Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson are absolutely livid over the FA’s decision to uphold the red cards dished out to Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes in the Amsterdam Tournament and are claiming victimisation of Rooney and the club as both players face a three game suspension going into the new Premiership season.

Both players had already found the net against Porto in Amsterdam when they received their marching orders, Scholes for a tackle from behind leading to a second yellow card and Rooney for an alleged elbow in an aerial challenge with Porto defender Pepe. While Alex Ferguson had no complaints at the time over Paul Scholes dismissal he was adamant that Rooney’s was undeserved and that the player’s reputation, rather than the challenge, had led to his dismissal.

Those claims are riling Ferguson even more now that the FA Disciplinary Panel have decided that both players were guilty of violent conduct and have to serve the full three game suspensions that go with that charge. The fact that Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Neil Mellor weren’t suspended after being sent off in the same tournament in 2003 hasn’t exactly defused Ferguson’s anger at the apparent special treatment for Manchester United playersin general and Wayne Rooney in particular.

Once again we have the spectacle of the FA making a stand to defend the laws of the game but getting it all absolutely wrong. Wayne Rooney was no more guilty of violent conduct in the Pepe challenge than Pepe himself was and to confound a ridiculous sending off with a suspension that will see the player miss three games of a vital season for both him and his club is harsh in the extreme.

It’s not often I agree with Alex Ferguson and with Manchester United getting more than their fair share of dodgy decisions from officialdom in the past (penalties for them at Old Trafford, Pedro Mendes goal for Spurs not given) it’s a bit rich to hear Ferguson complaining about being the victim of double standards against his club.

He does, however, have a point about Wayne Rooney being victimised because of his name. He isn’t the first player that this has happened to and he won’t be the last but it’s always a distinctly unfair situation for a player to be in and with one so temperamental as Rooney it’s bound to lead to his frustration with the game and officials in general becoming worse.

The problem wisn’t with Wayne Rooney per se, it’s with inconsistent referees and lawmakers who, when faced with evidence of a refereeing error, decide that it’s best to close ranks with their officials rather than admit that a mistake was made. Now they’ve got two mistakes to answer for instead of just one. Congratulations to the FA, the first shocking disciplinary decision of the season and a ball hasn’t been kicked in anger in the Premiership yet. This doesn’t bode well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 9:18 am and is filed under Manchester United. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.