I have always been supportive of the referees. They have a very tough job, but it would seem they want to make it even harder on themselves with news this week that the Referees’ Union is considering taking legal action against Sir Alex Ferguson for his defamation of Alan Wiley in saying that he is “unfit.”
Ferguson’s comments came on the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland, only securing a point in the final moments as Patrice Evra smashed a shot which ricocheted off the unfortunate Anton Ferdinand and leveled the scores.
United were poor and lucky to escape with a point and Ferguson has often criticised referees in the past when he feels his team has been wrongly dealt with, shifting the focus away from the performance.
However, he admitted in the same breath that “we’ve played really badly” and this before the FA announced their official investigation.
So former England Manager Graham Taylor’s belief that Ferguson was simply trying to deflect the attention from his team’s poor showing is to only partially true.
He noted; “We know Sir Alex puts himself in a spot now and again. Did Manchester United play very well in that game?”; “There you are: ‘Let’s not talk about it, don’t ask me any questions about my team, let’s talk about the referee.'”
Now, Alan Leighton, secretary of Prospect, has come out and said that, “If the FA don’t satisfy us, we would have to take legal advice.”
I didn’t realise it was the FA’s job to satisfy the referees?
In fact, I thought they were also meant to be impartial, as indicated by Lord Triesman’s “no comment” on the issue, not wanting to give an opinion on a pending case.
Leighton went on to say: “A key component of refereeing is being fit, so Sir Alex has questioned his integrity. And I’m surprised he hasn’t realised that”.
Ferguson only questioned his fitness, he didn’t say that Wiley missed some game changing incident because he wasn’t fit or he was too far away from a key incident due to his lack of stamina. He said that “he (Wiley) was needing a rest” and that “you see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher’s dogs”.
At no point did Ferguson compare him to another English referee and say one was better than the other, nor did he say “we drew the game because of the ref.”
He lamented the general state of refereeing in England stating “it is an indictment of our game” and commented that he thought Wiley was unfit, claiming he needed “30 seconds to book a player”.
Surely he is allowed to state this opinion?
He hasn’t questioned the impartiality or the competence of the referees decisions, just if his physical fitness is up to the standard required for the level for a professional referee.
Further, nobody has mentioned Ferguson’s other gripe with Wiley, his time-keeping.
In the recent Manchester derby, United benefited from the extended time, part of which was later explained by the referees adding 45 seconds for a goal.
United scored in the four minutes of added time against Sunderland and Wiley ended the game after 4 minutes and 2 seconds – obviously not adding the 45 seconds on – a point Ferguson duly raised.
Ferguson has since apologised for airing his views in the manner he did – a mix of not wanting to upset Wiley and trying to avoid a hefty fine – stating: “In retrospect I accept that they could be deemed as expressing those views in an inappropriate form. It was never my intention to bring the focus of intense media interest on Mr Wiley and I will apologise to him personally when I return from an overseas trip during the international break.”
Shouldn’t a personal apology be enough to end this?
While no one expects referees to be perfect, we can no longer shelter them from criticism of their own performances. If a referee, whose job it is to referee football, is not fit enough (and we are talking about running out the final moments here, not the whole game) then he deserves to be criticised.
Standards will not improve if we continue to provide excuses and escape routes.
These guys are on £60,000 plus a season. Yes they have to suffer abuse, but if they choose this career, then they must strive to be the best they can be and if they aren’t up to scratch or their performances lapse, then they too should suffer for it.
Ferguson says some silly things but I don’t think this is amongst them.
Any fine would be unjust and will prove the FA to be totalitarian in their views on football.
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