English FA: Ferguson damages integrity
Posted March 23, 2011 12:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — England’s Football Association says Sir Alex Ferguson’s criticism of referees has risked damaging the integrity of football.
After Manchester United lost at Chelsea this month, Ferguson blasted Martin Atkinson’s performance, complaining that the Premier League leaders didn’t get a “fair or strong referee.”
The full findings of the FA’s Independent Regulatory Commission that banned the United manager for five matches and fined him 30,000 pounds ($48,000) were released on Wednesday.
Commission chairman Craig Moore says Ferguson “undermined the (campaign) … to encourage higher standards of behaviour within the game, including respect for officials.”
Moore says respecting them “is essential for the integrity of the game.”
