Ferguson and Wenger agree to truce

ARSENE WENGER and Alex Ferguson have bowed to overwhelming pressure to call a truce in their public war of words ahead of their February 1 Premiership clash at Highbury.

The two managers have agreed to restrain any public comments in the build-up to the fixture to reduce tensions among supporters.

This follows a warning from the Metropolitan Police, as well as the FA and the League Managers’ Association, that any further incendiary remarks could inflame fans at the game.

Wenger and Ferguson have therefore been told by their respective clubs that their personal attacks on each other must stop, at least for the next 10 days. Whether this will include all barbed remarks remains to be seen, with relations between the two rivals having clearly dipped to an all-time low.

However, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein and Manchester United chief executive David Gill held cordial peace talks ahead of a scheduled Premier League meeting in London yesterday. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who had brokered the talks over coffee along with chairman Dave Richards, later revealed the outcome. “The Premier League board welcomes the fact that David Dein and David Gill arrived at the meeting, having already received assurances from their managers that public comments on recent issues between them could cease. Both clubs also agreed that public comments would be limited to pre-match and post-match analysis of the forthcoming fixture.”

Dein and Gill also walked out of the Landmark Hotel in central London together in a show of unity, although relations between them have never been the problem.

It is Wenger and Ferguson who must control themselves after the Scot upped the ante in labelling the Arsenal boss a “disgrace” for not apologising for last year’s tunnel row at Old Trafford.

Wenger immediately hit back by inferring that Ferguson should be charged with “bringing the game into disrepute” and then claimed the United manager had “lost all sense of reality“.

While FA chairman Geoff Thompson was previously unable to bring the two sides together, the Premier League have managed to broker a peace deal in public.

John Barnwell, the chief executive of the League Managers’ Association, who had also called for a truce, responded: “We’re delighted that common sense has prevailed. Long may it continue. All managers have a responsibility to their club, themselves and the game, as well as their fellow managers.”

Keith Hackett, of Premiership referees, added: “The public debate they have been having is not good for football. We ought to continue to talk about the skill levels in what is, in effect, the world’s greatest club competition, and the players who actually play in those games.”

It is now down to Wenger and Ferguson to restrain themselves - starting in today’s weekly press conferences.