Sir Alex Ferguson is being victimised by the Football Association, says disciplinary adviser Graham Bean
The Football Association has been accused of applying double standards when disciplining Manchester United and their manager as Sir Alex Ferguson prepares to serve the second game of his five-match touchline ban on Saturday.
Ferguson was fined £30,000 and banished to the stands for five games last month after criticising referee Martin Atkinson and calling for a “fair referee” following the 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on March 1.
But Ferguson’s disciplinary adviser, the former FA compliance officer Graham Bean, claims the FA is guilty of taking excessive action against Manchester United because of their profile as England’s most powerful club.
Bean, whose Football Factors company also advises Liverpool and other clubs, claims that the FA has punished Ferguson while overlooking similarly critical comments by Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Wigan’s Roberto Martínez.
Bean told Telegraph Sport: “Where it goes seriously wrong for the FA is that there have been cases of managers in the Premier League making comments which have been a clear implication of bias against the referee, or questioning the referee, yet virtually nothing has been done.
“The FA has serious questions to answer in terms of why they have not taken action against other individuals.
“There are two cases which we referred to in Ferguson’s defence against the Atkinson charge.
“Firstly, Roberto Martínez — three days before Ferguson made his comments at Chelsea — claimed after Wayne Rooney had clashed with James McCarthy that one of his players ‘would have been lucky to stay on the pitch’ had he committed the foul.
“That was a clear allegation of bias towards Manchester United, but the FA did nothing about it.
“Harry Redknapp, making comments about the referee and assistant after Nani scored a controversial goal at Old Trafford against Spurs earlier this season, said, ‘They [officials] will go in and come up with a story that will make it all look right, that’s what happens’.
“That was clearly worse, one of the major comments of the season, yet the FA did absolutely nothing about it other than send him a letter. That comment in itself suggested collusion between the match officials.
“The FA says it treats each case on it merits, but in effect they have bottled it on many occasions in terms of dealing with post-match comments by managers. That’s because they move the goalposts to suit themselves.”
In response, an FA spokesman said: “Consideration is given to any comments reported to us and all comments are reviewed in their entirety, taking into account the full context in which they were delivered.”
Ferguson imposed a nine-day media blackout after being charged for his comments about Atkinson, but Bean insists that the Scot’s move was because of his belief that the FA’s disciplinary process is guided by media coverage.
Following his punishment for labelling Alan Wiley as “unfit” to referee in October 2009, which resulted in a two-match touchline ban plus a further two games suspended — triggered by the Atkinson penalty — Ferguson was warned by the FA that his increased profile brought with it increased responsibility.
But Bean claims that Ferguson and United should not be judged on the basis of their profile. “The FA reacts to media pressure and Alex believes that,” Bean said. “In all of his disciplinary issues we have made a point of noting that the media coverage of Manchester United is out of comparison to every other club in the country — it’s twentyfold bigger and that causes problems in itself.
“They are being punished because of their profile and not because of what they have done. In the Atkinson case, the penalty did not fit the crime.
“While the FA might say that Sir Alex or the club should know better, that’s not the way it should be.”
The Football Association has been accused of applying double standards when disciplining Manchester United and their manager as Sir Alex Ferguson prepares to serve the second game of his five-match touchline ban on Saturday.
Ferguson was fined £30,000 and banished to the stands for five games last month after criticising referee Martin Atkinson and calling for a “fair referee” following the 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on March 1.
But Ferguson’s disciplinary adviser, the former FA compliance officer Graham Bean, claims the FA is guilty of taking excessive action against Manchester United because of their profile as England’s most powerful club.
Bean, whose Football Factors company also advises Liverpool and other clubs, claims that the FA has punished Ferguson while overlooking similarly critical comments by Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Wigan’s Roberto Martínez.
Bean told Telegraph Sport: “Where it goes seriously wrong for the FA is that there have been cases of managers in the Premier League making comments which have been a clear implication of bias against the referee, or questioning the referee, yet virtually nothing has been done.
“The FA has serious questions to answer in terms of why they have not taken action against other individuals.
“There are two cases which we referred to in Ferguson’s defence against the Atkinson charge.
“Firstly, Roberto Martínez — three days before Ferguson made his comments at Chelsea — claimed after Wayne Rooney had clashed with James McCarthy that one of his players ‘would have been lucky to stay on the pitch’ had he committed the foul.
“That was a clear allegation of bias towards Manchester United, but the FA did nothing about it.
“Harry Redknapp, making comments about the referee and assistant after Nani scored a controversial goal at Old Trafford against Spurs earlier this season, said, ‘They [officials] will go in and come up with a story that will make it all look right, that’s what happens’.
“That was clearly worse, one of the major comments of the season, yet the FA did absolutely nothing about it other than send him a letter. That comment in itself suggested collusion between the match officials.
“The FA says it treats each case on it merits, but in effect they have bottled it on many occasions in terms of dealing with post-match comments by managers. That’s because they move the goalposts to suit themselves.”
In response, an FA spokesman said: “Consideration is given to any comments reported to us and all comments are reviewed in their entirety, taking into account the full context in which they were delivered.”
Ferguson imposed a nine-day media blackout after being charged for his comments about Atkinson, but Bean insists that the Scot’s move was because of his belief that the FA’s disciplinary process is guided by media coverage.
Following his punishment for labelling Alan Wiley as “unfit” to referee in October 2009, which resulted in a two-match touchline ban plus a further two games suspended — triggered by the Atkinson penalty — Ferguson was warned by the FA that his increased profile brought with it increased responsibility.
But Bean claims that Ferguson and United should not be judged on the basis of their profile. “The FA reacts to media pressure and Alex believes that,” Bean said. “In all of his disciplinary issues we have made a point of noting that the media coverage of Manchester United is out of comparison to every other club in the country — it’s twentyfold bigger and that causes problems in itself.
“They are being punished because of their profile and not because of what they have done. In the Atkinson case, the penalty did not fit the crime.
“While the FA might say that Sir Alex or the club should know better, that’s not the way it should be.”
ok. But ive never ever and never will write of Manchester.United when Fergie is manager he will retire sometime, but until then im not ever going to write that man off. I remember when Arsenal won the League and then Chelski won it twice and some people were saying thats three years without the title for Manchester.United and Fergie maybe its time for him to go and i just laughed, i was praying it might happen but new it would not happen, as he was building another team and squad to challenge for the main Honours.
And well people who write off United with fergie in charge are just fuelling his fire, i mean we dont have to like what he says or does but the one's writing him off are just playing into the great man's hands.
