Goals from Ayegbeni Yakubu either side of the interval put the Barclays Premier League's bottom club into a surprise two-goal lead before United hit back through Dimitar Berbatov.
There seemed to be only one conclusion after the Bulgarian had scored twice to take his tally to five over the Christmas period.
But despite piling on the pressure, it was United who were undone as David de Gea failed to collect Morten Gamst Pedersen's corner, allowing Grant Hanley to head home the winner 10 minutes from time.
It represented Steve Kean's best win as Blackburn manager, taking them off the foot of the table, and left Ferguson to question the wisdom of not even putting a rested Wayne Rooney on the bench on the day he confirmed an intention to remain in his job for a further three years.
The party atmosphere at kick-off proved to be a false guide to what followed.
In a pre-recorded interview with MUTV, Ferguson confirmed his future plans, which would make him by some distance the Premier League's oldest manager.
The Scot then received a rendition of 'Happy Birthday to you' from the home fans in recognition of his 70th birthday, setting the scene for the slaughter expected to follow.
Except United, injury-hit to the extent of having to name Rafael and Park Ji-sung as central midfield partners, were not up to the task.
The fluency that had carried them to eight wins from nine league games since their only defeat, that 6-1 massacre by Manchester City in October, was so obviously missing.
Nani was an obvious attacking outlet but had one of his frustrating days and neither Berbatov, Hernandez nor Danny Welbeck could plot a path through the massed ranks of Blackburn's defence.
Twenty-four hours earlier, Ferguson had confirmed an intention to hand Berbatov an extra year's contract.
He must have felt like snatching it away, when the Bulgarian followed up his Boxing Day hat-trick against Wigan by hauling Christopher Samba over in the box.
Penalty
At a club as unstable as Blackburn, one of the few certainties is that from the spot, Yakubu does not miss and the Nigerian promptly sent De Gea the wrong way.
United's response was strange in that, without playing well, they started to create opportunities.
Nani was off target with a couple of efforts then the Portugal winger was denied by Rovers' stand-in keeper Mark Bunn, as was Hernandez.
At one point, Hernandez also got in the way of a goalbound effort from Phil Jones, who had recovered from illness to face his former club for the first time since his £17million move to Old Trafford.
Pilloried by his own fans immediately before Christmas, Rovers boss Kean had now seen his side take first-half leads at Liverpool and United in a staggering six-day spell.
With no Rooney to assist his team, Ferguson turned to Anderson at the break, a move that triggered a number of positional changes, the most significant of which saw Valencia shifted into an advanced position.
But, before United had a chance to see whether the tactical switches would work, they fell further behind.
Yakubu had too much strength for makeshift central defender Michael Carrick as he turned on the edge of the area, then nipped past Jones before drilling his shot through De Gea's legs.
Disastrously for Blackburn, they conceded themselves within 20 seconds of the restart as United advanced, the ball eventually finding its way to Rafael whose bouncing cross-shot was nodded home by Berbatov.
So often have Ferguson's teams recovered from such unpromising situations down the years, Kean must have felt sick.
His side started to get overwhelmed by the tide of red attacks, with Valencia to the fore.
It was the South American's burst of pace and subsequent cut-back that provided Berbatov with the opportunity to side-foot United level.
Minutes later, Bunn almost unbelievably prevented Grant Hanley from turning Berbatov's cross into his own net. He did not know much about it though, as the ball flew over off his outstretched foot.
The weight of attacks on the Blackburn goal was immense. Yet United's commitment was so great they forgot to defend, and once again the questions were raised over De Gea, who came to collect Morten Gamst Pedersen's corner.
Instead, Hanley won the first header, then found the bottom corner with his second.
United's resolve was sapped and their hopes of snatching the point that would take them top of the table disappeared when Bunn and home debutant Will Keane got in the way of Jones' injury-time effort.
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Shocking result, Well done Valencia, good game. Anderson did ok coming back, nani to wasteful. Park did nothing. Go and buy Benega!!!!
Happy new year people!!
