Fergie hit with fine and ban

United boss warned over future conduct following Wiley criticism

Last updated: 12th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Fergie hit with fine and ban

Ferguson: Touchline ban

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Sir Alex Ferguson has been handed a touchline ban by the Football Association after admitting a charge of improper conduct.

The Manchester United manager has been hit with a four-match match ban, two of which are suspended until the end of the 2010/11 season, following a Regulatory Commission hearing on Thursday.

The suspended sanction will be automatically activated should Ferguson be found guilty of a similar charge over the next 18 months on top of any sanction imposed for that offence.

He has also been fined £20,000 and warned as to his future conduct following comments he made about referee Alan Wiley.

Ferguson described the official as 'unfit' following United's 2-2 draw with Sunderland last month, although he later apologised for his remarks.

Commission Chairman Peter Griffiths QC said "Each member of the Commission recognised Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements and stature within the game.

"Having said that, it was made clear to Sir Alex that with such stature comes increased responsibilities.

"The Commission considered his admitted remarks, in the context in which they were made, were not just improper but were grossly improper and wholly inappropriate.

"He should never have said what he did say."

Comments (82)

Mark Sweet (Sampdoria fan) says...

What Sir Alex said was slanderous. In any other walk of life he would have been sued by the 'victim'. Some of the comments above have suggested Sir should be allowed freedom of speech and say what he wants about anyone.....but suggesting that someone is not capable of doing his job is not fair, unless he is able to support that with facts. However the OPTA stats did not support his opinion. The fine and ban are a slap on the wrist for a manager who does seem to get away with 'murrrrder'. He should have got a heftier fine and a longer ban to deter future outbursts from managers. The bottom line here is that Sir Alex continously finds excuses when his team fails to win or plays poorly to detract from his own, or his teams failings....it is always the refs decisions that cost him points, not players missing chances, defenders blunders, or his own decisions.

Posted 18:32 12th November 2009

John Dixon (Manchester United fan) says...

Whatever happened to freedom of speech and opinion? its what makes the game and the rivalry of teams, take this away from any manager and it destroys the game every fan loves to hear their managers comments after every game whether win or lose. Its what earns the newspapers back pages with comments spoken from managers... so whether its Sir Alex or Rafa or Arsene,Redknapp etc.... we should enjoy it while it lasts as it will end up where managers cant give their figure of speech.

Posted 18:27 12th November 2009

Kieran Graham (Manchester United fan) says...

I have read a lot of people who have been slating Fergie and saying he gets away with this and that. Last season was a two match ban vs Hull, this season its this. Its a shambles, he is absolutely correct with what he says, even if it is outspoken. Referee's are ruining the game because they are not good enough. I regularly watch the PL and SPL and some of the decisions are unbelievably poor. People keep criticising Fergie for having a go at the referee at Chelsea.... well guess what, there is no way that goal should have stood. Fletcher is the most honest player in the game yet he is continuously let down, whilst likes of Drogba and more recently Ngog are CHEATS and seam to benefit. Something is extremely wrong here asnd the game/fans is let down by a poor standard of refereeing. Its not United's fault that everyone is in to get them cuz they have been dominant all over the world for years.

Posted 18:24 12th November 2009

Sean Page (Manchester United fan) says...

What a joke yet again united suffer an unprecendated punishment from the FA, public critiscism of referees has been going on fr years with managers of smaller clubs constantly saying refs are biast to big clubs, yet Fergie is the only manager to ever be punished by the FA with a touchline ban for an accident that didnt even happen on the touchline, all those ppl claiming manager of smaller clubs would have harsher punishments dont know their facts because managers have never received touchline bans for comments that happened after the game, this is the FA yet again making an example out of utd, perhaps wiley should be asked to explain why he took so long to restart the game so many times because it it wasnt because of his fitness it was blatant time wasting

Posted 18:18 12th November 2009

James Miller (Hull City fan) says...

So much for the Respect campaign. I am sure every manager up and down the league would be thinking... Hmmm. I should have a dig at the refs now. This is a disgrace and the FA is obviously afraid of Alex. Honestly, this is unfair and someone, maybe Platini, needs to sort the FA out. Disgrace with a capital D.

Posted 18:18 12th November 2009

Waseem Jarche (Manchester United fan) says...

