Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has apologized to referee Alan Wiley for his strong and harsh criticism of the match official.
Last week's game against Sunderland saw United lose the top spot as they could only manage a draw at home turf. The manager was fuming with the result and then Fergie attacked Wiley by giving personal remarks after the game. That definitely hurt the ref and he even contemplated retiring from the game.
But after investigation from the FA, it was clear that Wiley was fit enough to start in the Premier League games. And then they asked Fergie to support his claims about the referee's fitness. But sensing a growing demand among Premier League referees for strong action to be taken against him, Fergie decided to calm things down and apologize Mr. Wiley. He said,
"I apologise to Mr Wiley for any personal embarrassment that my remarks may have caused and to the FA for going public with my views," he said.
"In retrospect, I accept that this could be deemed as expressing those views in an inappropriate forum. "It was never my intention to bring the focus of intense media attention on Mr Wiley. I intend to contact him personally after I return from a trip overseas during this international break.
But to be honest, just like many other, I too believe that Fergie never intended to criticize the ref. He got into that mode to deflect the attention away from a poor performance by his team. He surely is a great manager who knows how to protect his players and the team.
Cheers Fergie!
