He is the master of the mind games. He has used the power of the press to manipulate a plethora of situations back into his favour. But after his latest attempt to cover up his sides failings, has he gone too far.
For those who have not yet heard, here is what Ferguson said in the aftermath of United's last gasp 2-2 draw with Sunderland:
“He didn’t add any time on for the goal we scored. There were only four minutes and two seconds’ injury time. There should have been another 30 seconds, but he was actually walking up the pitch after the goal, needing a rest. He just wasn’t fit enough for a game of that stature.
“The fitness of both sets of players, the pace of the game, demanded a referee who was fit. He’s not fit."
“It’s an indictment of our game that we see referees from abroad are fit as butchers’ dogs. We’ve got some good referees in our country who are fit, but he wasn’t. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player as he was taking a rest.”
Damning words indeed towards a ref Ferguson was all too happy to have a laugh and a giggle with after his side had scored a 95th minute winner against Man City a few weeks back.
At 49 Wiley could be forgiven for having to take breather in what was another frantic Premier League game. But in these days of professional referees there is no way he would have got near the Old Trafford pitch if he was not deemed fit enough.
So is such a personal attack on Wiley necessary?
After all he is basically suggesting that Wiley is physically not up to the job and is bordering on the slanderous. Ferguson knows the tests referees need to go through and it seems just a needlessly personal remark to make, whatever his frustrations at his sides' performance.
A few weeks ago when United scored in added time of added time everything was rosy. Now, when United couldn't grab an injury time winner to go on top of their injury time equaliser, he goes straight to the ref. I can imagine Ferguson's reaction if a reporter suggested at 67 he is past it and is not fit for modern management!
Therefore I personally feel Ferguson doesn't really care whether he is right or not in this case, all he needs is for the baying press to talk about his post-match comments rather than his sides poor on-field performance. It’s a clever tactic used by several managers in the Premier League. It shifts the intense media spotlight away from the players and gives the manager breathing space to work with them, get things right next time and improve their odds of winning the Premier League.
I guess the very fact that I'm blogging about this, rather than United's performance, proves it worked and Fergie still knows what he is doing.
But that doesn't mean he's right.
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