Sir Alex Ferguson exploded into a rage yesterday when asked whether his Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney should expect a Football Association inquiry into his Boxing Day clash with Bolton Wanderers defender Tal Ben Haim.
The United manager banged the desk at his club's Carrington training ground and shouted abuse at his questioners when the issue of Rooney was raised as part of a media briefing for tonight's Premiership match at Aston Villa.
Reporters' tape recorders were knocked to the ground as Ferguson went ballistic in defence of his teenage player, who may anyway have escaped a three-match suspension. The failure of Alan Wiley, the fourth official at Sunday's Old Trafford fixture, to bring the matter to the attention of referee Dermot
Gallagher indicates that he did not feel the offence was serious enough to be punished.
If that message is conveyed to the FA when they re-open for business tomorrow after their Christmas break, then no action will be taken against Rooney. If, however, the authorities decide an offence of violent conduct was committed, a three-match ban is likely to imposed from New Year's Day.
An irate Ferguson insisted that Rooney, shown on television pushing his hand into the face of Ben Haim, who fell in feigned agony, "had done nothing that deserved going up before the FA". He argued that Ben Haim should be the one taken to task for the way he reacted to the confrontation ??? action that has been criticised by Bolton manager Sam Allardyce and experienced team-mate Gary Speed, both of whom observed that he "went down too easily".
Ferguson maintained that it was his respect for the way Allardyce runs Bolton's affairs that made him tone down his attack on the Israeli defender. Privately, however, he is seething, and took out his frustrations on astonished football writers.
He described Ben Haim as "a disgrace" and complained that not enough is done to rid the game of players who deliberately strive to get opponents sent off.
"Because it's Wayne Rooney and Manchester United there tends to be more of a focus, but the biggest concern is what the other player did," said Ferguson.
"He went down on the ground for two minutes. He should be the one going up before the FA, not Rooney. It's a disgrace. He [ben Haim] should be on a disrepute charge for rolling about in agony when all Rooney did was that [he gestured an open-palmed pushing movement]. Did he [Rooney] punch him? Of course he didn't. Wayne Rooney is only 19 ??? what do you want... blood?"
Ferguson's behaviour might have stemmed from the fact that he already has two of his four strikers ??? Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha ??? unavailable through injury and that the loss of a third at a time when United are desperately trying to revive their title challenge could have a serious impact on results.
However, fourth official Wiley may come to his rescue. He is understood to have told Bolton assistant manager Phil Brown during the half-time interval that he witnessed the incident, which followed a heavy challenge by Ben Haim on Rooney, but dismissed it as "nothing".
The key now is whether Wiley makes those observations official in his report. If he declares that he did not deem the incident worthy of reporting to Gallagher, the matter would effectively have been dealt with by the match officials at the time, and no further action could be taken against Rooney.
If, however, Wiley's official verdict is that he did not see the incident then the FA can study the video evidence, which would probably condemn Rooney under the new fast-track disciplinary system.
for one..did he raise his hands
for two..wiley saw it
for three..theres nowt that says hes got to stand up and take being hit
for four...is it not time speed kept his fookin trap shut
from the telegraph
for one..did he raise his hands
for two..wiley saw it](https://www.wanderersways.com/forum/uploads/emoticons/default_fool.gif)
for three..theres nowt that says hes got to stand up and take being hit
for four...is it not time speed kept his fookin trap shut