Rooney and Ferguson face inquiry over unsightly language

January 17, 2006

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and striker Wayne Rooney will face an inquiry from the Football Association after they were witnessed by over 40 fans, including TV crews, swearing at referee Alan Bennett. After a string of decisions (which the red half of Manchester perceived to be unfair) being given in City's favour, and with the untimely booking of Ronaldo, both Ferguson and Rooney were pushed to their limits of patience, swearing out loud in disbelief.

Rooney was first to be heard mouthing off after the decision was taken to give Ronaldo his marching orders. He was observed swearing at the referee at half time, and then continuing the tirade throughout the game as a string of bad decisions were taken which stripped United of their fluidity in the game. Despite the language from Rooney being far from usual, a barrage of assaults were thrown to and from the referee and the striker right through the game.

After the decision was given to take off Christiano Ronaldo, Ferguson's temper boiled and he was heard by many sitting around him to call the referee a "f*cking tw*t" as well as calling his decisions a "f*cking disgrace". This later led on to Ferguson launching threats at the referee during half time, and accusing the referee of not being able to handle under the pressure of a premiership game as well as questioning his judgement of the offside rule.

Ferguson himself admitted that Ronaldo's tackle was rash, and also noted that the side seemed to get better after he had been sent off, saying that they were playing better with 10 men. He still maintained that the side defended well, despite the fact that new signing Patrice Evra and Mikael Silvestre afforded City easy opportunities to slip goals in.

The fine that both Ferguson and Rooney will receive is unknown, although it is thought to be similar to the ban he received in 2003, in which he received a 3 match touchline-ban, and a £100,000 after swearing at Jeffery Winter.