The FA have once again dug themselves a hole. Now they will have to ban and fine every manager for commenting on a Ref!! Fergie does give the refs a hard time but so do all other managers. The difference is he gets all the media attention. Remember the Special One calling a ref the son of a donkey, remember the behaviour of his players towards Graham Poll that resulted in him quitting as a ref??? Wenger, Benitez and co all give the ref a hard time when things don't go right!! So what we blame our governments for all our problems!! the ref is no different they govern the match. If we don't like it we'll tell them, just don't create such a big media circus!!

Posted 18:18 12th November 2009

Damian Khan (Sunderland fan) says...

I have always thought that Sir Alex is a character on the sidelines, but him calling a referee unfit in the physical sense rather than he should not play is NOT that big a deal, and maybe they have fined him so much because of the regularity of incidents. When youre in the thick of the game you say things that you regret, but this was not that bad. i was laughing my head off seeing him all red, I think the FA got carried away, this aint cricket...

Posted 18:12 12th November 2009

Mathew Field says...

What a disgrace getting fined and a touchline ban for his opinion, ok FA your referee gave his opinion on sunday and got that wrong on at least 4 occasions he should be fined £20,000 and banned for 4 games 2 of which suspended. Whats good for one is good for the other lets have it right. I really do think that the FA are run by absolute blithering idiots how can they justify any of the decisions they make when they come out with this muck. Sir Alex has a microphone stuffed into his face and he asked for his opinion after every game, he is only saying as are all managers, what every fan out there is thinking anyway so please let them say what they want, its the FAs fault if there so called referees cant handle a bit of criticism lets face it they dish enough out.

Posted 18:09 12th November 2009

John Connolly (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

20k and 4 match ban. Is that it? I thought everyone was behind the Bigwigs in pushing forward to have Ferguson banned from the game??? Without Ferguson influencing officials season after season, how many titles would Man Utd have won? With Fergie and The Ref the have 13 Men. Thats better than 12 isn't it Wayne?

Posted 18:09 12th November 2009

Leroy Ogunlesi (Manchester United fan) says...

How was he EVER going to get a 6 match ban? How was he EVER going to get banned until the end of the season. Wake up! Some of you need to take off your anti United goggles. Harry Redknapp called a referee mickey mouse last year, Phil Brown another referee a disgrace. I didnt see you all demanding bans till the end of the season for these guys. The punishment is adequate and in keeping with FA rules and regulations.

Posted 18:08 12th November 2009

Ben Krey (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

Defnitely a trend to this thread... Man Utd fans think Fergie is hard done by and everyone who is unbiased towards him believes the punishment to be too lenient. I agree that the punishment is lenient but am no way surprised. Fergie tried to mask a poor performance against Sunderland with comments about a referee when refereeing decisions did not impact the result. If anything the injury time played earnt United a point! He didn't complain about Wiley's fitness after the extensive injury time played in the Manchester derby and didn't moan about the ref in the Arsenal game who gave a penalty for Rooney's dive! Totally agree with the comment that Respect might as well be skipped. One of the most respected figures within the game should be endorsing a campaign such as Respect not undermining it.

Posted 18:05 12th November 2009

Jim Hudson says...

Once again Fergie is punished for making a factual statement whereas other managers namely Benitez and Wenger get away with touchline bans for their rants.Benitez even accused a ref of needing glasses. Alan Wiley may have run further than anyone but from anyone watching his performance it wasn't in the right direction!The media seem to have a vendetta against Ferguson and have influenced the pitiful FA who have responded to this pressure. The FA need to be consistent or they will continue to be ridiculed by fans.

Posted 17:56 12th November 2009

Andy Laughton (Manchester United fan) says...

Fair enough the F.A have decided to make an example of SAF, wether the punishment is correct or not is debatable. However they have now made a rod for their own back and will have to punish any other managers ( or players/club officials ) for similar transgressions................any bets on how long it will be before we see a premiership game with the managers from both sides sitting in the stands.

Posted 17:53 12th November 2009

Sewu Yao (Manchester United fan) says...

Right, Fergie had been positively abusing referees for sometime now, i admit! He is been punished because he( fergie) hurt the feellings of ONE referee. The fact here should not be forgotten that, a single referee hurts the feelings of more than 1000's of soccer fans with one stupid decision. If only the one who confronts the referre for something he sees not right is punished, then what about the referees who commit excessive blunders by calling useless and redundant decisions? Someone told me the referees get punished behind closed doors! That is nonsense to me! They must also be openly punished so the fans who paid a lot to watch a football match can be a lil bit relieved following the stupidity of most refs nowadays! It's true refs fail to position themselves well to see a foul, and they give unecessary advantages to pause play.Taking in consideration the match between chelsea and manchester united, the ref allowed play when a chelsea player was on the ground but stopped play as soon as manchester united got the ball and about to break away. man united is known for their attacking style of play and who knows what would have happened had the ref not paused the flow of the game? And which manager will like such a thing?I think personally, there is much more pressure on the refs than fergie!

