I’ve heard it said over the weekend that Sir Alex Ferguson is spared the level of criticism that other managers receive in the British media, that it is almost an unwritten understanding that you don’t lay into Sir Alex.
I’ll tell you why people don’t slam Fergie very often, in our profession a lot of people pander to people. They want to be nice to people, to get their cup of coffee, be in the media lounge and not be banned.
People are scared to say anything.
The truth of the matter is this. When Ferguson does something stupid, picks the wrong team like he did on Sunday, he shouldn’t be above criticism.
Ferguson got it wrong at the weekend. He didn’t have to pick such a weakened side. Arsenal didn’t pick a team that weak, Chelsea didn’t – they’re both still in the Champions League.
Looking elsewhere in the season, if Cristiano Ronaldo dives, why should we ignore that just because Sir Alex doesn’t like it? We go to games every week and he goes down far too easily. We get accused of picking on Ronaldo but he keeps doing it.
So why shouldn’t we ask the question?
There are too many people who want to pander to everybody. This isn’t a popularity contest, if you want to be popular you’re in the wrong business.
I’ve never known a time when there has been so much bitching amongst managers. They’re all jostling to wind each other up.
You’ve got this spat between Fergie, Sam Allardyce and Rafa Benitez, where Allardyce claims he went to speak to Rafa about the gesture after the game and Rafa didn’t turn up. Then on Friday you get Fergie coming out and speaking on Big Sam’s behalf.
Then you have Ferguson getting ‘out-Fergied’ by David Moyes ahead of the semi. Ferguson has been applying pressure to referees all his career, so when he complains about how Mike Riley responded to David Moyes’ pre-match comments…it smacks of hypocrisy.
It’s time people called him on it.
What I will say is that I don’t understand why Mike Riley was refereeing the game in the first place. I’m not making any reference to what David Moyes said about him, he just isn’t one of the better referees.
I think Mark Halsey or Alan Wiley should have been referee – referees have to get the big decisions correct, the top referees should be picked for FA Cup semis – Riley is not one of them.
Craig was expressing his views on Setanta Sports' Football Matters show.