiling Dalglish as he, very deliberately, opens and examines a coat pocket before adding: “He’d better come out of here.”

By then the pair were already well acquainted. After his family moved from a home close to Parkhead to a flat near Ibrox, Dalglish befriended a young Rangers player called Alex Miller and it was not unknown for him to skive off school in order to hang around the club before cadging favours from a senior pro. “We stayed across the road from Ibrox and I was friendly with Alex,” Dalglish recalls. “Fergie used to give us a lift into town. He had such a big car.”

Ferguson took little notice of the then puppy-fat-prone striker’s oft expressed desire to become a professional footballer, telling friends: “That plump wee Dalglish boy won’t make a player.” Imperceptibly, that opinion changed. By the time, a couple of years later, they met in the reserves, Manchester United’s future manager had heavily criticised Rangers for allowing such a prodigy to slip into enemy hands.

If Celtic were still not quite aware of exactly how big a talent they had snared, Dalglish’s temporary defensive role was deliberate. “I was put there for educational purposes,” he says. “I thought we won that reserve game 2-0 but I’ve read somewhere that Fergie said he scored. I don’t remember it that way but we definitely beat them.”

Ferguson recalls an unexpectedly exacting personal duel. “Kenny man-marked me and I warned: ‘You’ll need a doctor,’” he has recounted. “Kenny just looked at me, and got stuck in. He was a great player but people often forget that the one quality great players need is courage. Kenny was as brave as a lion. He would take a kick from anyone and come back for more.”

The two have always harboured a mental as well as physical edge – while Ferguson’s is more overtly aggressive, Dalglish’s spikiness invariably features cutting sarcasm – but both appreciate some battles are pointless. Significantly, neither ever had any truck with the sectarianism that scarred Glasgow during their respective upbringings. Although a Protestant, Dalglish was perplexed by religious divisions and grew up alongside close Catholic friends. Unusually, in extremely Protestant Govan, Ferguson was the product of a “mixed” marriage, his father having broken a widespread taboo and married a Catholic.

In later years Manchester United’s manager would tap, productively, into the emotional energy fuelled by his club’s supporters’ “hatred” for Liverpool, but that Govan upbringing had imbued him with an ability to grasp a bigger picture. Immediately after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 he followed up a phonecall to Dalglish by dispatching a deputation of wreath-bearing United fans on a respect-paying mission to Merseyside.

His disregard for Glasgow’s traditional religious/footballing demarcations also explains how Dalglish’s father-in-law, among other things, taught Ferguson how to fry fish. Unconcerned that the Beechwood was a bar-restaurant popular with both the Catholic community and Celtic players, he and his wife, Cathy, became regular patrons. Over time his ambitions to run a pub were nurtured by Pat Harkins, the father of Dalglish’s wife, Marina, and the Beechwood’s part owner. With Harkins offering informal work experience stints Ferguson learned not just about preparing fish, but the intricacies of Italian cooking, bartending and beer barrel care. When he was finally granted a licence to open his own pub – Burns Cottage in Govan – such lessons proved invaluable.

Life as a landlord soon became eclipsed by an overriding desire to run winning football teams and, in this respect, Dalglish soon started representing an awkward obstacle. By the time he scored for Liverpool in a crushing 4-0 European Cup demolition of Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1980, “the wee plump boy” had long since matured into a most dangerous enemy.

Once the 1986 World Cup in Mexico came round they were both, supposedly, on the same side, Ferguson having taken over as Scotland’s coach. When the then Liverpool player-manager’s big pal Alan Hansen was controversially dropped and the star striker swiftly pulled out citing knee trouble the headlines cried “feud”. Not so, says Dalglish, who maintains he was seriously injured.

Soon the two Glaswegians were M62 rivals. During Ferguson’s underwhelming early Old Trafford years Dalglish, busy choreographing three league title triumphs and two FA Cup successes, was more preoccupied with then ascendant Everton, but he did take time to address cynical reporters at a Football Writers’ Dinner, urging them to offer United’s beleaguered manager the benefit of then considerable doubt.

Ferguson did not return the compliment when, furious with the refereeing during a 3-3 draw at Anfield in 1988 he launched into an extraordinary anti-Liverpool rant. Cradling his then six-week-old daughter Lauren in his arms, an unruffled Dalglish responded by telling an interviewer: “You’ll get more sense out of my baby than him.” Lauren is due to attend Sunday’s game and Dalglish said, joking: “She’ll be there to haunt Fergie again.”

Tellingly, Liverpool’s manager, who turns 60 on Friday, is noticeably more mellow with the media than in a sometimes publicly tetchy, privately warm past. If his older daughter’s Kelly’s job sports broadcasting career has perhaps softened his attitude towards journalists it is still quite a surprise to discover that Dalglish, who for so long actively cultivated an air of mystery, Marina and their children are all on Twitter. The idea of Ferguson following suit remains unthinkable, although just imagine the highly charged tweets he and Dalglish could have exchanged on those infamous occasions when they fell out over the respective pursuits of Roy Keane and Alan Shearer.

If their rivalry is characterised largely by mutual respect and intertwined heritage it has certainly prompted moments of incandescence on both sides. While Dalglish, when managing Blackburn, did not find the idea of Keane enjoying a game of snooker with Ferguson remotely amusing, a newspaper cartoon portraying the former as a cool, cunning strategist and the latter a spouting volcano went down appallingly at Old Trafford. Aided by Dalglish’s amalgam of tactical acumen and sheer stubbornness Blackburn had just ignored Ferguson’s suggestion that they might “do a Devon Loch” and won the 1995 title.

Accepting the joke was on him, Ferguson penned a generous congratulatory letter with the postscript: “Devon Loch is a horse … I’m sure your Dad must have backed it. Mine did.”

They may be two very different, in many ways totally contrasting, types of Glaswegian, but a bond first forged during far distant 1960s car rides from Ibrox remains uniquely powerful.

Kenny DalglishSir Alex FergusonLiverpoolManchester UnitedLouise Taylorguardian.co.uk

• Liverpool captain injured on international duty with England
• ‘It certainly looks like a significant hamstring injury’

The Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, could be out for three to four weeks with the hamstring problem sustained on England duty, according to the club’s medical team.

The 30-year-old will undergo a scan later today but Dr Peter Brukner, head of sports medicine and sports science, confirmed the midfielder’s injury was “significant”.

“Steven injured his hamstring last night. He’s just been in for an early assessment here and it certainly looks like a significant hamstring injury,” said Brukner. “We should have the results of the scan tonight. He’s going to be out for a little while, I’m afraid. I’d imagine it could be three to four weeks.”

Liverpool had been expecting Gerrard to play no more than an hour against France, with their head of fitness and conditioning, Darren Burgess, provoked into expressing his disgust on Twitter.

“Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regards to SG’s injury,” he wrote. “Completely ignored agreement and past history. Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.” Burgess deleted the two tweets just after 11pm last night.

Steven GerrardLiverpoolEnglandguardian.co.uk