Posted 17:50 12th November 2009

Donald Law (Sunderland fan) says...

I have read with interest the comments made by all the so called experts, and no where did I see one suggestion as to how these outbursts by the Managers ( or should I say ONE manager ) can be overcome. The answer is really simple, and that is to move the position of the Fourth Official away from his present position of being situated between the two benches, and then he would not have to face the abuse that he does at present. Another suggestion to relieve some of the pressure placed on referees is to issue a yellow card to any player ( other than the team captain ) who pushes and shoves referees around while venting their opinions on a referees decision. I hope that these suggestions are printed so that others can state their opinions. As we all know , in rugby,players do not question the referee's decision. Only the Captain can do this, and it works very well.

Posted 17:47 12th November 2009

Manchester United (Manchester United fan) says...

This is what happens when you are very, very...very successful, all these other team's fans coming on here and complaining, bad mouthing United and Fergie, also the Chelsea match he said most of the blame was to UNITED for not playing well enough, the ref issue needs to be sorted, one manage was going to bring it up sometime, they are not making an example of him but some of you are saying ban him for the rest of the season, which is just silly, £20,000 isn't enough but blame the FA not fergie, and don't try and say any other manage would have got worse, because that would be a lie.

Posted 17:37 12th November 2009

Stuart Hubbard (Manchester United fan) says...

Jim Lynch... As a Manchester United fan I will openly admit that I was constantly frustrated with Ronaldo's diving, especially at the early stages of his career. However, I beleive that as he progressed as a player he dived a lot less and for you to say that we only won the league because of his diving is both cheap and naive. Back to the topic in hand, again as a Manchester United fan, I beleive it is right the Fergie has been handed the fine and ban and will hopefully allow everyone to get back to the focus on the matches. If everybody constantly attacks the officials and their decisions then their performances will more than likely deteriorate due to this ever increasing pressure from players, managers, media and fans with each decision becoming more and more critical.

Posted 17:37 12th November 2009

Cieron Murphy (Manchester United fan) says...

Most fans that support a team other then Manchester United always say that Ferguson only blames the ref when his side lose or draw a game. Well obviously that shows that Manchester United are dropping points because of the fitness and lack of communication between officials. The idea of having other officials at the side of the net will bring justice into the game without bringing in all the technology and ruining the game.

Posted 17:37 12th November 2009

Tony O'flaherty (Manchester United fan) says...

All of the none man u. supporters opinions are biased and mean nothing, you are all up in arms because it is SAF and Man U. , no other reason. Every week i hear at least one manager complain about the ref or linesman, we hear NOTHING about those comments, ever, because its SAF, its blows way out of hand, seriously, one comment down there said he should have been banned for the season, WTF ?! Every single team and manager have had problems with the officials at some point in this season, which is only 12 games old, why the hell are all of you, and all of the premier league managers or Chairmen getting together and complaining about the fact that nothing really ever happens to PL officials, the make mistakes regularly and way more regularly than i ever remember. SAF has now been punished, and way more publicly than probably any other manager would have been. Now is the time to get over it and look at the real problem. The fact is the officials are making too many mistakes and are definetly not physically fit enough. This needs to be changed because it has already cost alot of teams alot of points, some teams might not be in the relegation zone, some might be closer to european places. Everyone seems to accept the fact that mistakes happen, why should they when a few cameras, a screen and another official can sort it all.

Posted 17:36 12th November 2009

Gavin Mcfarland (Manchester United fan) says...

Just on this note if anyone read the orignal story by skysports the would have read that no manager has had a ban for a after match interview, they have gotten fines alright but not a touch line ban. This is just the FA trying to make a example of him and thats fair enough once they inforce this accross the board. On a different note there has been some shocking referring this season on all fronts not just united games on a season were they are running a respect campagin they really should be stepping up to the plate. I under stand everyone makes mistake but very few refs acknolage them they just brush them under the table. You have a lot more respect for one or two refs who watched replays of the matches and actually came out and said they made a mistake after all there only human and it does happen to the best of us

Posted 17:31 12th November 2009

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