Ferguson Ends BBC Ban

[dom9]

There's a lot of rumours doing the rounds, that this is fergie's last season.

Where?

[magicalbarnes]

Where?

Its rumours among the MU fans

They're saying the naming of the stand & the statue. It feels like something the board & fergie are doing now so they don't have to overshadow the next manager. And fergie's increased recent bumming of Jose.

[G]

The fact both Mourinho and Guardiola are available at the end of the season may have something to do with it

Not often lads of that calibre are free.

[Joey Jones]

Just seen him on SSN - he said that he was disappointed with the reaction of the Sunderland fans when City won the league last year. He went on to say that Man Utd have been good to them considering the players they've given Sunderland over the years the likes of Wes Brown, Fraizer Campbell and John O'Shea

[Shaggy]

Tell me why … there are no rules about managers discussing officials after the match

By Ian Herbert
24 December 2012

Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments about referee Michael Oliver at Swansea yesterday were, frankly, offensive.

Let’s leave aside for a moment Ferguson’s eye-raising talk about how Robin van Persie could have been killed by a ball being cleared into his head, because the really nasty little comment came almost in parenthesis, a few seconds earlier.

“He is a young referee, but really, what a performance,” Ferguson said of Oliver.

That will almost certainly be allowed to pass by the Football Association, in a way that it would not if you or I were to say about any 70-year-old: “He’s getting on in years, but really, what a performance.”

That’s ageist, you’d say. But tell me: what’s the difference?

And then let’s look at Ferguson’s remarks about Ashley Williams’ punt into Van Persie’s head.

“He could have been killed. The whistle has gone. He has done that right in front of the referee.”

The problem with arguing Ferguson is either right or wrong is that we cannot know. No one can possibly know whether Williams acted with intent.

If you want to look on the negative side, from a Williams perspective, you might perhaps point to the way he punched the air after the resulting free kick was blocked, as evidence that the adrenalin was flowing thick.

You could even say that he was recently the subject of a ghost-written autobiography in which he slated Liverpool’s Luis Suarez in no uncertain terms: evidence that he doesn’t like big-timers. All of which is totally useless conjecture, of course.

We just can’t know what is in a player’s head. The cameras can’t help us here.

And yet, inevitably, Ferguson’s comments have dominated the dissection of United’s draw at Swansea and overshadowed the excellent football – in the way they can have a habit of doing when United have been out of sorts.

It is almost besides the point that Oliver had an excellent game. Ferguson’s comments ought to have landed him in trouble with the Football Association but they almost certainly won’t.

Almost as poor were Brian McDermott’s comments about the Gareth Barry goal which consigned his Reading side’s defeat at Manchester City, on Saturday.

“It’s a massive error from the referee,” said McDermott. “It’s an absolute joke. The decision killed us.”

It wasn’t. It isn’t. It didn’t.

We all love the ritual criticism of the officials which is all a part of the narrative of a weekend. But the number of bad calls is remarkably small considering the pace of the game now, the number of decision officials will make across the course of 90 minutes, and the absence of technology to help them.

The Premier League’s officials are world class; the best in the world. It’s just that we’d rather listen to unhappy managers’ feelings about them.

If it was against the rules to discuss referees after the game then this would stop and we’d be discussing the footballing reasons why a team has been defeated.

A blanket ban does govern PRE-match press conferences and it means that the question can’t even been put, because you risk landing the manager with a fine.

There’s no good reason why that can’t stand for the febrile post-match environment, when comments more often than not are nonsense.

“My deep feeling is that I was not always behaving very well in this situation, because they are very heated situations. I am a deep supporter of dealing with [my concerns about referees] internally,” Arsene Wenger said recently.
It sounded a bit like the pot calling the kettle black but was absolutely right.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2012/12/24/tell-me-why-%E2%80%A6-there-are-no-rules-about-managers-discussing-officials-after-the-match-241201/

[Fredo]

Yeah heard the cunt on the radio last night. He's losing it even more I think. I hate him.

[MrMichael]

I don't agree with Herbert about refs. Far too often nowadays do big games seem to be decided by the officials rather than the actual football, yet they remain utterly unaccountable to the general supporters whose experience they commonly ruin. Why did we not see the ref or linesman in the Everton game interviewed afterwards? Why do they not have to explain or apologise when they get something fundamentally wrong? Why should refs get to be entirely immune from any sort of criticism when it is their wrong decisions that decide competitions and possibly even people's jobs?

Obviously Fergie is a c*nt, and was bang out of order yesterday, but what's new there? Sure, people should be proportionate and respectful, but why should the utterly incompetent boys club at the FA get to determine who can and can't say what (within reason) anyway? Perhaps if the officials, and those who run the game, were more accountable, not to other managers but to the public, then they would get more respect for the admittedly difficult jobs they do,

[Exiled_red]

I don't have a problem with managers talking about referees. Refereeing decisions can and do affect the outcome of games, as much as a defensive mistake or a fantastic moment of skill from an attacking striker.

I can understand the clubs frustration at decisions going against them, and at the same time I can understand why the FA don't want undue pressure on referees, the issue for me is the way that the FA deal with managers comments. Like most things with the FA there is no consistency, some managers are punished while others get away with it, some comments by a manager are punished while worse comments at a different time aren't. This issue is something that needs to be addressed for me.

[Shaggy]

My problem is with Ferguson not being punished for his routine outbursts against refs. As Herbs says, he will almost certainly get away with it where - as I said yesterday - others wouldn't.

