Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson criticises Wayne Rooney ban and policeman's claim he would have been arrested
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has questioned the fairness of the FA disciplinary panel after Wayne Rooney’s appeal over his two-match ban was rejected this week. The 25-year-old striker is now set to miss United’s game against Fulham along with the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. Speaking at Friday’s press conference, Ferguson said: 'Fair is a word...I don't know if you can use that word 'fair' any longer. We put an appeal in that the lad wrote, his apologies for swearing, but obviously I don't think we expected to get a result to be honest with you.' The Scotsman also responded to remarks from Wolverhampton Superintendent Mark Payne, who said that he would have arrested Rooney for his foul-mouthed outburst. 'The media approach people, they don't come out and volunteer information like that do they?' Ferguson continued. 'Obviously the media will ask everyone their opinion. Everyone has an opinion in life today - that's an issue in the modern world, the need to be noticed. 'This wee guy's [Superintendent Mark Payne] sat down in the middle and probably [has] never been recognised in his life, [and has] managed to elevate himself to whatever it is in the police force. 'Have you ever seen Birmingham on a Saturday night? Does the police actually arrest people for swearing on a Saturday night? Deary me, that's a good one isn't it?' The United boss has been on the receiving end of an FA punishment himself in recent weeks, and is currently serving a five-game touchline ban for comments he made about referee Martin Atkinson. However, Ferguson has avoided criticising referee Lee Mason for any role he may have played in Rooney’s ban, instead taking a sympathetic stance to the official’s position. 'The one I feel sorry for is Lee Mason, I feel really sorry for the lad, because he's put himself in a terrible position. I think obviously he was put under pressure, there's no doubt about that,' he said. 'It's hard to imagine a referee would send a player off for scoring a hat-trick. It's hard to imagine isn't it? 'But he did put himself in the spotlight and if he doesn't send a player off for swearing the question will be 'has he got double standards?' It's a very difficult position the lad's in. I feel for him, I really do, I don't know how his career's going to go now but I think he was put under pressure.' Despite Rooney’s absence, the United boss is hopeful the incident will galvanise his team as they go into the final games of the season fighting on all three remaining trophy fronts. 'So anyway, we're disappointed but we have to get on with it. We'll be united with it when we face the problem because we've got a good squad and the players have been showing fantastic determination recently, and we're going be hard to beat, that's for sure.' Follow Goal.com on . Get the latest football news direct... Check out Goal.com's page; be part of the best football fan community in the world! my blog http://freeworldnewrbegining.blogspot.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gugukluhayat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gugukluhayat?hl=en.
