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Sir Alex and his voice
Will Sir Alex Ferguson, a footballing institution and possibly the greatest British manager of all time, ever be reprimanded for a spurious post-match, offhand comment? The line ‘Fergie escapes punishment’ has almost become a cliché; it happens so often, the audacity of his remarks gradually lose their resonance with fans because of Fergie’s notoriety and well known penchant for sensationalist quotes.
So far this season, Sir Alex has called a referee unfit, consistently barraged Mike Dean with criticism (“you really need quality officials and we didn't get them today. It was a poor, poor performance.”), Accused Owen Coyle of being a hypocrite, described the FA as ‘dysfunctional’, told the Press of his disappointment at the performances of Mark Clattenburg and most recently, said that Rafael was sent off because of the actions of ‘typical Germans’. In previous years, he has been the topic of many media spats and disputes, notably arguments with David Beckham, Gordon Strachan and the BBC. On occasions, he is punished but it appears that he may be allowed to get away with too much and have to big an influence on the game and its governing bodies. Within matches themselves, he has been known to question officials decisions (additional time being a particular favourite) which has been penned as ‘Fergie time’.
Sir Alex Ferguson is a man of huge magnitude in British and world football but whilst some managers are reticent in broadcasting their thoughts to the media, Fergie’s actions intimate a sense of bigger than the game itself. Quite how he has escaped punishment so often is unknown. In the case of his criticism of Bayern Munich players part in the sending off of Rafael, UEFA has decided that it was not worthy of any further investigation and the matter is now closed. It seems that his constant outbursts are resulting in a ever weakening perception of the great man. Munich’s president, Uli Hoeness, said of Ferguson’s comment: It is an over exaggeration on Ferguson’s part, maybe because he is disappointed to lose.” Fellow Premier League manager, Rafael Benitez who launched a now infamous verbal speech towards Ferguson, said: “"During the Respect campaign and this is a fact, Mr. Ferguson was charged by the FA for improper conduct after comments made about Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett. He was not punished. He is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things. We had a meeting in Manchester with managers and FA about the Respect campaign. I was very clear; forget the campaign because Mr. Ferguson was killing the referees, killing Mr. Atkinson, killing Mr. Hackett, but he is not punished. How can you talk about the respect campaign and criticise the referee every single week?”
This is by no means an attack on SAF. On many occasions, he is correct in his assessment on referee’s performances but for a man of such a dignified stature, he should look towards a more respectful relationship with the officials and footballs governing bodies. Perhaps the petulance of Rafael is a sign that Ferguson’s actions are being to brush off on his young protégés. For that, United and Ferguson’s dynasty could be in danger of being ruined by successive media outbursts.
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