Cannot believe what i have just seen.
carrick true to form was back to his normal unreliable self and welbeck a total waste of space
Gutted
David De Gea: This is another Massimo Taibi. Our first keeper was on the bench. Second choice is Ben Amos. Send De Gea to the reserves to practice aerial and area command.
woke up 7 30 in the morning for this. happy b day SAF
I dont normally wander over to the red side but so many of you were gloating last week with us against West Brom, I would just like to wish you all a very happy new year and what a birthday present for saf. Well done to Blackburn.
Park in centre midfield. What does he do. I am still trying to work out what he does. Very weak and very slow. Lindegarrd has six clean sheets, so he plays six stone de gea. Fergie is king but he doesn't half make some strange decisions
I don't care what he cost. De Gea simply does not have the physique for PL football. He has got to go! Anders "clean sheet" Lindegaard ftw!
Does ANYONE know why de gea is playing for us? As long as he does, we won't win a thing!!!!
For me this is the end of De Gae.
Too laid back. Not into it. Where's the passion?
Give Lindegard a run and buy a midfielder.
The team clearly needs a boost. Half the team is injured and 4-5 players are played out of position.
And on the bench: No one that can make a difference.
You lose games during a season. But isn't it typical United to lose at home to a team like Blackburn? We will pay for it. City now has an open goal.
Danny, Expert, fergiehasnt'taclue and the rest of you: Give it a rest. No one listen to your utterings anyway.
HUMILIATING
sir alex should hang his head in shame at the side he picked today he is too clever by half.
the rest of the division saw first hand our goalkeeper is completely incapable of dealing with ball crossed into the box.
nani when he has a bad un it is a stinker he was utter garbage as was park as was evra . only 2 players come out of that game with any credit valencia and berbatov.
(CR)app Birthday Fergie. Cant blame the team. Fergie got it wrong! Park and Rafel are not central midfielders. Tony V and Rafael (when he went to RB) were decent. Chicharito suffering from 2nd season blues. We need Pato!! Midfielders and Hummels or Subotic for CD. Come on Fergie splash that cash!!
I'm still very calm but need to get this off my chest.
Yes, we lost the game because of poor defending but I cannot fathom why the management and coaching staff keeps putting up with Nani.
I would love to see his individual player statistic - he gave the ball away plenty of time, held onto it too long when there were opportunities to play penetrative passes to teammates running into channels and did not get a good cross in at all.
As a winger, you would said he failed miserably. As a player, he was a waste of space.
This is not a one-off performance either - he has been poor more often than not.
We came back into the game when we had a good service from the right flank - but alas all undone by poor, poor work at the back - we could honestly have conceded a couple more especially against a better attacking team.
For what its worth, I would have taken Nani off after that poor first half and put Pogba in the center-mid. If i was that young lad, I would be frustrated being told I'm not good enough to play league games when clowns like Nani keep getting starts.
Absolutely shocking performance marks out of ten for them all 0 no effort no idea no pace nothing on the ball no creativiy, and all the players standing around like statues not one thought of helping the man with the ball.
Beaten by a team of useless players not at the bottom for nothing not won away all season and come to us and get 3 and could have been more.
I have an idea lets rest the the best players and give the others a chance after all it is ONLY blackburn, so yet again we take a lower side and treat them with comtemp and think just because we are united,. or in this case DISUNITED we will win at a canter.
DIsgusted. bye bye any trophies this season and we wiill trot out the injuries excuses again but this was nothing to do with them but a total lack of effort and arrogance that lost us this game. I thought De gea was going to be a good keeper but he is worse than Kit Kat.
You see been saying this for a long time now have a go at em and you'll get sometihing out of the game two poor teams
Oh My God Crystal Palace Basel City and now the ulitmate in defeat to Blackburn No Giggs no Rooney He has paid 20 million for a fumbling baby of a keeper who used to drop his Rattle.Fergie has thrown millions down the drain.Evra gets worse every game Nani was hopeless. Our three best players Raphael Valencia and Berbatov yet he take off Chico who can score from nothing WELBECK played more balls towards our goals than Blackburns.Carrick in Central defence he never learned from last time he played there.
