Sir Alex Ferguson has landed a crippling blow to the Premier League’s efforts to crack down on the abuse of officials by claiming the division does not suffer from a lack of respect towards referees.
On the day that plans were announced to address the behaviour of managers and players, the Manchester United manager accused Richard Scudamore, the league’s chief executive, of failing to fully think through the proposals.
Scudamore claimed today that the plans had gained the support of all 20 Premier League clubs but Ferguson has undermined that statement immediately by pouring scorn on the idea.
“Richard Scudamore doesn’t have a lot to do,” Ferguson said. “He is trying to elevate the Premier League. That is good. That is his job. But I feel he is jumping off a high diving board here without thinking about it.”
This season has been marred by a series of high-profile incidents, culminating in Ferguson receiving a five-match touchline ban for his comments regarding referee Martin Atkinson after Manchester United’s defeat at Chelsea.
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But the Scot insists his outburst was justified and refused to acknowledge there was a problem with respect.
“It is not an issue for me. I don’t think managers disrespect referees,” Ferguson said. “I got done for what I considered a fair comment. They gave me a five-match ban. That’s fine. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect referees. It is a difficult job. We all know that. I wouldn’t referee a game. We do need them.”
Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, has said that he sympathises with Ferguson over his ban and propsed a solution to avoid similar situations happening in the future.
“You say things on the spur of the moment, and it’s not easy,” he said. “There should be a cooling-off period and maybe a chance to speak to the referee before you go on the TV. It’s not easy to be really constructive straight after the game.”
The Premier League’s plans are aimed at tackling “unacceptable” levels of abuse and criticism of match officials, according to Scudamore.
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“The clubs unanimously backed the idea that at the start of next season we want to raise the bar,” Scudamore said. “I think we do need to concentrate on the player and manager relationship with the referee this time, as every one of us knows that there have been elements of unacceptable behaviour.”
The new campaign will target dissent towards officials and attempt to prevent players surrounding them after controversial decisions. The crackdown will also focus on players who try to get their fellow professionals booked or sent off during matches. “As to what we think is unacceptable; it’s vitriolic abuse towards match officials and that has on occasions gone unpunished,” Scudamore added.
“The surrounding of referees is unacceptable; the goading of referees into trying to get opponents sanctioned we think is unacceptable; and also the undue criticism, where it spills over into questioning the referee’s integrity or his honesty is also unacceptable.”
Redknapp added that he agreed with Scudamore that the harrasment of officials needed to be stopped. “You get nothing out of chasing referees. It’s very rare that they change the decisions,” he said. “It’s not an easy job, so you have to give them all the respect in the world, they do an honest job and sometimes they make mistakes.”
Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, suggested that football should follow the example of rugby where only the captain is allowed to approach the referee, while Ian Holloway, the Blackpool boss, said he believed the animosity would stop if technology was introduced.
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“We see referees on a Saturday night and they are wrong. We see camera angles that the fourth official could easily see, could quickly see,” Holloway said. “Until they actually get that right, I think the game is in a mess. The technology is there but we are not using it. Why not? Let us trial it, let’s start it now. Let’s get it right.”
The Premier League will meet with the League Managers’ Association, the FA, the Professional Footballers’ Association and the PGMO, the body that represents match officials, in the coming months to determine the core principles of the campaign and how it will be implemented. It will then roll out an education programme to clubs during the summer, ready for the start of the campaign at the beginning of next season.
Its aim is to address the culture of bad behaviour at its root and avoid situations that may result in complaints and appeals being made to the FA. It does not expect players and managers to accept referees’ decisions without question, but feels a line of appropriate behaviour exists and that it is being crossed too often.
Alan Leighton, the national secretary of Prospect, the union which represents professional referees, was encouraged by the news and is waiting to see the detail of the proposals.
“We would welcome anything that can be done to avoid some of the problems that we have got into this year,” he said. “Anything that is going to ease the relationship between managers, players and referees we welcome and we would be pleased to play our part in helping with that.”
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The Premier League also accepts that the campaign can only be implemented within the rules of the game laid down by Fifa.
Scudamore said that they did not expect perfect behaviour from players but that they had to realise that being idols carried responsibilities. “Footballers enjoy privileged lives,” he added. “The contrast between what is happening in their world and what is happening in the rest of Britain, and indeed most of the world, is getting starker.
“Whether it is realistic or not they can’t entirely be perfect role models, they are young males and boys can behave badly from time to time. But there is a point where extra responsibility comes with the territory.
“There are so many good things about what footballers do, so this is not us demonising them, but the mood is that things could improve.”
As a result of the FA’s previous Respect campaigns, the Premier League pointed out there have been some recent improvements and that over the last two seasons bookings in the top flight for dissent have decreased by 20 per cent year on year.