Facing criticism once again from the media and fellow Premier League managers, Alex Ferguson was half-expecting a reaction from the US president too.
The volatile Manchester United manager has not been short of influential critics following his latest outburst at a referee.
This time, he would not have been surprised if it had even reached the ears of the White House.
Photo: AFP
“The press have had a field day out of it,” Ferguson said of the discussion about his behavior. “They have addressed every possible avenue. The only one they have left out is [US President] Barack Obama. He is too busy.”
It is hardly comparable to the “fiscal cliff” deadline currently occupying Obama, but the Premier League’s main talking point over the festive period has been the outspokenness of English soccer’s longest-serving manager.
Days after claiming one of his players could have been “killed” by an opponent, the 70-year-old Ferguson delivered another rant on Friday while defending himself for approaching match officials during a league match against Newcastle.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said on Thursday he was surprised to see Ferguson escape punishment for confronting referee Mike Dean, a linesman and the fourth official during United’s 4-3 win at Old Trafford, after the visitors had been awarded a dubious goal.
It prompted an angry response.
“I carry that because I am the manager of the most famous club in the world,” Ferguson said. “I am not like Newcastle, a wee club in the northeast.”
Ferguson claims he was “demonstrative but ... not out of order” and accused Pardew of hypocrisy, with the Newcastle manager having served a two-match touchline ban this season for pushing an assistant referee during a league match.
“Alan Pardew is the worst at haranguing referees,” Ferguson said. “His whole staff, every game. He was at it the whole game on Wednesday.”
“He shoves the referee and makes a joke of it and has the cheek to criticize me. It is unbelievable,” the Scot said.
Some believe Ferguson benefits from favorable treatment from authorities, yet the United manager did serve a five-match touchline ban following criticism of referee Martin Atkinson after a league match against Chelsea last season. He also was handed a suspended two-match ban that season for accusing another referee — Alan Wiley — of being physically unfit to referee a Premier League game.
In this latest incident, Ferguson was furious that Dean overruled a linesman’s decision and awarded a goal to Newcastle when United defender Jonny Evans turned the ball into his own net as he attempted to clear a shot. Newcastle striker Papiss Demba Cisse was standing in an offside position when the shot was struck and was close to Evans when the ball was deflected in, but was not seen to be interfering with play according to Dean.
Dean decided not to mention his confrontation with Ferguson in his referee’s match report.
“I think Mike Dean might feel slightly disappointed he didn’t do something about it,” Pardew said.
However, Ferguson said: “It has been overplayed. I was not on the pitch for more than three or four yards and then we came off together. There was no ranting or raving from me. I was demonstrative. I am always demonstrative. Everyone knows that. I am an emotional guy. That doesn’t mean to say I was abusive.”
Arsenal manager Arsene shared Pardew’s view, however.
“Should you behave like that? No ... when you go overboard, you have to be punished,” Wenger said.
The Frenchman’s relationship with Ferguson has improved over recent seasons, compared to the days when Arsenal and United were going head-to-head for English titles, but Wenger had little sympathy for his old adversary.
“Whether it’s me or Fergie or anyone else in the world, the rules are the rules,” Wenger said. “It is not rules for one person and rules for another. It’s the same for everybody.”
“We love the Premier League. It is watched all over the world so we want it to be respected by fans for its behavior,” he said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier