So then, Fergie has dug a rather big hole for himself, it will serve him right if the FA make an example of him following his ill-timed and ill-thought out attack on referee Alan Wiley. Fergie claimed last Saturday's referee was 'unfit', yet ProZone's stats showed that only four United players' covered more ground than the man-in-the-middle.
There's no doubting that some Premier League referees have been on the portly side, I refer to now retired Jeff Winter and Graham Poll, however, ProZone's stats confirm that overall fitness levels have improved since referee's turned professional.
There's also no doubting the standard of refereeing in the Premier League often leaves a lot to be desired, but given United have made a habit of scoring important goals in added time as they did in the recent Manchester derby and again against Sunderland on Saturday, then Fergie's decision to attack Wiley following the game was not only ill-timed, but also on the evidence of the ProZone stats plain wrong.
Fergie's attack on Wiley beggared belief, given the champions were chasing the game in added time, it also defied all logic - what was there to gain? You do wonder if Fergie was rattled about the team's poor performance against the Black Cats. Unconfirmed reports are claiming the United manager had a dressing bust-up with goalkeeper Ben Foster; the row was allegedly over Sunderland's second goal scored by Kenywne Jones.
Fergie will more likely be given a huge fine and do not rule out a grovelling public apology to Alan Wiley, if he's man enough to admit he was wrong then good on him, but don't hold your breath.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Fergie hoist by his own petard...
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He will never admit he's wrong. Now, the referees will be more anti-United than usual. 50-50, or even 70-30 penalty calls might go against United, and a lot more yellows can be expected in the next few games.
ReplyDeleteEven if the treatment isn't so blatant, one can't expect to personally attack a referee and not feel his colleagues would be inclined to defend him. Maybe United might give away more fouls in midfield too.
Poor stuff from Ferguson.
Uday, this is possible, but it could work the other way as well. People will be expecting retaliation from the refs and they might be warned to layoff because of the heavy scrutiny. In any case, it was in bad taste. Julio Cesar, where are you?
ReplyDeleteUday,
ReplyDeleteI think you're probably right, but on this occasion he might have to eat a large slice of humble pie...
Evgenii,
ReplyDeleteI doubt it will work the other way. The FA might actually do something to stop this sort of thing happening again by making an example of Fergie. There's been a lot of complaining about Fergie and his carping about the officials and I get the feeling we will see some strong action taken on this occasion in a bid to stop this happening in the future.