Alex Ferguson was charged with improper conduct yesterday by the Football Association (FA) for calling referee Alan Wiley “unfit.”
The Manchester United manager made his comments after the Premier League champions were held to a 2-2 draw by Sunderland at Old Trafford on Oct. 3.
Ferguson apologized for the remarks, but that didn’t stop the FA from pressing charges against the Scot that could lead to a possible touchline ban and fine.
Ferguson accused Wiley of not being “fit enough for a game of that standard” and of “walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest.”
The FA said in a statement: “Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been charged with improper conduct ... He has until November 3 to respond to the charge.”
Ferguson’s outburst outraged leading English referees and now retired former top official Jeff Winter, blasted it as “a cowardly attack.”
“Every game Alan Wiley takes charge of now where he makes a decision which upsets some fans is going to result in chants of ‘You’re not fit to referee,’ he’s going to be known as the ‘unfit ref,’” Winter told reporters.
■‘SAND OF GOD’ ERROR
AP, LONDON
Two former Premier League match officials criticized referee Mike Jones on Sunday for allowing a goal that deflected in off a beach ball in Sunderland’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool.
Dermot Gallagher, a topflight referee between 1992 and 2007, said that Darren Bent’s goal at the Stadium of Light on Saturday should have been disallowed with play being restarted by a “drop ball.”
“It was such a glaring error. Everybody knows that when something encroaches on to the pitch the game stops ... Any one of the four [officials] could have stepped in,” he said.
Jeff Winter, whose final game as a referee was the 2004 FA Cup final, said this mistake was even worse than officials not seeing whether the ball has crossed the goal line.
“I try to defend referees wherever possible, having been there and knowing the problems they face,” Winter said. “Everybody’s having a laugh and a joke about it, but this is far more serious in terms of the laws of the game than when the referee doesn’t see the ball go over the goal line.”
While the result will stand, with Liverpool sliding to eighth after a fourth loss in nine games, the Professional Games Match Officials could drop Jones from Premier League games in the next few weeks if they find he made a serious mistake.
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