Fergie wants 3 more years he should be gone.He could have bought sound players the 20 million he spent on the doughnut would have bought Rodwell.
Keane must have laughed every time nani took a corner.
Disgusting shameful performance Fergie spends to much time with his horses thats why he keeps picking donkeys
First, well played Blackburn. Yakubu was a real handful.
The key now is how Utd respond.
Meanwhile, If it is still possible, happy birthday, Sir Alex.
What is going on? If we cannot beat Blackburn we have no chance for the title. This will give city the boost they need after their recent wobbles. I'm sorry but why wasn't Rooney playing? Another cock-up by Fergie, did he think Blackburn would just turn over for us? I am really fed up with these performances, thought we had turned the corner just lately cannot believe it. Why is De Gea in goal he is still flapping at crosses. United need to buy a defender in January never mind a midfielder!
I never seen a manager picking a team to delibrately LOSE before today . First blunder : De Gea in goal replacing the clean-sheet specialist . De Gea can NOT hold a high ball that is a FACT . Second blunder : You have a RB and a midfielder in your team , you play the RB in midfield and the midfielder in defence , why ? Third blunder : You start with three strikers , one of them as a LW so that when you need a striker in the second half you do not have one on the bench . Fourth blunder : you replace Rafael when he was making dangerous runs through the second half and you keep NANI who did not make one good pass all day . Hernandez , DeGea and Nani were really really poor . Poorer I am afraid was SAF . Happy birthday to you .
Absolute rubbish,how can we keep playing players out of position,and with absolutely no guile or creativity in midfield.Are you really that stupid Fergie?Half the league laughing at us,one of the worst Utd teams i have seen,supporting them for well over 30 years....Whats going on?
The line-up and the carefree way United started the match indicate that they all believed ( Fergie included) they were going to have a field day ! Careless control and play by Evra led to the freekick for the first goal. United had more than half an hour to look for the third goal but failed and unfortunately, yet again, De Gea showed his weakness in the air. The guy is still young but it's about time Lindergaard is given the jersey. There is no doubt this is a major setback that could tell in the end.
one word .. pathetic
Terrible result!!What was Fergie playing at leaving Rooney out?Don't believe he was injured.Happy Birthday SAF,but this result could come back to haunt you.Fair play to Blackburn.You wanted it more than we did.
At a loss for words, Blackburn are a pitiful team but having said that you absolutely cannot disrepect any team as SAF did today with that lineup. Calamity of errors have cause us to drop points to a team at the bottom of the table. SAF can only blame himself for this one. The energy and focus of the team was not there from the start. You can only blame the manager when the team is not ready to play. Wasted first 45 minutes.
Dea Gea is a liability at the moment. You cannot keep swapping out the goal keepers they are not of equal ability and temperment. Just as Jones cannot keep trying to play different positions as he is learning to play for Manchester United. He switches off too often and does not provide cover for his partner. Just a calamity of errors. Nothing more to be said really.
Well Sir Alex...explain this one away...especially 'your' decison to rotate the keepers.
All that hard work to get back level on points and then lose at home to the bottom team.
Shocked and Gutted
Absolute joke. Another embracement in a season full of them. I now know we wont win the league. Champions don't get outplayed at home to the team at the bottom of the league. And before anyone starts talking about injuries, we are the Champions of England, Blackburn are relegation fodder. We should be able to beat these teams at home and on a really bad day draw with them. Why was De Gea brought back into a team that has won 2 games 5-0? Why was Carrick marking Samba? Why wasn't Carrick pushed forward towards the end of the game? Why are all of our corners and free kicks a total waste of time? Its as if we don't need to practice them, that sort of stuff is for the likes of Bolton and Stoke. So that's a 6-1 drubbing by City at Old Trafford. Out of the Champions League in the group stages. Knocked out of the League cup at Old Trafford by Crystal Palace. And now getting beat by the worse team in the league at Old Trafford.
Remember though, EVERYTHING IS FINE. Don't criticise or you will be labelled a City fan.