Sir Alex Ferguson faces a 1000 pound fine for not talking to BBC
Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has once again refused to give an interview to the BBC, leading to a fine of reported 1000 pounds to the Scotsman. The BBC wanted to have the manager’s opinion following United’s 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, but Ferguson simply walked past them. BBC earned Ferguson’s wrath back in 2004, when the television channel aired a documentary known as “Father and Son”. The documentary reportedly showed that Ferguson’s son, Jason, used his father’s name and image to gain influence in the transfer market. It was a baseless accusation as Jason was never found guilty of anything wrong. This led to Ferguson issuing a statement:
"They [the BBC] did a story about my son that was whole lot of nonsense. It’s all made-up stuff and 'brown paper bags' and all that kind of carry-on. It was a horrible attack on my son's honour and he should never have been accused of that.”
However, it was expected that under the intense pressure from League Managers Association, Sir Alex would finally end his six year long silence but the Manchester United manager failed to do so. Ferguson’s silence would imply that he is in direct breach of the new premier league rules and would therefore have to face a cash fine. Not only this, the United manager is likely to face similar fines every time he dodges the BBC. That would be the least amount of worries in Ferguson’s mind, as his title challenge was dealt with a serious blow owing to the 2 points he dropped at Craven Cottage. The draw takes Manchester to 2 points and 9 goals behind leader Chelsea, who seem unstoppable at the moment. The team under Carlo Ancelotti has become a goal scoring machine, as the Blues have managed 6 goals each in the opening two fixtures of the new premier league season.
The down turn for United came when Portuguese winger Nani failed to convert a penalty. The winger could easily have wrapped it up for the Devils, giving them a 3-1 lead over the hosts. However, that was not to be as Nani’s penalty found the gloves of David Stockdale, who expertly judged where the ball was going. With just a minute away from time, Fulham found a surprise equalizer, snatching 2 points away from the Devils. The match ended at 2-2 much to the dislike of Sir Alex Ferguson, who claimed that previously Ryan Giggs took all the penalties, even though Nani was on the pitch. The manager therefore claimed that things may have been different had the 36-year-old stepped up to take the spot kick.
Giggs was seen disappointed towards the end of the match and as thus the first person to walk down the tunnel with Sir Alex Ferguson. The winger claimed that it was sad to see the club dropping off silly points and drawing with Fulham was not what they expected. There was a perfect opportunity to go 3-1 and sadly, United couldn’t take it. Giggs claimed that the penalty miss gave the hosts some ray of light and got the crowd up, which led to the team finding a late equalizer. The midfielder confessed that Fulham were the better team in the second half, notifying that Bobby Zamora created a lot of issues for the United defence to handle.
England manager Fabio Capello was seen as a spectator of the match and would be greatly impressed by the performance of the striker. Paul Scholes was also outstanding, who scored his club career’s 150th goal. The midfielder may well make the England squad following claims that he regretted not going to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Sir Alex hailed the player’s performance, claiming that the 35 year old again managed an outstanding performance.
Manchester United would be looking to learn from their mistakes at Craven Cottage and bounce back from the disappointing draw. United host West Ham next at Old Trafford and would be looking to secure all three points in order to keep up with the seemingly unstoppable Premier league champions Chelsea.
Tags: