Graham Bean has attacked the FA’s decision to charge Sir Alex Ferguson as a totally absurd and ridiculous one.
The former FA compliance officer is incensed that the Manchester United manager was charged with improper conduct after discussing referee Howard Webb in the 48 hours prior to United’s 2-1 win against Chelsea on Sunday May 8.
But since that charge Ferguson was warned as to his future conduct along with Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, and today Stoke boss Tony Pulis was also warned after calling Webb ‘a great ref’ ahead of their FA Cup semi-final win over Bolton.
And Bean has told talkSPORT that the rules are being twisted to punish managers. He said: “It is totally absurd. These series of issues are some of the most ridiculous that I have ever come across. The reality of it is that Alex Ferguson must be the only manager in the world to be charged by the Football Association for praising a referee.
“The F.A are saying they want to respect the referee and yet when managers praise the referee they now find themselves in trouble. Common sense hasn’t prevailed. The FA have brought this rule in that you can’t speak about a referee before a game, that rule was designed so that you don’t put pressure on the referee by making derogatory comments about previous games.
“It wasn’t designed for when a referee gets praised. When you look at Howard Webb he’s the only referee to have done the Champions League final and the World Cup final in the same season, he is the best in the world arguably.
“So what have these managers done to warrant such action. The reality of it is that there is some jobs worth within the FA in their ivory tower with nothing to do and taking quite ridiculous actions. The superiors at the FA need to closely look at it and question whether the individuals are fit for doing the job that they do.
“It’s happened on a number of occasions before Sir Alex did it and the FA have done absolutely nothing. What they’ve done is send a warning letter out to managers saying be aware and be mindful of your comments but in this case for some reason they have decided to issue a charge against Sir Alex Ferguson when we’re on the last fortnight of the season.
“The common sense attitude would have been we’re in the final two weeks of the season, send the letters out and make managers aware that with effect from next season even if you make comments of a good nature about referees then you will be charged.
Bean continued that by singling Ferguson out for a charge as well as a warning, while letting Ancelotti and Pulis escape with warnings they were giving Manchester United a valid reason to claim they are victimised.
He continued: “If ever Manchester United wanted to argue that they were being victimised and discriminated against by the FA, this gives them the ideal opportunity.
“Sir Alex has been charged and formally placed before a disciplinary hearing. That means that his disciplinary record will have that issue on the record for five seasons.
“In respect to [Carlo] Ancelotti and Tony Pulis theirs won’t be on their record. So in effect Ancelotti and Pulis have been treated differently to Sir Alex and the FA need to be made accountable for that because they are discriminating against Sir Alex and other managers.”
The former FA compliance officer is incensed that the Manchester United manager was charged with improper conduct after discussing referee Howard Webb in the 48 hours prior to United’s 2-1 win against Chelsea on Sunday May 8.
But since that charge Ferguson was warned as to his future conduct along with Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, and today Stoke boss Tony Pulis was also warned after calling Webb ‘a great ref’ ahead of their FA Cup semi-final win over Bolton.
And Bean has told talkSPORT that the rules are being twisted to punish managers. He said: “It is totally absurd. These series of issues are some of the most ridiculous that I have ever come across. The reality of it is that Alex Ferguson must be the only manager in the world to be charged by the Football Association for praising a referee.
“The F.A are saying they want to respect the referee and yet when managers praise the referee they now find themselves in trouble. Common sense hasn’t prevailed. The FA have brought this rule in that you can’t speak about a referee before a game, that rule was designed so that you don’t put pressure on the referee by making derogatory comments about previous games.
“It wasn’t designed for when a referee gets praised. When you look at Howard Webb he’s the only referee to have done the Champions League final and the World Cup final in the same season, he is the best in the world arguably.
“So what have these managers done to warrant such action. The reality of it is that there is some jobs worth within the FA in their ivory tower with nothing to do and taking quite ridiculous actions. The superiors at the FA need to closely look at it and question whether the individuals are fit for doing the job that they do.
“It’s happened on a number of occasions before Sir Alex did it and the FA have done absolutely nothing. What they’ve done is send a warning letter out to managers saying be aware and be mindful of your comments but in this case for some reason they have decided to issue a charge against Sir Alex Ferguson when we’re on the last fortnight of the season.
“The common sense attitude would have been we’re in the final two weeks of the season, send the letters out and make managers aware that with effect from next season even if you make comments of a good nature about referees then you will be charged.
Bean continued that by singling Ferguson out for a charge as well as a warning, while letting Ancelotti and Pulis escape with warnings they were giving Manchester United a valid reason to claim they are victimised.
He continued: “If ever Manchester United wanted to argue that they were being victimised and discriminated against by the FA, this gives them the ideal opportunity.
“Sir Alex has been charged and formally placed before a disciplinary hearing. That means that his disciplinary record will have that issue on the record for five seasons.
“In respect to [Carlo] Ancelotti and Tony Pulis theirs won’t be on their record. So in effect Ancelotti and Pulis have been treated differently to Sir Alex and the FA need to be made accountable for that because they are discriminating against Sir Alex and other managers.”
