Roy Keane sensationally lambasted Ferguson calling him a hypocrite. He certainly has a point. He says “There are a lot of hypocrites out there. The same bosses who are talking about players showing respect have been sent off for abusing officials. I’ve seen other managers come out and demand respect [from referees]; how can their players then show officials respect if their boss does not?”

But IMHO players surrounding and harrying referees to intimidate them is entirely different from a manager expressing dissent. The reason for his outburst ? I think Fergie referring to the D’Urso incident recently might have opened up a few wounds.

Fergie’s batch of boys have certainly shown restraint in recent years which is in sharp contrast to the behaviour of a pack of hooligans from West London. I just can’t resist twisting Alan Trevor’s lines from Oscar Wilde’s ‘Model Millionaire’ and say-:

“Hooligans are rare enough; but by Jove, millionaire hooligans (the John Terrys) are rarer still !’

What have I got in Fergie’s defense ? Opposition players take advantage of Ronaldo’s earlier reputation for diving, and tackle him roughly. The referees almost always give the decisions inside the box infavour of Ronaldo’s opponents. When referees these days are so oblivious of the fouls on his players , and his captain Giggs is so soft-spoken, what else can SAF do to ensure his players are protected ?

He’s certainly short-tempered. And when the manager has to face the cameras so soon after watching his players kicked around the park with the referee doing nothing about it, it is very easy to burst out in anger as SAF occasionally does.

That ends the post.

CyA,

Sleeper