[Exiled_red]

My problem is with Ferguson not being punished for his routine outbursts against refs. As Herbs says, he will almost certainly get away with it where - as I said yesterday - others wouldn't.

[G]

Far from not being allowed to talk about them,Refs should be frog marched in front of the cameras themselves after games to explain the countless **** decisions they've just made.

Best ref's in the world my arse.

[Kenneth]

I have no issue with managers saying decisions were wrong but personal attacks are out of order, and Fergie does it regularly.

[Shaggy]

What a sad cunt

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is a great manager, but sets bad example with ugly tirades

When Uefa launched its much-vaunted Respect campaign, its president Michel Platini called on a leading Champions League manager to say a few supportive, stirring words.

The manager, a revered figure in football, delivered eloquently on the need to respect referees.

“There has been, over the years, an increase in attempts to manipulate the referee, such as players crowding around the referees, and it can’t do the referee’s confidence any good — you’re undermining his authority,’’ said the Manchester United manager. “The backing-off process and respect of decisions is a step we hope will improve the quality of referees and the game itself.” So said Sir Alex Ferguson.

So said the man who strode on to the pitch at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, remonstrating with referee Mike Dean over a contentious decision to award Newcastle United’s second goal. So let’s run through those campaign points again.

Respect of decisions? No. Undermining the referee’s authority? Yes. Backing-off? Hardly. Ferguson was in Dean’s face.

If the Manchester United manager had behaved so stroppily in a Uefa game, demonstrating such dissent, Platini’s organisation would have banned him to the stands for a game or two. Sadly, the Football Association, the Premier League and weak-willed officials like Dean are too scared of Ferguson. He’s a brilliant manager, a legend of the game, and we’ll miss him deeply when he retires, but such emasculating of officials damages the game he loves with a passion.

As Ferguson set fire to the FA’s own already-battered Respect document and the Premier League’s anaemic “Get On With The Game’’ treatise, two elements of his character glistened under the Old Trafford lights, the philosopher and the fighter. First, Ferguson was making a legitimate footballing enquiry about why Jonny Evans’ own goal was allowed to stand when Papiss Cissé was patently interfering with play by distracting, even panicking, the Manchester United centre half. Ferguson had a point.

The combative in Ferguson’s DNA then replaced the cerebral. He lectured Dean, the assistant referee Jake Collin and the fourth official Neil Swarbrick. This was potentially intimidating. Ferguson is a formidable character, a titan of his trade, and they would inevitably feel in awe, perhaps in fear. Old Trafford is the Scot’s lair, and it takes men of substance to stand up to him, to remind him of the “R” word. Respect.

Remarkably, Dean failed to mention to the FA Ferguson’s on-field protest which was highlighted by the BBC Five Live’s excellent commentary at the time, by Match of the Day later on and by all other journalistic outlets with editorial integrity.

The FA points out that it is unable to take retrospective action, that United would simply have thrown any charge back by saying that the referee did not have a problem with Ferguson as Dean did not either send the Scot to the stands or note the offence in his report. So the spotlight falls on Dean for either being weak or simply not wanting the grief of calling to account somebody as powerful as Ferguson. Dean let down his colleagues on Boxing Day.

Along with a complicit FA, Dean has set a damaging precedent, allowing managers to confront them without fear of punishment. As one footballing administrator observed: “A high-profile figure calling it on with a referee is not going to help the Respect campaign at any level.’’ At any level: Hackney Marshes or Old Trafford. Ferguson’s pitch incursion, and prolonged second-half chuntering at officials, complicates the missionary grass-roots work of FA staff, attempting to foster respect for officials. When aspiring managers and players note the most famous footballing icon squaring up to officials, they will feel less bound by the rules of Respect.

The greatest manager to dominate a dugout since Bob Paisley, Ferguson must remember he is a role model at times, a manager who sets the tone for so much in this wonderful, maddening game he has done so much for. We know Ferguson is the master of the Machiavellian, the minds-games guru who might even use an incident with a referee to fire up players and supporters when his team struggle for a spark. Ferguson is in the results business, trying to pull away in the title race, and his will to win can elbow others, even an old codger called respect, out of the way in the headlong rush to the finishing line.

Those of us long-term admirers of Ferguson feel frustration and also confusion at his stance. This is a man who talks often of the importance of respect, of how society has sadly become an increasingly questioning, adversarial place. He sees a lack of respect in some young professionals, and reprimands those who dare refer to him as “Fergie”. He dislikes those reporters who attend United press conferences in jeans. Ferguson is big on respect.

This season, Ferguson has commendably spoken of the need for respect amongst supporters, even writing to those United fans travelling to Anfield in September “to stand with our great neighbours Liverpool” after the Hillsborough findings. More recently, he called on players like Jason Roberts to show respect for the Kick It Out campaign.

Respect features in his thinking day after day, on issue after issue.
So Ferguson needs to look before he leaps on to the pitch.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/9768356/Manchester-United-boss-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-is-a-great-manager-but-sets-bad-example-with-ugly-tirades.html

[Captain Stu]

Oh yes, Ferguson is big on respect.

[Bender]

Swansea boss Michael Laudrup has revealed "a couple of glasses of wine" proved enough to calm down Sir Alex Ferguson after the Manchester United manager claimed Robin van Persie, 29, could have been killed at the Liberty Stadium.
Full story: South Wales Evening Post

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